journey JER-nee (n): the act of traveling from one place to another


journey JER-nee (v): to travel over or through


path (n): a trodden way; a way of life, conduct, or thought


pathway (n): a course; a line of communication


Our Journey

Pathways’s journey began in the fall of 1995. After years spent working at both textbook houses and supplemental publishers, Susan decided it was time to go her own way. Following her love of literature and the middle-school age group (she had already guided her four children through those years), she decided to start a company that sold paperback books and accompanying educational materials to schools and teachers. The distribution end of the business was uncharted territory, but Susan knew all about conceptualizing, developing, writing, editing, and producing books for the school market. Mary, who had worked for Susan in the past, joined her in the first year of operation.


As technologies advanced, business structures changed, and postage and printing costs skyrocketed, Susan and Mary faced a fork in the road. Should they continue on as they were, or find a new way to work? They decided to switch from distributing books to concentrating on their own publications. They also found well-known educational distributors to market their products, freeing the team to work on product development.


During this time, the educational publishing industry was changing, too. Many publishers began to outsource development work to contractors. Pathways took advantage of this trend and began to develop materials for other publishers as well as for Pathways.


Pathways continues to create educational products, but now we are traveling a new route simultaneously. Pathways launched Home, a journal about how people feel about their homes, in November. This is the first of many trade publications Pathways has mapped out for the road ahead.


Join us as we see where the journey leads!