Reframing Guided Pathways Initiatives to Show California Educators the Need to Focus on Careers

WestEd’s Center for Economic Mobility is helping colleges redesign their Guided Pathways initiatives to put careers at the center, adapting the approach to better recruit more low-income and adult learners.

The Challenge

One of the biggest strengths of community colleges is that they serve many different types of students through many different programs. But this variety often creates complicated systems that are hard to understand. When students don’t know how to navigate college processes, they’re more likely to drop out before finishing their program.

The Guided Pathways movement uses research to find specific that would help more students reach their goals. The effort has helped colleges clarify pathways, but it may seem less important now that states are focusing more on Credentials of Value and return on students’ investment. For example:

• When colleges develop pathway maps, they often don’t think about how those programs prepare students for careers until late in the redesign process, especially for majors that don’t clearly connect to specific jobs.
• Mapping activities often focus on full-time students who go straight to college after high school.

How We’re Taking Action

Starting in 2017, WestEd helped to adapt the Guided Pathways framework to California. Working closely with the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office and national partners, WestEd generated additional data sets that helped educators see the average number of courses taken by graduates, transfer outcomes, and postcollege earnings. We then coached college teams to develop pathways maps that take into account different student circumstances, such as those who can only enroll part time or would need to attend at night or on weekends.

When addressing nondegree options, WestEd helped colleges better understand the people in their community who would benefit from higher education, which local jobs pay living wages, how community college offerings align to those opportunities, and industry credentials that align with college programs. In addition, WestEd supported regional Guided Pathways coordinators to understand and use labor market information to support redesign efforts.

Building on our experience in California community colleges, WestEd generated data sets to support adult learner strategies in Colorado, North Carolina, and Texas and helped create resources on ways to improve transfer and employment outcomes. As a result, colleges across the country are better prepared to address both immediate job training needs and longer-term career opportunities.

When the Guided Pathways movement began, many states focused on the onboarding process and improving completion. California took a different path. From its initial implementation, with support from WestEd, the state emphasized earnings as a component of Guided Pathways implementation. This is now reflected in the state’s incentive structure, including the Student Centered Funding Formula, which provides supplemental funding to colleges that increase the number of students who secure a job in a related field of study or attain a living wage.

WestEd has also been a trusted partner in ensuring the California community college system supports adult learners. For example, we’ve assisted the Chancellor’s Office in socializing high-impact practices, like offering credit for prior learning and transitioning more students from noncredit to credit offerings. WestEd has also helped colleges to design new pathways that help specific populations prepare for better paid careers, such as helping domestic workers advance in the allied health field.

Resources

• Video: This 6-minute video provides a short explanation of strategies to help different types of students select and succeed in academic and career pathways.
• Practice Guides: These practice guides explain how people in various community college positions can implement the core tenets of redesign in their daily work: Administrators | Practice Advisors | Articulation Officers | Faculty
• Curriculum: In under 10 minutes, this module walks faculty members through a redesign framework, assesses existing efforts, and provides practices that help students attain their career and college goals. You’ll also find resources, including a practice guide, an overview video, and a one-page summary of the important role of faculty in helping students to imagine their future, connect with like-minded communities, and practice their skills. Note: This module requires a California community college Canvas account: Canvas module introducing metamajor redesign through a faculty lens
• Reference Guide: This slide deck introduces a cross-sector pathways model and highlights emerging practices and strategies to strengthen ties between community colleges and their transfer and employer partners.