Measured Results

The Pathways to Education Program is an award-winning model that has proven results.

Research and evaluation are key components of the Pathways to Education Program. We apply the learning from our research to our replication process, and integrate ongoing program evaluation into all Pathways sites from day one. We also share our findings with funders and other organizations that might benefit from this experience.

Groundbreaking Results - Regent Park

The goal of the Pathways Program is to ensure that all youth – regardless of their social or economic situation, or where they were born – have the same opportunity for academic success; supports delivered to Pathways students help to ‘level the playing field' for youth coming from disadvantaged communities.

As such, the early hope for the program was to reduce high school dropout rates for youth in Pathways communities to a level that was similar to, or better than, the city average.

To date, results from our Regent Park site continue to far exceed that goal. Over five cohorts, and 850 youth, the dropout rate for youth in this community is now 12% - approximately half of the City of Toronto and provincial average.

For Pathways' first community, the results have been nothing less than ground-breaking:

•  drop out rates have declined from 56% to 12% - a reduction of more than 75%

•  93% of eligible youth in the community are participating in the Pathways program

•  the rate of students going on to college or university has grown from 20% to 80%

•  Pathways graduates are staying in college/university programs; attrition rates of less than 5% for Pathways graduates are far below the national average

Replication of the Pathways Program

Ground-breaking results in the first site, Regent Park , led to the program being replicated in five new communities across Ontario and Quebec in 2007. Leading indicators from this second generation of sites point toward results that will be as good as, or better than the initial site. This demonstrates that the program can be replicated in other communities and establishes the foundation for future growth.

Latest Results: Highlights from the Ontario Sites 2008/2009 School Year

Since graduation and post-secondary metrics are available only at the end of a student's high school career, Pathways also tracks key ‘intervening variables'. These metrics - including community enrolment, school attendance, and credit accumulation - are timely and give early indications of probable success.

Highlights from 2008-2009 Ontario sites indicate:

•  overall, 90% of eligible youth are enrolled in the Pathways program in their community

•  the proportion of academically ‘at-risk' students declined from 36% to19% (after one year in Pathways)

•  the proportion of students who had poor attendance declined by 33% (after one year in Pathways)

Direct Benefits to Society - BCG Assessment

Pathways also provides tremendous economic returns to society. The Boston Consulting Group undertook a pro bono analysis of the cost/benefit of Pathways to society. By design, the focus of the analysis was on hard identifiable and quantifiable benefits, primarily higher taxes paid (on higher incomes earned) and reduced government transfer payments.

The Boston Consulting Group's conclusions are impressive and include:

•  The Return on Investment today for $1 invested in Pathways is $25

•  The cumulative lifetime benefit to society of a student in Pathways (compared to the pre-Pathways students) is $400,000

•  The Net Present Value to society for every Pathways student is $50,000

None of the analysis focused on the long term benefits of significantly improved health, lower crime, improved job skills, etc. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that these numbers, which have been verified, dramatically underestimate the true returns/benefits of Pathways.

For the "Executive Summary" of the Boston Consulting Group Assessment,
click here