Degree Pathways: Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is Degree Pathways?
A: A strategy to increase student completion rates and close equity gaps, Degree Pathways is a student-centered framework designed to increase and diversify the students and communities accessing and earning high-value credentials. The systemic approach focuses on the development of transparent, clearly structured educational career pathways that effectively support each student from aspiration (deciding on a career pathway, which includes providing job market data on specific fields) to completion of a high-quality postsecondary credential.
More specifically, they are collections of academic majors that have related courses. They also cluster groups of majors that fit within a career area. They are designed with the end (college completion) in mind, and using students’ interests as a starting point, pathways provide structure and narrow choices to support student success.
Q: What Degree Pathways is NOT…
A: · Degree Pathways is not curriculum reform, but does focus on how we sequence and schedule courses. We may find in looking closely at our programs that some curriculum review is warranted.
- Degree Pathways DOES NOT limit student choices but rather provides clear, structured experiences and advice for students to make informed choices.
- Degree Pathways is NOT a vehicle to eliminate programs and to reduce general education options, but rather enables students to better understand which program to choose and how to move through that program, and which general education courses fit with their program of study or interest and count toward their goal.
Q: Why is Degree Pathways being implemented at Highline College?
A: In 2015, SBCTC (Washington State Board of Community & Technical Colleges) joined 13 other states in adopting the AACC (American Association of Community Colleges) movement to implement the Degrfee Pathways framework within our 34 college system. There are three cohorts. Highline is in the third cohort. In 2017, the State Legislature pledged funding to support Guided [Degree] Pathways.
History of Washington Guided [Degree] Pathways
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Q: What does Degree Pathways mean for Highline?
A: · Pathways means transforming the entire institution, rather than making changes in selected areas of the students’ paths to completion.
- Reducing barriers to student success at some significant “choke points” – looking at each step of the student experience and using our collective knowledge in all areas (intake, advising, ELCAP, math attainment, program specific disciplines, support services) to reimagine our system together
- Using data and listening to our students’ experience to better understand how we close the equity gap for our majority-minority student population.
- Creating flexible solutions for students that meet their specific needs, by continuously improving our college’s systems and processes to address those needs.
- Making changes in our policies and procedures so that they are student centered and focused on improving student transitions on the pathway to completion.
- Adopting and adapting to new technology in ways that students will actually use, rather than in ways that we have become comfortable with.
- Pathways means making our college ready for our students, rather than the students ready for college.
Q: What are some key elements of Degree Pathways?
A: Clear pathways: With guidance from advisors and career counselors, students choose pathways that lead quickly toward certificates or degrees.
B. Program and degree maps: Faculty map out curriculum and learning outcomes for entire programs. The programs launch students directly into a career with a certificate or two-year degree, or connect them into a university where the students learn more about their chosen fields.
C. Eliminate or accelerate remediation: Colleges implement strategies that dramatically increase the rate at which students complete college-level English and math in their first year of enrollment.
D. Enhanced intake and advising practices: Colleges redesign intake, new student orientation, placement and advising to help entering students choose a path and enroll in a program of study as quickly as possible. This includes required advising on a regular basis, the tracking of student progress, and early alert systems that notify faculty and staff when students falter.
Q: How does Degree Pathways align with other projects and programs we are currently working on to improve student success?
A: Degree Pathways is not a new program or initiative but is rather a planning framework for colleges to bring together and scale effective programs, services, activities that currently exist into structures that include all students. Degree Pathways requires a whole-college transformational reform, which entails a breaking-down of silos and more dynamic collaboration between faculty, administrators, and staff. The Degree Pathways framework will help colleges to integrate the best aspects of all the initiatives into cohesive strategies that help more students get to and through college.
Q: What are program maps?
A: Program maps are guides to provide students with a clear, educationally coherent tool for tracking certificate or degree completion that includes specific course sequences, progress milestones, and program learning outcomes.
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Q: How is course mapping being developed for each program at Highline?
A: There is a program mapping work team that is responsible for coordinating the development of the course maps for each program area. This group is working with the faculty coordinators for each department to develop a course map for each of the academic programs in their area.
Q: Will students still have the opportunity to explore and change their major once they have chosen a pathway?
A: Yes, students are not “locked” into a specific pathway or major. Course mapping will be designed with a focus on exploration and flexibility. Course mapping is designed to guide students, not dictate the courses students must take. There is an exploratory College Success course that is being designed to fit into each pathway and link to disciplinary courses. Students will be encouraged to take the College Success course their first quarter. This will help them to find and determine if they have selected the right pathway early on their educational journey.
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Q: Will Degree Pathways limit options and choices for students?
