Perhaps it is time for a change in defining educational goal

Student Pathways

Currently we ask…SM01 GoalsSM02 MajorSM03 Special Services NeedsSM04 Orientation –Exempt –StatusSM05 Assessment –Exempt –StatusSM06 Counseling/Advisement –Exempt

StatusSM07 Orientation -ServicesSM08 Assessment –Servs-Placement

Perhaps we could askWhat brings you to our college? What experience/education do you have? Can you tell us about yourself, so we can

better meet your needs? Can you afford our programs (some are

free)? How can we guide you along one of the

following pathways….

Which Path Describes You?Explorer – I am new to college or still

trying to find the right college for me. Scholar – I am successfully on my way

toward a certificate, degree or transfer program.

Skills Builder – I am interested in developing my workplace skills and certifications.

Each College can choose how to Tell students what the pathway looks like,

who they will find on it and how your college views or supports students on this path.

Identify cohorts for interventions and deliver just in time services to just those students.

Use milestones appropriate for each pathway to measure alignment and success.

ExplorerThis is Bahr’s cluster of least-likely-to-

succeed students.About half make it to the other

pathways. This is where students search and discover.

They also need the most help to find out how they can leverage college to meet their goals. Here is where we assess and inventory, develop awareness with college readiness and non-credit programs.

Explorer milestonesCompletion of below college coursework to

college level in the same subjectCompletion of non-credit to credit in

same…Returning to college after a dropped year Achieving good academic standingMeeting the criteria for either Scholar or

Skills Builder pathways

ScholarThese are the first time freshmen on a

degree or transfer track. We can determine a unit threshold, like

ARCC, to put students into the cohort. We tell them to “get into this club, you must…” Complete college readiness, attempt college

math and EnglishDeclare a major and maintain good academic

standingImagine….

Current MIS Codes for Ed Goal A Obtain an AA degree and

transfer to a 4-year institution B Transfer to a 4-year

institution without an AA degree

C Obtain a two year associate's degree without transfer

D Obtain a two year vocational degree without transfer

E Earn a vocational certificate without transfer

F Discover / formulate career interests, plans, goals

G Prepare for a new career (acquire job skills)

H Advance in current job / career (update job skills)

I Maintain certificate or license (e.g. Nursing, Real Estate)

J Educational development (intellectual, cultural)

K Improve basic skills in English, reading or math

L Complete credits for high school diploma or GED

M Undecided on goal N To move from noncredit

coursework to credit coursework

O 4-year college student taking courses to meet 4-year college requirements

X Uncollected / unreported Y Not applicable

One Way to Map Pathways in MISImagine a two letter code for ed goalThe first character represents the

PATHWAYA for Scholars, B for Skills Builders, C for

ExplorersThe second character remains the same as

our previous ed goalsThe following is an example. We can

debate the final coding later.

Possible New Codes for Ed GoalAA Obtain an AA AA Obtain an AA

degree and transfer degree and transfer to a 4-year institution to a 4-year institution

AB Transfer to a 4-AB Transfer to a 4-year institution year institution without an AA degree without an AA degree

AC Obtain a two year AC Obtain a two year associate's degree associate's degree without transfer without transfer

AD Obtain a two year AD Obtain a two year vocational degree vocational degree without transfer without transfer

The top four goals could be mapped to the Scholar Pathway

These four goals have been combined in prior research on transfer

Possible New Codes for Ed GoalBE Earn a vocational BE Earn a vocational

certificate without certificate without transfer transfer

BF Discover / formulate BF Discover / formulate career interests, plans, career interests, plans, goals goals

BG Prepare for a new BG Prepare for a new career (acquire job skills) career (acquire job skills)

BH Advance in current BH Advance in current job / career (update job job / career (update job skills) skills)

BI Maintain certificate or BI Maintain certificate or license (e.g. Nursing, Real license (e.g. Nursing, Real Estate) Estate)

The next five goals could be mapped to the Skills Builder Pathway

These have also been combined in prior research on vocational outcomes

Possible New Codes for Ed Goal The remaining choices

could be combined under the Explorer Pathway

Obviously, we can decide on other ways to map or combine but that’s a debate for later

CJ Educational CJ Educational development (intellectual, development (intellectual, cultural) cultural)

CK Improve basic skills in CK Improve basic skills in English, reading or math English, reading or math

CL Complete credits for CL Complete credits for high school diploma or GED high school diploma or GED

CM Undecided on goal CM Undecided on goal CN To move from CN To move from

noncredit coursework to noncredit coursework to credit coursework credit coursework

CO 4-year college student CO 4-year college student taking courses to meet 4-taking courses to meet 4-year college requirements year college requirements

CX Uncollected / CX Uncollected / unreported unreported

CY Not applicable CY Not applicable

Now… back to the Scholar Pathway

Scholar milestonesCompletion of college level mathCompletion of college level EnglishCompletion of college level scienceTransferable Course success rate >70%Completes 30 units or 7 cont. primary

termsAttends fulltime (percent taking 11+ units)

Skills BuilderCompleted 8+ units in CTE or job-related

coursesCourse success rate >70%

Many of these students start as ExplorersSome overlap with college readiness and

developmental education is okay

Skills Builder milestonesCertificationsGainful Employment

What would implementation look like?

Colleges Can ChooseSome colleges will want to give different

names to pathways. That’s okay. Some colleges will want to continue using

the old ed goals, and we can accommodate that

Some colleges may choose to use web tools to assist students in identifying/selecting a path

Some colleges could align student pathways across the institution

One Way to GoImagine a college that asks thoughtful

questions to help ‘triage’ or direct students to the pathways and support services they need

Students and Faculty identify with these pathways and provide momentum to achieve high rates of success for their milestones

College makes visible: “Are you on track?”

Let Students Self Select a PathAsk them to choose a pathway every term When they register, ask: “Last term you

were on XX pathway, are you still on this pathway, or do you need to make a change?”The choice can be three to five* pathways

that we can easily code and report in MISWe may add pathways for non-credit or

lifelong learning depending on the final debate

Then we compare We can compare students’ course taking

behavior with the path they say they are on.

Based on students’ chosen pathways and the additional information we collect specific to each student… age, gender, SES, academic preparedness, first generation status, etc…

We will have better dataWe can research students’ declared

pathway versus the students’ behavior. Better than that, we can effectively

measure specific milestones for each pathway. Smaller successes captured and less blur in metrics.

Instead of an ‘ed goal’ as we now collect it, we can determine if a student’s choices and behavior align AND if she met a milestone.

We can do two amazing thingsWe can provide targeted support services

to each student based on the alignment between what they say and what they do.

We can measure success based on milestones that are appropriate. This could become a report card for the student AND an aggregated success indicator for the institution.

In closingMy biggest concern is that we ask students

for all sorts of data, most often for our own purposes and many students know this.

For once, let’s ask the student something that MATTERS to THEM, and actually USE it to direct them towards successful support services, rather than check a box and use it for “research.”

Marc BeamDirector, Research and Planning

Shasta College

Thank You