The Pathways Initiative began as a private funding for a public cause to satisfy the need for certified teachers, primarily minorities. At present, there are four such sources: DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest, Southern Education Foundation, The Ford Foundation and the US Department of Education's Teacher Quality Enhancement Program. In 1989, the DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund made a $250,000 grant to New York's Bank Street College of Education to support a program to prepare minority teachers for positions in the city's low-income schools. Lessons learned from this work helped guide the development of larger teacher recruitment and training efforts.

The first implementation grants were made between 1990 and 1992 to Brooklyn, Hunter and Lehman Colleges in New York City, Cambridge College in Massachusetts, and Clark-Atlanta University in Georgia.

In late 1992, the Fund's board of directors approved plans for a national expansion of the program. Backed by $23 million in grants, Pathways programs were established in an additional 26 colleges and universities throughout the country - 11 in the South under the direction of the Southern Education Foundation, a public charity and an essential coordinator for 11 programs that constitute the Southern Initiative. Fifteen were established to support a Peace Corps program, started in 1985, to help returned volunteers become teachers. Another $10 million in expansion grants followed in 1993 for Pathways in 11 schools of education throughout the Northeast and Midwest. Total Fund investment in the program reached $40 million by 1994 with the approval of additional grants and the launch of the Pathways evaluation. In early 1997, the Fund's board approved a plan to support the institutionalization of the program at most of the schools of education currently participating in Pathways and selected several leadership sites to encourage other colleges and universities to adopt the model. The program at AASU was designated as a leadership site.

Since 1989 the DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund has invested $50 million in the national Pathways initiative, including 66 colleges and universities located in 47 cities and 28 states. As of 1998, over 3,000 Scholars, serving more than 100,000 students annually, have received educational support.

In 1997, AASU's Program won the prestigious Innovations in American Government Award. After five rounds of competition with 1540 applicants it was selected in the top ten outstanding programs in national competition. The Ford Foundation subsidizes Harvard University's Innovations program and provided $100,000 to communicate, disseminate and seek institutions that would replicate the Pathways model. In 1999, the Program received $345,000 from the US Department of Education's Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants competition to enable three neighboring rural counties to implement the Pathways model.

Mission

It is the mission of the Pathways Program to increase the number of certified teachers, primarily minorities, in the Savannah Chatham County area. This effort is accomplished through the collaboration of representatives from three institutions in Savannah: predominantly white Armstrong Atlantic State University, historically black Savannah State University (SSU), and the Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools (SCPS).

Program Design

The Program employs a director, coordinator, assistant/secretary, an instructional staff and two councils consisting of all three collaborative units. The Advisory/Screening Committee was chosen to represent a broad spectrum of faculty throughout the University community, the College of Education, the School of Arts and Sciences, the Minority Affairs Office, the Office of Nontraditional Learning, a staff recruiter for the SCPS, and a community psychologist. Each year the male and female Scholars who have the highest GPA sit on the committee. This committee leads in the screening, implementation and institutionalization of the program.

1992-1996 Phase I Objectives

Produce at least 55 certified early elementary and middle school teachers, especially minority males, from the 95 paraprofessionals and substitute teachers who enter the program.

Enhance the capacity of AASU's teacher preparation program to better meet the needs of the local urban schools by modifying and expanding the current curriculum.

Strengthen and maintain the collaborative effort among AASU, SSU and the SCPS in the selection, preparation and certification of teachers.

Facilitate professional working relationships between faculty at AASU and SSU through a Joint Advisory Council.

1997-2000 Phase II Objectives

In collaboration with SCPS, initiate a teacher induction program to enhance the teaching and professional skills of 15-20 beginning teachers, so that they will remain in the field and become mentors to subsequent Scholars.

Facilitate the matriculation of 15 selected Scholars to masters, specialist, leadership and/or doctoral programs.

Improve and disseminate the effective recruitment, selection and retention procedures implemented in Phase I.

Refine the teacher education curriculum to better meet the needs of teachers who will work in urban environments.

Improve collaboration and professional working relationships between faculty, support staff and Pathways Scholars at AASU and SSU by continuing and expanding the Joint Advisory Council and holding joint workshops for its Scholars.

Conduct discussions with other regional and national leadership sites to establish mechanisms for implementing and disseminating the Pathways Program model.

