California Community College Guided Pathways Grant Program - Community Colleges - CA Education

Section § 88920

This law states that students are more likely to graduate on time if they choose a major early, know the required courses, and receive continuous support. California aims to improve student outcomes in community colleges by providing guidance services, focusing on closing achievement gaps, enhancing foundational skills, offering pre-transfer support, and simplifying transfers to four-year universities. The law also highlights the need for strategic investments and assistance to help colleges integrate student success programs, offer reliable course schedules, and provide feedback and support. Additionally, offering a default two-year course plan for associate degree students is seen as a way to ensure timely program completion.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) Students are more likely to graduate on time if they identify a major early on, have a clear outline of the courses required for completion, and are provided consistent ongoing guidance and support throughout their program of study.

(b) California has made investments to improve student outcomes at community colleges by providing student intake and guidance services, requiring colleges to focus on closing achievement gaps, improving foundational skills instruction and placements, providing enhanced student services for pretransfer-level students, and streamlining and simplifying the transfer process to four-year universities.

(c) Providing community colleges with strategic, one-time state investments and technical assistance will enable colleges to integrate existing student-success programs and provide students with predictable course schedules and frequent feedback and support services to ensure that they can complete academic programs more efficiently.

(d) Providing students who are pursuing an associate degree with a full two-year sequence of courses that can serve as a default plan will help to ensure that these students are positioned to complete their program on time.

community college student support graduation timelines student intake services achievement gap closure foundational skills improvement streamlined transfer process predictable course schedules student success programs associate degree course sequence technical assistance for colleges pre-transfer student services timely program completion strategic investment in education academic guidance services on-time graduation strategies

(Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 465, Sec. 11. (AB 2973) Effective January 1, 2023.)

Section § 88921

The California Community College Guided Pathways Grant Program aims to improve student success at community colleges by integrating current student-success initiatives, enhancing colleges' capacity for change, and clearly organizing students' educational paths. The program helps students by simplifying course choices, offering detailed academic plans, and ensuring transfer pathways to universities. It also encourages students to determine their academic paths early, adjust remedial courses, and provide ongoing support to help them stay on track. Additionally, the program emphasizes effective teaching and learning, incorporating real-world experiences like internships to improve educational outcomes.

(a) There is hereby established the California Community College Guided Pathways Grant Program under the administration of the chancellor’s office. Grants awarded to community colleges pursuant to this part are intended to ensure all of the following:

(1) Integration of existing student-success programs and services.

(2) Building of capacity at community colleges for data analysis, leadership, planning, and implementation related to institutional change.

(3) Development of clearly structured, coherent guided pathways programs for all entering students for purposes of improving student outcomes, reducing time to degree, and increasing the ability of students to obtain high-paying jobs.

(b) The chancellor’s office shall distribute grants, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to community colleges that satisfy the requirements of this part and any programmatic criteria, administrative guidelines, and other requirements developed by the chancellor’s office to implement this part.

(c) For purposes of this part, “chancellor’s office” means the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges.

(d) For purposes of this part, a “guided pathways program” includes all of the following activities and practices:

(1) Clarifying paths to student end goals by doing all of the following:

(A) Simplifying students’ choices with default program maps developed by faculty and advisors for all academic and vocational programs that show students a clear pathway to completion, further education, and employment in fields of importance to the region.

(B) Providing student advising and support services that help students to transition from high school, explore academic and vocational fields, choose a major, and develop a comprehensive academic plan leading to an associate degree for transfer, a career technical education certificate, an associate degree, other community college certificates, or the satisfaction of university transfer requirements.

(C) Establishing transfer pathways through alignment of pathway courses and expected learning outcomes with transfer institutions, to optimize applicability of community college credits to university majors.

(2) Helping students choose and enter a pathway by doing both of the following:

(A) Bridging K-12 to higher education by ensuring early remediation in the final year of high school.

(B) Redesigning traditional remediation as an “on-ramp” to a program of study, which helps students explore academic and career options from the beginning of their college experience, aligns math and other foundation skills coursework with a student’s program of study, and integrates and contextualizes instruction to build academic and nonacademic foundation skills throughout the college-level curriculum, particularly in program “gateway” courses.

