PATHS (Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies)¶
Product or Programme · All products and programmes
Evidence · 8 claims (8 for) · 2 studies (1 causal, 1 theoretical),q2–q4· 0 of 2 report an effect size · 8 claims rest on one study
Description¶
The Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum is a classroom-delivered social-emotional learning program developed for teaching emotional understanding, communication, friendship skills, self-control, and social problem solving.
Components¶
- PATHS curriculum: classroom-based social-emotional lessons delivered two to three times weekly within Fast Track: The Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum is the classroom-based component of Fast Track, delivered by teachers. The report states it "is intended to develop emotional communication, social understanding, self-control, and problem solving" and that "Lessons are delivered, on average, two to three times a week." An adapted version covered four skill domains: emotional understanding and communication, friendship building, self-control, and social problem solving. It was not delivered in the Durham, North Carolina schools because administrators would not allow it. (Fast Track: Elementary School (2014))
- PATHS (Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies) emotional literacy curriculum: PATHS is an experimental-based emotional literacy curriculum initially designed for deaf children, developed by Greenberg, Kusché, and associates, and designed for kindergarten through grade 6. The article quotes its purpose: "to enhance social and emotional competence and understanding in children, as well as to develop a caring, prosocial context that facilitates educational processes in the classroom." It serves as both an intervention program for children with problems and a prevention program for regular children, employing methods such as dialoguing, role-playing, story-telling, simulation, modeling, and verbal mediation. (Wu (2000))
- Affective-Behavioral-Cognitive-Dynamic (ABCD) theoretical model underlying PATHS: The ABCD model is the theoretical foundation of the PATHS curriculum, integrating diverse theories of human behavior and development including developmental social cognition, cognitive developmental theory, psychoanalytic developmental psychology, attachment theory, and cognitive-behavior therapy. The article states the "ABCD model emphasizes the dynamic relationship among affect, behavior, and cognition, integrating these three aspects so as to facilitate children's positive and healthy personality development and social functioning throughout their different developmental phases." It grounds PATHS's wholistic approach to educating the whole child. (Wu (2000))
Claims¶
- Fast Track showed positive, statistically significant effects on some external behavior measures after one year, with no significant differences on eight other measures [+W]
- Fast Track produced a positive, statistically significant effect on emotional/internal behavior for children at risk of emotional disturbance after one year [+W]
- Fast Track produced a positive, statistically significant effect on reading achievement/literacy after one year, significant on the Spache DRS but not on the Woodcock-Johnson Letter-Word Identification subtest [+W]
- Fast Track showed positive, statistically significant effects on three social outcome measures after one year, with no significant differences on three others [+W]
- PATHS spiral sequencing treats basic emotions as prerequisites for complex emotions across four levels of complexity [+W]
- Within-lesson sequencing in the PATHS Feelings and Relationships Unit proceeds from cognitive to behavioral to affective and from external to internal [+W]
- PATHS topical sequencing follows a general-to-detailed continuum, the Simplifying Conditions Method, and synonymous and antonymous relationships [+W]
- PATHS macro-level sequencing combines spiral and topical sequencing patterns [+W]
Related Products and Programmes¶
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Key Sources¶
- Fast Track: Elementary School. (2014). WWC Intervention Report, U.S. Department of Education, What Works Clearinghouse. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/InterventionReport/628
- Wu, Yann-Shya. (2000). Guidelines for Instructional Sequencing in Emotional Literacy Learning Using PATHS Curriculum as an Example. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED455810
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
product |
id |
paths-promoting-alternative-thinking-strategies |
title |
PATHS (Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies) |
description |
The Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum is a classroom-delivered social-emotional learning program developed for teaching emotional understanding, communication, friendship skills, self-control, and social problem solving. |
status |
review |
moved_from |
element/paths-curriculum-fast-track-classroom-lessons, element/paths-emotional-literacy-curriculum, theory/abcd-model-paths-foundation |
product_kind |
curriculum |
generated |
by process:sweep-kinds on 2026-10-10 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
2 — fast-track-elementary-school-2014, wu-2000 |
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