Identify additional funding sources to sustain scholarships and facilitate program model institutionalization.

Overview of the Partners

Founded in 1935, Armstrong Atlantic State University (AASU) is growing rapidly on its present 250-acre site on the Georgia coast. AASU employs 250 full-time faculty and offers more than 75-degree programs to more than 5,700 graduate and undergraduate students. In 1995, AASU was first in the state among majority institutions in the number of minority students enrolled in student teaching. It led all institutions when minority-teaching interns were included in the count. In 1996, the College of Education at AASU moved from 14^th largest out of 35 institutions in Georgia producing teachers to 7^th largest. It is the only university in coastal Georgia offering education degrees. Minorities account for approximately 19% of the overall university enrollment but comprise 27% of the 329 students enrolled in teacher education. The proportion of minority students in teacher education is progressively increasing due largely to the Pathways program.

AASU's teacher education graduates have a 97% pass rate on the formerly required Georgia Teacher Certification Test; they are over-represented among nominees for the Teacher of the Year award. Twenty-two percent of the teachers in Armstrong's service areas are AASU graduates, yet 52% of the individual school nominees for Teacher of the Year graduated from AASU.

The Savannah-Chatham County Public School District (SCPS) is a K-14 district that serves 55,000 students, employs 2,500 teachers, and staffs 44 schools, district office, satellite facilities, and community-based programs. The SCPS teachers are 35% Black, 64% White, and 1% other. Minorities comprise approximately 66% of the student body, but 80% of suspensions and only 59% of high school graduates. In 1993, the year the Pathways program at AASU began, SCPS's pool of minority paraprofessionals numbered 664. This represents a large pool of individuals who might have been interested in earning professional certification.

Committed SCPS representatives serve directly on the advisory committee of the Pathways program. These individuals have been instrumental in providing direction for the recruitment, screening, and placement of graduates in facilitating communication between and among principals and other supervisors and Scholars in the program.

Program Accomplishments

To date, the Program has fielded some 1000 inquiries, screened 700 applicants, and brought 108 Scholars into the program. Sixty Scholars have graduated and earned professional certification. Fifty-four graduates are employed as educators, 24 of whom have received their school's nomination for Teacher of the Year. Graduates have a collective GPA of 3.0, a 95% pass rate on the former Teacher Certification Test and a 96% retention rate as first year teachers.

The Program has received local, state and national recognition for its retention efforts and its innovation. It has been featured on National Public Radio, "World News Tonight," USA Today, and was the subject of a 30-minute NEA documentary aired on The Learning Channel.

The Program's achievements confirm that majority universities can successfully recruit, train, and retain students of color. Scholars have presented papers at national, regional, state, and local professional conferences. Of the graduates, six have earned master's degrees and one is pursuing a doctorate. One Scholar has been invited to testify before Congress on the Program's impact.

Ed Daniels was recently featured in two local newspapers for securing an Americorp grant that provides after school mentoring and tutoring for 200 middle school students. Daniels organized 18 volunteer tutors (college students) in community service activities. Called the "Three O'Clock Program," this effort has documented increases in standardized test scores and a decrease in suspensions.

Stephen Horton, teaching history in the high school from which he graduated, recently presented a gift to a student who confided in him that he was going to be a father. It was a harness that parents use to carry infants close to their chests. As soon as the student opened the gift, he said he would give it to his girlfriend. To this comment Stephen replied, "No, you do not get the point. That child is just as much yours as it is your girlfriend's, and you have a responsibility to help raise that child and nurture it and teach it all you know."

James Gordon, who doubles as a cafeteria manager and a Scholar, is featured in a 30-minute television documentary that shows the extraordinary work he is already doing in the school. Every day at 7:30 a.m., fifth grader Corey Williams arrives before any of Gordon's cafeteria workers and the two go over the boy's math homework. Their friendly banter makes clear the important role Gordon plays in Corey's life. "I want all my students to learn to respect each other," Gordon says. "Children don't respect each other, so they don't respect the teacher. They don't respect their parents. But respect is something that can be taught."

For more information, contact:

Dr. Evelyn Baker Dandy, Director
Armstrong Atlantic State University
11935 Abercorn Street
Savannah, GA 31419
Phone: (w)(912) 921-5536 (h)(912) 354-1353 Fax (912) 921-5543
dandyeve@mail.armstrong.edu

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