(3) Helping students stay on an academic path by doing both of the following:

(A) Implementing procedures and systems, supported by appropriate technology, to monitor students’ progress toward completing their academic plans, to identify students who are at risk of not progressing in a program, and to intervene promptly with advising and other academic supports to help those students to resume progress or to revise their plans.

(B) Embedding academic and nonacademic supports throughout student programs to promote student learning and persistence.

(4) Ensuring students are learning by all of the following:

(A) Establishing program-level learning outcomes that are aligned with the requirements for success in employment and further education in a given field and applying the results of learning outcomes assessments to improve the effectiveness of instruction across programs.

(B) Integrating group projects, internships, and other applied learning experiences to enhance instruction and student success in courses across programs of study.

Guided Pathways Grant Program student success programs institutional change data analysis capacity academic advising transfer pathways remedial education academic planning career technical education university transfer requirements academic support systems learning outcomes applied learning experiences community college internships teaching effectiveness

(Added by Stats. 2017, Ch. 23, Sec. 14. (SB 85) Effective June 27, 2017.)

Section § 88922

This section outlines how funds are allocated to California Community Colleges to support the implementation of guided pathways programs. First, up to 10% of the funds are reserved for statewide support, and the rest are distributed as grants to participating colleges. Grants are distributed based on the number of full-time students, students eligible for Pell Grants, and other measures. To receive funds, colleges must demonstrate a commitment to guided pathways by providing specific documentation, attending workshops, and submitting a detailed work plan.

The Chancellor’s Office determines progress and releases funds in stages. They also develop indicators to measure program success. Colleges can use grant funds for time and resources to design and implement the pathways but cannot use them for ongoing costs like instruction. Reports are due annually to monitor progress and provide recommendations. Lastly, the Chancellor’s Office aims to use existing structures like the California Guided Pathways Project to support implementation.

(a) From the funds provided for this part, the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges shall allocate:

(1) Up to 10 percent of the total amount of these funds for statewide assistance and programmatic support to implement this part.

(2) All remaining funds shall be allocated as grants to participating community colleges.

(b)

(1) The chancellor’s office shall award grants to participating community colleges from the funds described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) as follows:

(A) Twenty percent of these funds shall be awarded equally among all participating colleges.

(B) Thirty-five percent of these funds shall be awarded based on the percentage of full-time equivalent students at each participating college.

(C) Forty-five percent of these funds shall be awarded based on the percentage of students at each participating college that satisfy the requirements to receive federal Pell Grants and the requirements in Section 68130.5.

(2) The chancellor’s office may include additional measures or adjust the allocation percentages in subparagraphs (A) to (C), inclusive, of paragraph (1) to accomplish the purposes of this part consistent with paragraph (3).

(3) The chancellor’s office shall notify and receive concurrence from the Department of Finance before including additional measures or adjusting the allocation percentages pursuant to paragraph (2) and providing these funds to participating community colleges. The department shall consult with the Legislative Analyst’s Office before determining whether to concur. The Director of Finance shall notify the Joint Legislative Budget Committee if the department intends to concur.

(c) Before the chancellor’s office may award grant funds to a participating community college, the college shall demonstrate its commitment to implement a guided pathways framework by completing all of the following:

(1) Submitting a letter to the chancellor’s office signed by, and expressing the commitment of, the president of the governing board of the community college district, the chief executive officer of the college, and the president of the college’s academic senate to adopt a guided pathways model.

(2) Notifying the chancellor’s office that the college has attended an Institutional Effectiveness Partnership Initiative workshop for guided pathways. The chancellor’s office shall ensure that community college representatives have sufficient access to an Institutional Effectiveness Partnership Initiative workshop for guided pathways that provides expert assistance to college representatives in developing a work plan that identifies implementation tasks for each participating college.

