Guided Pathways
What is Guided Pathways?
Guided Pathways is a whole-college redesign model designed to increase student success, address equity gaps, and reduce time to completion. The Guided Pathways framework is based on "the four pillars," which include the following:
Pillar One: Clarify the Path
Create clear curricular pathways to employment and further education.
Clarifying the path involves ensuring that students have access to information about our programs and support services and are able to explore their educational options with a clear understanding of courses, recommended course sequences, program goals, and career and transfer options.
Pillar Two: Enter the path
Help students choose and enter their pathway.
Students enter the path by choosing a meta-major and working with a counselor to develop an individualized education plan that follows a clear program map designed to lead them to their career, transfer, and personal goals, while reducing confusion and unnecessary steps. This allows students to register for courses that will lead toward degree completion in a defined timeline, and ensures they take courses in their area of interest in their first year.
Pillar Three: Stay on the Path
Help students stay on their path.
Staying on the path involves collaboration between Academic Affairs and Student Affairs. Program maps and strategic course scheduling help students stay on track, and our student and learning support services provide the support and engagement students need in order to maintain momentum on their pathway.
Pillar 4: Ensure Learning
Ensure that learning is happening with intentional outcomes.
Our goal is to provide high-quality, culturally responsive, and equitable instructional experiences that are build around clear course and program-level outcomes. When outcomes are intentional, students obtain the skills and knowldege needed for their educational, career, and personal goals.
Why are we implementing Guided Pathways at 91少女?
Here are some hard truths that have convinced us to implement Guided Pathways:
- The average time it takes students at 91少女 to earn a degree is 3.9 years.
- On average, our students have accumulated more than 80 units by the time they earn their degree.
- Our three-year graduation rate hovers at about 35%.
The more time it takes for students to complete their degree requirements, the less likely they are the longer they're delayed from entering the workforce and earning a living wage. And the more units they accumulate along the way, the more likely they are to exhaust their financial aid resources. Moreover, if students see a long and unclear educational journey ahead of them, their momentum is likely to be stalled, and they're more likely to stop out along the way.
We believe that we can do better than this.
What does Guided Pathways look like at 91少女?
Implementing Guided Pathways is a complex, multi-year process, involving collaboration among faculty, staff, and administrators from both Academic Affairs and Student Affairs.
Phase 1 (2017-2022)
Assembly, Steering Committee, and Inquiry & Design Teams. These teams were created to help improve every stage of the student experience from pre-enrollment to entering students, then to continuing students and finally to completion.
Meta-Major development. All of our educational programs have been placed under five meta-majors. They include:
- Agriculture, Business, & Industries
- Arts & Languages
- Health Sciences
- Social Sciences
- Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics
. Clear course sequences were developed for all degree programs at the college.
Phase 2 (2023-2027)
Success teams. We are in the process of developing cross-functional success teams, aligned with each meta-major. These teams will ultimately include counseling faculty, student success specialists, academic deans, and instructional faculty.
Organizational realignment. The Academic Affairs division is being redesigned to align more clearly with our five meta-majors. The Student Affairs division is also planning a realignment that will ensure more efficient and effective services to students.
First Year Experience. A team of faculty, classified professionals, and administrators are developing a comprehensive First Year Experience program, building off of the foundations established by the Salinas Valley Promise program.
Culturally responsive teaching and learning. Faculty have developed a set of equity-minded rubrics for teaching and learning, as well as equity-minded rubrics for service areas. Additionally, we are in the process of developing a culturally responsive curriculum audit process, as well as a set of course modules focused on cultural humility and online learning.