What is Pathways2Teaching® ?

Pathways2Teaching® is a unique Grow Your Own program creatively designed for high school students to earn college credit while exploring teaching and related careers through a social justice and equity lens. With programs in urban, suburban, and rural communities across the country, we seek to cultivate a new generation of community responsive educators who see teaching as a way to disrupt inequities in the education system.

School leaders around the country- and around the world - are trying to find solutions to critical issues that persist in their communities.

• Critical teacher and paraprofessional shortages in urban and rural communities

• Lack of diversity in the teacher workforce

• Recruiting and retaining community responsive educators

• Preparing students to be college and workforce ready

Pathways2Teaching is Different from other GYO Programs

Addressing Critical Teacher Shortages with ParaProfessional Training

Students prepared to work as paraprofessionals while earning college credit.

Building a Diverse Teacher Workforce

Curriculum designed to attract students from historically marginalized communities.

Developing College & Workforce Readiness Skills

Emphasis on developing academic writing skills and preparation for paraprofessional role.

Program founder, Dr. Margarita Bianco says, "I developed the Pathways2Teaching® program for students who are like the younger me. I'm the first in my family to graduate high school, so I didn't know what I didn't know. I disliked school - it was not always a welcome place for me. As one of the first multiracial families in the neighborhood, I was mocked and called racial slurs daily. As one of the few students of color in my school, teachers did not expect much of me. Their low expectations were evident by being placed in remedial classes. All through K-12, I had no teachers of Color! I became a teacher so I could be the teacher I never had."

After graduating from high school, Dr. Bianco worked as a special education paraprofessional while in college. She was mentored and supported by her colleagues & family as she struggled to understand how to navigate the college world. Understanding racial barriers, coupled with her first gen. status, helped Dr. Bianco develop a program that meets the needs of so many students who are disenfranchised, underestimated, and may never see themselves as a classroom teacher. Now, in her 5th decade as an educator, Dr. Bianco is an award winning scholar, teacher educator, and founder of Pathways2Teaching.®

Interview with XQ Super School

Learn more about Pathways2Teaching®