Pathways Through the Bluegrass: Reform at Bluegrass Community and Technical College

This blog post is one of a series from colleges that participated in CCRC’s Guided Pathways Summer Institute on how their guided pathways reforms have evolved.

In fall 2020, Dr. Koffi Akakpo, the president and CEO of Bluegrass Community and Technical College (BCTC), approached me to lead a task force to implement a college-wide reform using the guided pathways model. After that conversation, as we say in Kentucky, we were off to the races with the agility, speed, and spirit of a Kentucky Derby thoroughbred.

I immediately assembled a cross-functional team of faculty, staff, and administrators, and we meet every other week to lead this college-wide effort. The 20-person task force and the Academic Leadership Team started our work by reading CCRC’s book, Redesigning America's Community Colleges: A Clearer Path to Student Success, to obtain an overview of the guided pathways model and the research supporting it. The book provided the foundation for implementing the guided pathways model.

After two years of work, BCTC applied to participate in the 2022 CCRC Guided Pathways Summer Institute, which assisted in moving our pathways reform to the next level. We spent the first two years creating buy-in and structure, and the summer institute provided the support to look at our work through a data-driven equity-focused lens.

Nearly three years later, we’re seeing promising trends, including an increase in retention and graduation rates. The college’s overall retention rate went up from 54.4% in 2020-2021 to 56.7% the next year. The retention rate for underrepresented minorities went from 43.2% in 2017-2018 to 51.4% in 2021-2022.

Graduation rates are also rising, with the graduation rate for underrepresented minorities going from 16.2% in 2018-2019 to 27% in 2021-2022. The overall graduation rate was 23.7% in 2018-2019 and increased to 34.8% in 2021-2022. Although this is promising, we know there is much more work to be done, and we are committed to continual improvement of these metrics.

Defining BCTC’s Meta-Majors

To implement guided pathways, the first step was to develop our meta-majors, clusters of programs that would provide an organizational foundation for many of the other pathways reforms. To strengthen buy-in, we spent extensive time discussing the broad categories and decided upon eight key program areas. The task force then organized current programs into these eight areas and shared them with faculty, industry advisory committees, staff, and administrators. Finally, they were presented to student groups to confirm they were meaningful. In addition, we developed surveys to identify the name for our program areas that would be most meaningful to our students, faculty, staff, and community. The name Career Pathways was the consensus.

In spring 2022, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, in collaboration with all 16 community colleges, initiated a system-wide approach to guided pathways by agreeing upon the main Career Pathways that each institution would use. Standardizing pathways across the system meant that students who transferred from institution to institution would recognize the pathways, which would provide a more seamless experience for the students. The sixteen KCTCS institutions have the autonomy to organize their programs of study around the Career Pathways that were agreed upon.

Website and First Semester Plans

Next, to communicate the Career Pathways to our students, we put them on the college’s website. We researched how other colleges presented information to their students and held months of college-wide discussion. During the summer of 2021, we developed a website that included a list of programs within each Career Pathway, a link to additional information for each program, recommended first-semester course plans specific to the pathway, and information on transfer destinations and workforce options.

The first-semester course plans were the result of another extensive collaboration with the faculty. We identified the recommended courses based on the success rates of first-time freshmen in first-semester courses over the prior five years. The first-semester plans include courses commonly taken by students in these pathways but also provide flexibility for each student's particular interests—they are designed so that students can take a course that really engages them during their first semester. The intent is to light the fire for students in that first semester to encourage connection and belonging.

Initiatives Launched After the CCRC Institutes

In 2022, BCTC attended the CCRC Guided Pathways Summer Institute and a fall institute designed specifically for the Kentucky Community and Technical Colleges. Based upon these two institutes, we incorporated the Ask-Connect-Inspire-Plan (ACIP) model into our guided pathways reforms.

In September 2022, the college launched the MyMajors career assessment tool, which provides students with their top ten recommended BCTC programs. This tool is used in student orientations as well as in our first-year experience course. The results are automatically uploaded into the Starfish student tracking and educational support system for advisors to access so they can work with students more effectively.

In addition, the college developed intake questions, which are answered prior to accessing the MyMajors tool to gauge what support each student may need. Both current students and prospective students have access to this tool. Since the tool launched, 1,032 students have completed the assessment.

To strengthen the connection with students, we adapted a list of “Hi” Five Questions—important questions to ask new and continuing students—which were presented by another institution at the CCRC Summer Institute. The questions are provided on note cards to faculty and staff so they have an easy reference to guide conversations and improve student engagement. In fall 2022, faculty and staff also received training on using the “Hi” Five Questions, on the ACIP model, and on guided pathways in general.

Helping Students Out of the Gate: Summer Orientation and Advising

Orientation is required for all new students and is offered in person at all campuses and online. As part of our guided pathways reforms, we redesigned our orientation to incorporate the Career Pathways and enhance students’ understanding of their program and career options. The presentations are tailored to each specific pathway and include faculty, staff, and student interactions.

After the CCRC Summer Institute, we modified our student advising appointment process to enable new and readmitted students to schedule an advising appointment with specialty-trained professional advisors/student success coaches based on their Career Pathway. Once the first advising session has concluded, the advisor places a student group code onto the student’s record in the Student Information System indicating their pathway. The student groups are used later in the permanent advisor assignment process.

In September and February of each year, new and readmitted students are transferred from their professional staff advisor/student success coach to a faculty advisor based on their Career Pathway. Continuing students remain with their faculty advisor unless their pathway has changed. Advising is required for all credential-seeking students before each term; students are not permitted to self-enroll. Advisors adhere to a set of advisor responsibilities to guide their advising appointments and outreach efforts.

Moving Forward: Our Commitment to Finish Strong

Starting in fall 2023, BCTC will offer Pathway Learning Communities in which a cohort of students enroll in the same required courses within their pathway. A peer mentor will lead a weekly meeting for each pathway learning community. In addition, we plan to develop programming to encourage students to study and eat lunch together, meet with faculty, receive discipline-specific tutoring, and participate in support programming.

BCTC and Fayette County Public Schools (FCPS) are collaborating to strengthen our dual credit partnership and create secondary-to-postsecondary pathways into BCTC programs. FCPS pathways include links to the college’s program webpages and program plans. Next steps include collaborating with FCPS to finalize the webpage and marketing campaign to roll this out to school personnel, students, and parents. In addition to creating secondary-to-postsecondary pathways, work is continuing to enhance recruitment, matriculation, advising, orientation, and success for dual credit students.

Dr. Karen Mayo is associate vice president, academics and workforce development and chair of the Guided Pathways Task Force at Bluegrass Community and Technical College. For more on the college’s guided pathways work see the Guided Pathways Three-Year Progress Report.