PATHS Preschool® Facts and Frequently Asked Questions
Program Facts | Program FAQs | Training
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Program Facts
Summary:
The PATHS Preschool program is a complete curriculum that aids educators and counselors in creating a preschool environment that helps children develop self-control, positive self-esteem, emotional awareness, basic problem-solving skills, and social skills and friendships.
Goals:
The activities in the program highlight writing, reading, telling stories, singing, drawing, and science and math concepts, and help students build the critical cognitive skills necessary for school readiness and academic success. These skills include the ability to:
- sustain attention
- plan sequences of action
- think reflectively
- solve problems
- accurately anticipate and evaluate situations.
Effectiveness:
In a published, randomized clinical trial, students exposed to the PATHS Preschool Program scored significantly higher on standardized tests of emotional and social competence than students not exposed to the program.
Recognition:
Proven effective and evidence-based!
Perfect score:
Program materials
SAMHSA's National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP)
Near-perfect score:
Dissemination
3.6 points out of 4, SAMHSA's NREPP
Target Audience:
Children ages 3-5
Developers:
- Celene E. Domitrovich, Ph.D.
Assistant Director of the Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development at Pennsylvania State University
- Mark T. Greenberg, Ph.D.
Co-developer of the original PATHS program; Director of the Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development; the Bennett Chair of Prevention Research, Pennsylvania State University; and a co-recipient of the Distinguished Contributions to Public Policy for Children Award from the Society for Research in Child Development
- Carol A. Kusché, Ph.D.
Co-developer of the original PATHS program, Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Washington, and practicing clinical psychologist
- Rebecca Cortes, Ph.D.
Research Analyst for the School of Social Work at the University of Washington
Program Length:
The PATHS Preschool program can be easily integrated into existing learning environments. Timing and frequency of sessions can be adapted to suit individual classroom needs.
Materials:
Instructor's Manual, 2 Curriculum Manuals, 5 Storybooks, 4 Plush Puppets, Posters, "Feelings" Display Chart, "Feelings" Face Cards, "Feelings" Photographs, 2 Turtle Magnets, Turtle Stamp and Pad
Providers:
Classroom teachers, other educators, and youth leaders who work with preschool-age children
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Program FAQs
What is the PATHS Preschool program?
The research-based PATHS Preschool (Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies) program provides fun and exciting tools to help make your classroom the healthiest, most positive learning environment possible by creating a climate that:
- supports social and emotional development
- fosters pre-K literacy
- encourages character education
- builds the problem-solving abilities and other life skills required for positive relationships today -- and throughout students' lives.
How can the PATHS Preschool program work for me?
- It affordably provides a complete curriculum with up to two years' worth of lessons and activities.
- It's easy to implement -- Instructor's Manuals and Curriculum Manuals guide teachers every step of the way.
- It supports key Head Start performance standards for social and emotional development and cognitive and language skills.
- It helps meet requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act.
- It's grounded in the science of the proven-effective, nationally recognized PATHS program!
What led to the development of the PATHS Preschool program?
In 1999, the Surgeon General issued a report that made addressing the mental health of the country's children and families a national priority. At the time, expulsion rates for preschool-aged children with emotional and behavioral problems were 3.2 times higher than those of children in elementary grades. However, few intervention programs existed that specifically targeted preschoolers from low-income families, a group typically exposed to greater risks.
That same year, the Penn State Prevention Research Center was awarded a Head Start-University Partnership Grant (grant #90YD0063) by the Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services, to work with Head Start administrative and teaching staff to implement the PATHS Preschool curriculum and evaluate its effectiveness in a randomized trial.
In a published report of that clinical trial -- conducted in 20 preschool classrooms with 246 children -- students exposed to PATHS Preschool scored significantly higher on standardized tests of emotional and social competence than did their unexposed peers.
In addition, teachers and parents evaluated the exposed children as more socially competent compared to peers, with teachers also finding these children less socially withdrawn at the end of the school year compared to controls.
-- Domitrovich, C. E., Cortes, R. C., & Greenberg, M. T. "Improving young children's social and emotional competence: A randomized trial of the PATHS Preschool(R) curriculum." Journal of Primary Prevention 28, no. 2, (2007): 67-91.
One of the hallmarks of Channing Bete Company's PATHS and PATHS Preschool programs is that they are grounded in rigorous research. The following is a select bibliography of reference materials for these programs:
- Greenberg, M. T., Kusché, C. A., Cook, E. T., & Quamma, J. P. "Promoting emotional competence in school-aged children: The effects of the PATHS curriculum." Developmental Research and Psychopathology 7 (1995): 117-36.
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Greenberg, M. T. "Improving peer relations and reducing aggressive behavior: The classroom level effects of the PATHS curriculum." Paper presented at SRCD, Washington, D.C. (1997).
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Greenberg, M. T., & Kusché, C. A. "Preventive intervention for school-age deaf children: The PATHS curriculum." Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 3 (1998): 49-63.
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The Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. "Initial impact of the Fast Track prevention trial for conduct problems: II. Classroom effects." Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 67 (1999): 648-57.
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Kam, C. M., Greenberg, M. T., & Walls, C. T. "Examining the role of implementation quality in school-based prevention using the PATHS curriculum." Prevention Science 4 (2003): 55-63.
- Kam, C., Greenberg, M. T., & Kusché, C. A. "Sustained effects of the PATHS curriculum on the social and psychological adjustment of children in special education." Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders 12 (2004): 66-78.
How much does the PATHS preschool program cost?
The complete PATHS Preschool program (501325) is $479 per program/classroom.
Prices effective January 1, 2009, subject to change without notice.
Where can we get more information?
Call us at 1-877-896-8532.
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Training
Training workshops are led by certified, experienced trainers who help participants gain in-depth knowledge of the program's contents and intended goals. The training contact for PATHS Preschool is:
Dr. Celene Domitrovich, Ph.D.
221 Elm Street
State College, PA 16801
Telephone: (814) 360-4884
E-mail: cxd130@psu.edu
Or
Dorothy Morelli
PATHS Training LLC
Telephone: (615) 364-6606
E-mail: dorothygm@hotmail.com
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