By: Elizabeth Kelsey, Kendall Hunt RPD Intern, with contributions from the writing team of Pathways 2.0

With a fresh year before us, the Kendall Hunt PreK–12 Religious Publishing Department (RPD) took a moment to look back at the one we’re leaving behind! In 2019, we were proud to launch and implement Pathways2.0, a major revision to a customized reading and language arts program for grades 1–8 that was developed in collaboration with the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) North American Division (NAD) Office of Education. Here are the highlights of the year in review as we look forward to a new year and a new decade!

Pathways2.0

Beginning in 2007, the Kendall Hunt RPD launched one of the first customized product lines for our SDA publishing partners: the first edition of our Pathways Reading and Language Arts program. For over ten years, Pathways provided rich, faith-based language arts resources for traditional and nontraditional classrooms. The SDA Reading Steering Committee and the RPD development team knew an update to the custom curriculum was needed to bring students and teachers exciting new Anchor Texts and all-new Daily Lesson Guides, as well as rewritten teacher and student components such as the new Writer’s Handbooks and Teacher Manual.

After more than two years of hard work and collaboration between the Kendall Hunt RPD and the NAD, the major revision of Pathways2.0 was officially rolled out and implemented in classrooms in fall 2019!

Here are just a few of the exciting updates for the fall 2019 implementation of Pathways2.0:

• All-new four-color, self-contained Daily Lesson Guides (DLGs)
  • Not only do the new DLGs offer vibrant color, but they’re a breeze for teachers to use because there’s no need to scour a separate Teacher Manual for the answers and blackline masters. With all the resources for each of the nine themed lessons included within their respective DLGs, teachers save time and effort!
• New Anchor Texts
  • One of the most important aspects of the update to the Pathways program was the addition of new Anchor Texts to provide students with mirrors, windows, and doors in their reading adventures! Not only does Pathways2.0 incorporate 28 new Anchor Texts, but 10 titles from the original curriculum were moved to different grade levels to better reflect the developmental readiness of students for these texts.
• Clearer, more specific activities
  • From speaking and listening to writing and grammar, the writers and development team carefully checked each activity to ensure it fulfilled educational standards for that specific grade and provided clear instructions. The completely rewritten DLGs also include resources for differentiation of instruction, for multi-grade as well as the traditional classroom settings.
• All-new Writer’s Handbook and Teacher Manual
  •  Although the DLGs are self-contained, the companion resources make implementation even easier! Both products were rewritten for the major revision of Pathways2.0, incorporating the most recent pedagogical techniques for maximum student learning.

Just a few months after the official launch of Pathways2.0, the program is being used in hundreds of classrooms, where students and teachers are experiencing firsthand the positive effects of a custom, theme-based reading and language arts program that enriches their reading skills through the lens of their faith. Thanks to all of the SDA writers, contributors, editors, reviewers, and the development team that helped make 2019 a successful year with the launch of Pathways2.0. Here’s to another banner year in 2020!