Highline Degree Pathways Site

Highline College Degree Pathways Newsletters

Winter 2021
Spring 2021  
Special Edition June 2021

Highline College Degree Pathways Newsletters

Winter 2021   Spring 2021     Special Edition June 2021

What’s in a Name?

For Highline, it is “Degree Pathways”

Colleges can choose whatever name they want to describe their Pathways work.  The original model was called “Guided Pathways,” which some colleges have adopted as the name they use. Other colleges have chosen “Academic Pathways”; “Career Pathways”; “[College Name] Pathways”, or just plain “Pathways.”  Whatever they are called, these names mean the same thing. It’s something to remember to help avoid confusion.

Learn More About Degree Pathways

The Highline Degree team will be conducting a series of weekly presentations to inform college staff and faculty about what Degree Pathways are and the different elements that go into making it work at Highline. The presentations go from April 15 to June 10, 2021.

Presentation topics include advising, research, program mapping, inclusive pedagogy, college intake, and using data to tell the college story.

Click on the banner below to view the series schedule and how you can be a part of them.

Just Added to Resources

Investing in Student Success at Community Colleges: Lessons From Research on Guided Pathways  (April 2021)
“Guided Pathways is not an intervention but rather a framework that the federal government, states, and colleges can use to strengthen community colleges and improve student outcomes. In this brief, we explain what Guided Pathways is, why we think it has promise, what it costs, and how it can help improve student success on a large scale and thus grow a stronger, more prosperous, and more inclusive middle class. ”

Guided Pathways Purpose/Elements Revisited

(from Vice-President Emily Lardner’s Academic Affairs Area Report to the Board of Trustees – May 6, 2021)

Guided Pathways [to careers] provides the necessary framework for a higher education model that advances racial, social, and economic justice. Through changes in how the student experience is structured, achieving equitable student aspiration, access, economic progress and educational and career attainment is possible. The Guided Pathways framework focuses on addressing key momentum areas including:

• Alignment of learning outcomes to labor market and junior level (major ready) competencies for transfer
• Excellent anti-racist, equity-minded pedagogy
• Clear pathways to achieve those outcomes- students know what classes to take when
• Excellent intake and on-boarding processes- fostering a deep sense of belonging for each student
• Informed choices- how students choose a pathway and program
• Holistic supports- how students are supported to stay on a pathway to completion

This requires challenging assumptions and long standing beliefs, practices, and policies, and is an adaptive, transformative institution-wide change process taking place at the colleges.

   Highline College (Proposed) Degree Pathways  

The Degree Pathways team, after receiving input from students, staff, and faculty, have proposed seven degree pathways incorporating the college’s academic programs, as well as an exploratory pathway for undecided students.

What Are Degree Pathways?

Degree pathways are a framework for redesigning an entire community college to improve the student experience for everyone, from entry through graduation. This happens by students having a clear, structured program of study that will contribute to their learning and success, and hopefully lead to the completion of their program or degree. It is up to the individual colleges to create pathways that will work best for their students.  Degree pathways initiatives involve:

• reforms in advising and registration processes to help all students identify their goals early in their academic careers
• improvements in how students are supported throughout their courses of study
• clear “maps” for each program of study that guide students as they select courses, and
• programs that, ideally, are aligned with career opportunities in the labor market.

Why Degree Pathways?

Why?  Concisely stated, the pathways are a strategy to increase student completion rates and close equity gaps.  The Washington Student Achievement Council (2020) reports how under 50% of Washington high school graduates in college complete their credential within eight years. Also, students of color and those from low-income families are less likely to succeed. Students of color who make it through high school to enroll in college complete at a rate 16% percentage points below the average.  According to the Community College Research Center, “a fundamental goal of {Degree} Pathways is to increase the rate at which underrepresented students earn college credentials, particularly in fields of high economic value, while also closing gaps for low-income students, students of color, returning adults, and other groups with inequitable outcomes.”

• Clear pathways: With guidance from advisors and career counselors, students choose pathways that lead quickly toward certificates or degrees.
• 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.
• 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.
• Enhanced intake and advising practices: Colleges redesign intake, 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.

Highline College Degree Pathways Implementation Work Plan

See the Highline College Degree Pathways Implementation Work Plan, submitted to the WA State Board of Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) in March 2020 and approved by SBCTC in April 2020.

The Implementation Plan establishes four guiding principles in implementing its plan. These principles are formalized into four Career Pathways Priority Areas.

Pathway Work Groups: to do the work on implementing the plan, those working on the pathways have been broken into teams.  Each team is responsible for a specific area of the plan.  Each area, such as “Ensuring Learning–Program Learning Outcomes” or “Math Attainment” has a guideline set by the SBCTC, a statement of intent for that area by Highline, an action plan, and progress updates.

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Priority Area 1

All programs (degrees and certificates) prepare students for better jobs, further education, and increased opportunities

Leads
Program Mapping: Liz Word
Exploratory Sequence in Each Pathway: Justin Dampeer & Liz Word
Math Attainment Committee: Barbara Hunter & Shannon Waits

Priority Area 3

Highline faculty and staff have the competencies, skills and experience to support student success in and out of the classroom in an equitable manner.

Leads
Ensuring Learning–Program Learning Outcomes: Shawna Freeman & Aaron Moehlig
Ensuring Learning–Inclusive Pedagogy: Tarisa Matsumoto-Maxfield & Bob Scribner

Priority Area 2

All students have the support they need to explore career options, become part of a community, and complete programs efficient.

Leads
Advising:  Chantal Carrancho & Aleya Dhanji
Intake:  Shannon Waits & Chantal Carrancho
Scheduling:  Gabrielle Bachmeier & Marco Lopez-Torres

Priority Area 4

Highline College continually builds institutional capacity to implement Guided Pathways as a strategy for increasing student completions and closing equity gaps.

Leads
Communications and Faculty & Staff Engagement: Gabrielle Bachmeier & Emily Coates
Students as Stakeholders in Learning/Student Voice: Justin Dampeer & Paulette Lopez
Technology: Laurinda Bellinger & Tim Wrye
Research: Skyler Roth & Yay-Hyung Cho