A: The implementation of academic program maps that simplify students’ choices and show a clear path to completion is one part of Degree Pathways. By clustering courses into academic and career interest areas, and creating a set of refined choices, students are able to explore and make decisions about certificate, degree, and transfer options in a focused manner.
Choice will still be there; what Degree Pathways seeks to eliminate the churning that our students encounter. Without coherent education maps, students take courses that may not serve academic and career goals. Additionally, students have limits as to how many courses federal financial aid will cover. Taking the time to design what our academic pathways will be is important and, when designed well, students will maintain choice within a variety of courses to meet their goals while staying on track.
The call to action for faculty is to come together and help propose courses, course sequences, progress milestones, and learning outcomes aligned to program completion and transfer pathways. The ultimate goal is to help students decide and stay on their path; and complete in a timely manner, before they have exhausted their funding resources.
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Q: Does Degree Pathways place less emphasis on liberal arts because it’s geared toward preparing students for a job? What will happen to our liberal arts courses?
A: No. We will continue to offer and embrace liberal arts education outcomes for students. Providing a clear pathway for students, with carefully considered course options available to them, does not mean that students will lose critical exposure to a range of subjects and the development of broad knowledge and skills.
A liberal arts education has always been defined through required general education courses and defined general education outcomes. General education requirements do not go away in a Degree Pathways model. In fact, a carefully designed program path could support alignment of electives with intended program outcomes in a way that enriches liberal arts outcomes for students.
It should be noted, however, that programs will need to be evaluated based upon student interest. If there are an insufficient number of students to sustain an academic program, this must be considered as part of the program review process.
Q: What is the impact on faculty? Are faculty going to be held responsible for whether or not students succeed/complete their pathway?
A: The responsibility of equitable student success and completion does not rest on one particular group more than another at the college. A large part of our work is to continue to ask ourselves if the college is student ready, rather than asking if our students are ready for college. This means we continue to self-evaluate all that we do and hold ourselves responsible for making the changes needed to support our students.
Part of the holistic approach of Degree Pathways is to have faculty more involved with colleagues in student affairs to form a team of support for students. Whether this is participating in early alert, advising, or formalizing existing partnerships – the idea is that we all work proactively together to support student success.
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Q: Aren’t Career Technical Education programs already a Degree Pathway? What’s going to change?
A: This is true in some ways. Career Technical Education or CTE programs provide clear curricular paths and advisors are generally specialized to support students in specific program areas.
There are several aspects of Degree Pathways that will impact CTE programs. These include:
- The use of technology to help students truly see the curricular pathway and term-by-term academic plan.
- Training and support for implementation of an advising model that shifts from what can feel transactional to more relational and holistic practices with students.
- Reviewing possible connections between credit and non-credit programs to increase the use of “stackable credentials”. We may also want to explore different ways to cluster CTE programs for Degree Pathways for students as they explore within a related industry sector such as healthcare or technology.
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Q: How much money did Highline receive from the state legislature to go towards implementing Degree Pathways and how is that money being spent?
A: Despite the impact of COVID-19 on the state budget, in October 2020, Highline College was allocated $1,440,012 for the 2020-2021 fiscal year to support Degree Pathways implementation. Funds are supporting Degree Pathways efforts in all areas of the college: Academic Affairs, Student Services, Technology, The Office of the President, Institutional Advancement, and Accessibility Services and funds are going towards faculty stipends, payment to students, technology tools, one time contracts for consultation and in-depth data analysis.
Q: What has happened so far and what can we expect to happen for the rest of the year?
A: In October of 2019, President Mosby put out a campus invitation for faculty, staff and students interested in participating in Highline’s Degree Pathways Steering Committee. Beginning in January 2020, a cross-campus group of over 40 faculty, staff and students, who met over a series of working meetings to develop Highline’s Degree Pathways draft implementation work plan. The work plan was submitted to the SBCTC for review and approval in early March 2020.
During the Summer of 2020 faculty members were given release time to review and redesign Highline’s pathways. Student focus groups were consulted and the pathways were revised based on students’ feedback. The work plan, that has been approved by the SBCTC, is divided into four themed priority areas and within each priority area there are work groups. There are a total of 12 work groups. Each work group has its own work plan with identified deliverables to complete. Each consists of two co-leaders and a cross-functional team representing faculty and staff from all divisions and areas of campus. The work group team leaders meet regularly to collaborate and update each other or their progress. May Lukens serves as the Degree Pathways Project Manager and is providing guidance and support to the work group leads
Q: How can I learn more about DegreePathways and are the opportunities to get involved?
A: To Learn more about Degree Pathways and how to get involved contact May Lukens, Program Manager for Degree Pathways.