High School Component
When we began looking at where the Pathways Project should start to invest in student learning, we knew that high schools have specialty tracks for students and a number of schools are “Health Academies” that are set up for students to specifically learn about careers in the health (and many times human service) occupations. However, we found that with the existing curriculums, students in the academies receive almost no information on the behavioral health field and its various career tracks.
Thus, the Pathway Project high school component focuses on the “Exposure” component and is a multi-year curriculum developed to increase students’ awareness of and information about both mental health and substance abuse issues and the array of career opportunities in these fields. In grades 9, 11, and 12 (10th serving as a comparison group), students are presented two 50-minute sessions with each grade’s materials building on the previous.
During the first year of project implementation, the curriculum was taught and evaluated at DeBakey High School for Health Professions. Based on the results of that evaluation, minor revisions were made to the curriculum, and the program was expanded in Year 2 to three other Houston Independent School District high school campuses which have Health Academies: Waltrip, Robert E. Lee, and Reagan. The next step for the high school component is to continue to expand the program through the training of teachers and sharing the curriculum with other districts and health academies.
Thus, the Pathway Project high school component focuses on the “Exposure” component and is a multi-year curriculum developed to increase students’ awareness of and information about both mental health and substance abuse issues and the array of career opportunities in these fields. In grades 9, 11, and 12 (10th serving as a comparison group), students are presented two 50-minute sessions with each grade’s materials building on the previous.
During the first year of project implementation, the curriculum was taught and evaluated at DeBakey High School for Health Professions. Based on the results of that evaluation, minor revisions were made to the curriculum, and the program was expanded in Year 2 to three other Houston Independent School District high school campuses which have Health Academies: Waltrip, Robert E. Lee, and Reagan. The next step for the high school component is to continue to expand the program through the training of teachers and sharing the curriculum with other districts and health academies.