Recent research is helping to identify the academic behaviors and college practices associated with community college students who achieve momentum in STEM fields and providing new insights for the growing number of community colleges implementing guided pathways reforms, write Davis Jenkins and John Fink.
Melinda Karp, a former assistant director of CCRC, writes about how colleges can turn research into institution-specific reforms through a detailed planning process that determines what reform strategies might work and how they will play out day to day.
James Jacobs discusses how strengthening the relationship between guided pathways reforms and career-technical education can improve both, as colleges refocus their programs on skills that are valued in the current job market.
Guided pathways reforms are now far enough along in a growing number of colleges that researchers can begin to examine more deeply their effects on student outcomes, as well as the institutional practices that best support these reforms. Davis Jenkins lays out the next set of questions for researchers as they seek to build the evidence base around guided pathways.