A few months ago, I committed the College to joining the Chancellor's Office Guided Pathways Project. Our initial step to joining the project was sending a team of faculty and administrators to one of three statewide Guided Pathways workshops.  Angelina Hill, Dave Bazard, Matt McCann, Sean Thomas, and I attended the Guided Pathways workshop in Oakland last week with several of our sister institutions to familiarize ourselves with the project, timelines, and outcomes. 

Why should we get involved now?  I believe that we will realize several benefits by getting involved in this project.  First, the project will help us provide clearer and more educationally coherent program maps and academic and career options for our students. Second, it will provide an avenue for discussion with the faculty and staff on we can ensure that students are building knowledge and skills within and across programs.  Third, the project will support the integration of our SSSP, SEP, Basic Skills Transformation, and Strong Workforce initiatives. Lastly, it will help strengthen our student-centered approach on an institutional level.

Governor Brown and the Chancellor's Office allocated $150 million from Proposition 98 funds for awards to community colleges to develop Guided Pathway Frameworks to support students. To facilitate our work, the Chancellor’s Office will give us $660,472 allocated over five years--25% in year 1 (this year), 30% in year 2, 25% in year 3; 10% in year 4; and 10% in year 5.  Put in real numbers our first year allocation will be $165,118, the second year will be $198,142, the third year will be $165,118, the fourth year will be 66,047, and the fifth and final year will be $66,047.

Our immediate next step is to submit a Guided Pathways Self-Assessment to the Chancellor’s Office by December 23, 2017. Angelina Hill will work with the SSSP Advisory committee, constituent group leadership, and the Board of Trustees to complete the self-assessment. 

If you're interested in learning more about the guided pathways concept I suggest you read Redesigning America's Community Colleges: A Clearer Path to Student Success by Thomas R. Bailey, Shanna Smith Jaggars, and Davis Jenkins. I've attached a summary of the book to this article in case you want to learn more about guided pathways without reading the book.