Guided Pathways February 25, 2016

What Are We Trying to Fix? At Butte College only 43.1% of degree, certificate, and/or transfer-seeking students complete a degree, certificate, or transfer related outcome within six years. For Hispanic students the rate is 33.2% (2015 Student Success Scorecard). Only 33.8% of Butte College students that were attending Butte College in and transferred with a degree actually earned a bachelors degree by the end of (National Student Clearinghouse). *See “Student Success Task Force Final Report” for system-wide figuresStudent Success Task Force Final Report

Why Guided Pathways? Students are more likely to achieve their educational goals if, early on, they choose a program develop an academic plan have a clear road map of the courses they need to take to complete a credential, and receive guidance and support to help them stay on plan. *See RP Group, “Using student voices to redefine support”Using student voices to redefine support

What Is a Guided Pathway? The Guided Pathways model presents courses in the context of highly structured, educationally coherent program maps that align with students’ goals for careers and further education.

What is a Guided Pathway? Incoming students are given support to explore careers choose a program of study, and develop an academic plan based on program maps created by faculty and advisors. This approach simplifies student decision-making and allows colleges to provide predictable schedules and frequent feedback to help students stay on the path to their educational goals. *See Community College Research Center, “What We Know About Guided Pathways”What We Know About Guided Pathways

What Are We Trying to Fix? Community Colleges were originally designed to expand college enrollments, especially among underrepresented students. Colleges designed to increase access are not well designed to maximize completion of high-quality programs of study. Most community colleges, rather than offering structured pathways, operate on a self-service or “cafeteria” model, allowing students to choose from an abundance of loosely connected or disconnected courses, programs, and support services.

Mindy

What Are We Trying to Fix? Research in social psychology and behavioral economics have investigated the number of options individuals can reasonably process and still make strategic choices. And, there exists a wealth of research on how relatively irrational many of our decision-making processes are. If students are like the rest of us, it seems that guiding and architecting student choices would be invaluable. Compelling research makes the case for limiting choice.

Why the Guided Pathways Model? Systems that have adopted guided pathways strategies, and institutions in the early stages of implementation, are beginning to realize notable improvements in completion rates, without sacrificing quality. Florida State University guided pathways implementation, year-to-year retention rate for first-time-in-college freshmen increased from 86% to 92% and the four-year graduation rate increased from 44% to 61% percentage of students graduating with “excess credits” dropped from 30% to 5% *See “Redesigning Community Colleges for Student Success: Overview of the Guided Pathways Approach”Redesigning Community Colleges for Student Success: Overview of the Guided Pathways Approach

Why the Guided Pathways Model? Even more notable are increases in success rates for students of color and/or low-income learners.

*See Rob Johnstone “Guided Pathways Demystified”Guided Pathways Demystified

Bakersfi eld Guided Pathway s Summit

Frequently Asked Questions Concerns about compromising our higher education values... Practical considerations about control and enrollment... Apprehensions about the impact on student learning and development... *See Rob Johnstone “Guided Pathways Demystified”Guided Pathways Demystified

Join the Butte College Conversation! Collaborative Sessions Thursday, February 25, 2:00-3:30 pm in CFE Thursday, April 28, 2:00-3:30 pm in CFE Thursday, May 12, 1:00-2:30 in CFE Academic Senate Forum Wednesday, March 30, 3:00-5:00pm in CFE