NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In 2016, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) launched the Pathways Project, which presented a model that was outcomes-focused rather than access-oriented.
Nine years later, the Community College Research Center (CCRC) has taken a new look at that original Pathways framework and research and is presenting a “framework for moving forward,” according to Hana Lahr, CCRC’s assistant director of research and the director of applied learning.
Lahr and CCRC’s Davis Jenkins discussed what that framework will look like during a session this week at AACC 2025. They were joined by St. Petersburg College President Tonjua Williams.
Community College 3.0
CCRC evaluated guided pathways reforms at about 90 colleges, including those involved in AACC’s Pathways Project. The researchers discovered that whole-college reform is possible, but it takes at least five years. The practices that had the biggest impact on student momentum were case-management advising by specific field and course scheduling based on students’ schedules.
And, while Pathways reforms to date have focused on removing barriers to completion, moving forward, colleges should focus more on students’ motivation.
“Start with the end in mind,” Jenkins said.
Coming in August from CCRC: More Essential Than Ever: Community College Pathways to Educational and Career Success
That end is direct entry into a job with a living wage, or successful transfer, with no excess credits, into a bachelor’s program.
“Students won’t enroll if they aren’t guaranteed a living-wage job or that all their credits will transfer,” Jenkins said.
Five areas of focus
Jenkins presented five things colleges can do to help students be motivated and successful. The first is that colleges need to work with employers and four-year partners to ensure programs are aligned to help students reach post-completion success.
Second, students need to develop versatile skills, which will require courses to have active, experiential learning embedded in them.
CCRC researchers also advise colleges to rethink the onboarding process to help students with career exploration and planning. That means asking students about their interests and aspirations.
Also, a focus on completion is key, but it has to be on the student’s schedule and delivered in a way that keeps students engaged.
“Asynchronous, fully online courses won’t get us where we need to be,” Jenkins said. He added that learning is a “social enterprise.”
“It has to be interactive,” he said, and that can’t happen in a fully online course.
Finally, colleges should reconsider high school dual enrollment as a means to access debt-free, career-connected education.
Jenkins laid it out this way: Community College 1.0 was focused on access; 2.0 was focused on access and retention; and now Community College 3.0 is focused on access, retention and post-college success.
A path to success
Before St. Petersburg College (SPC) adopted the Pathways framework, the Florida college was “bean counting,” SPC President Tonjua Williams said. They would look at how many students came to class and took tutoring, and other numbers, but the information wasn’t really connected to outcomes. As a result, students were leaving college with too many credits and no real way to connect those credits to a career.
Using a Pathways framework that focuses on students’ post-college success, SPC now connects students to careers and guides them along the way. Students are placed on a career track right away, whether their goal is to transfer or enter the workforce upon graduation.
“Students know why they’re there, what career they’ll get, how much money they’ll get and how they’ll grow,” Williams said.
She added, “Students who don’t know why they’re there won’t finish.”
For students hoping to enter the workforce directly, the college can inform them about the potential earnings after completing a 14-week certificate program versus a two-year degree program.
And when it comes to transfer, SPC works more closely with its sister universities to ensure all credits will be accepted. That’s not easy, considering one university, for example, may require a different chemistry class than another university. To ensure no credits are lost (or time wasted), advisors help students determine which four-year institution they hope to transfer to so they can take the right course.
Dual-enrollment students aren’t left out of this – they’re placed on a career track, too.
Other changes
SPC also has refined the way it engages with students from the second they apply to the college. Williams herself went on the college’s website to fill out an application – something she advised session attendees to do at their own colleges.
When she initially submitted the application, it took about a month to get a response from the college. Now, applicants hear back in about 10 minutes.
Implementing a Pathways framework – particularly one that focuses on post-college success – is hard work and it takes a long time, Williams admitted, and not all staff and faculty will be on board. Also, it has to be continuously evaluated and refined because “as we were working on this framework, jobs and tech are already changing.”
But SPC is seeing positive movement forward. Graduates of the college have some of the highest wages in Florida.
“When you put in the work and stand behind your product, it’s not as hard,” Williams said.