(3)

(A) Establishing and submitting to the chancellor’s office a work plan outlining the college’s commitment to implement a guided pathways program for all entering students and integrate existing student-success programs operating at the college, including, but not necessarily limited to, the Basic Skills Initiative, the Awards for Innovation in Higher Education Program established under Article 2.6 (commencing with Section 66010.96) of Chapter 2 of Part 40 of Division 5, associate degrees for transfer established pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 66745) of Chapter 9.2 of Part 40 of Division 5, zero-textbook-cost degrees established pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with Section 78050) of Chapter 1 of Part 48, the Student Success and Support Program established in Article 1 (commencing with Section 78210) of Chapter 2 of Part 48, student equity plans adopted pursuant to Article 1.5 (commencing with Section 78220) of Chapter 2 of Part 48, the Adult Education Block Grant Program established in Article 9 (commencing with Section 84900) of Chapter 5 of Part 50, and the Strong Workforce Program established in Part 54.5 (commencing with Section 88820).

(B) The work plan shall also include the college’s policies regarding the use of information from high school records and other assessment measures to determine each student’s course placement and academic support needs.

(4) Submitting additional information that may be required by the chancellor’s office, including an application developed by the chancellor’s office, to assess a community college’s commitment to implement a guided pathways program.

(d) If the chancellor’s office determines that a participating community college has not sufficiently met the requirements of subdivision (c), the college may access available technical assistance opportunities and revise and resubmit the documentation required pursuant to subdivision (c) after receiving its grant funds.

(e)

(1) The chancellor’s office shall establish programmatic criteria to release funding in stages to a participating community college based upon a determination by the chancellor’s office that the college is making appropriate progress toward implementing a guided pathways program.

(2)

(A) The chancellor’s office shall develop qualitative and quantitative indicators to measure early outcomes of guided pathways programs implemented pursuant to this part. In developing these indicators, the chancellor’s office shall consider existing research regarding credit accumulation, completion of gateway mathematics and English courses, and completion of required courses in an academic program as early indicators of program completion.

(B) The chancellor’s office shall develop college-level indicators measuring the share of entering students who are participating in the activities and practices as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 88921 and the alignment of course offerings with students’ education plans.

(C) Nothing in this paragraph shall preclude the chancellor’s office from using student success metrics that are already available as part of the California Community Colleges Student Success Scorecard, the American Association of Community Colleges Pathways Project, or other existing initiatives.

(f) To the extent feasible, the chancellor’s office shall utilize the structure and processes in place for the California Guided Pathways Project, including, but not limited to, the project’s application, participation agreement, professional development, outcome measures, and technical assistance models.

(g) Participating community colleges may use grant funds to implement guided pathways programs for various limited-term purposes, including, but not necessarily limited to, any, or any combination, including all, of the following:

(1) Faculty and staff release time to review and redesign guided pathways programs, instruction, and support services.

(2) Professional development in areas related to guided pathways.

(3) Administrative time to coordinate, communicate, and engage college stakeholders in the process of developing and implementing guided pathways programs.

(4) Upgrades to computer and student information systems to improve tracking of student progress and feedback to students.

(h) Participating community colleges shall not use grant funds to provide instruction or support services to students or for other ongoing operating costs.

(i)

(1) The chancellor’s office shall report to the Director of Finance and the Legislature, pursuant to Section 9795 of the Government Code, as follows:

(A) By July 1, 2018, provide a summary of the plans received by the chancellor’s office pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (c), a summary of activities supported by the funds identified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a), and a summary of activities related to implementation of this part from the Institutional Effectiveness Partnership Initiative and other existing programs of the chancellor’s office.

(B) By each July 1 from 2019 to 2022, inclusive, provide an updated summary of each community college’s progress toward implementing its plan established pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (c), including the share of each college’s students engaged in guided pathways activities and practices and the college’s alignment of course offerings with student education plans. The annual report due by July 1, 2022, shall include a summary of each participating community college’s progress on the qualitative and quantitative indicators of early outcomes developed pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (e) or as otherwise required by the chancellor’s office.

(2) Each of the reports in paragraph (1) shall include recommendations on any statutory or regulatory changes necessary to improve the ability of community colleges to implement their locally developed guided pathways programs.

guided pathways fund allocation community colleges grant distribution Chancellor’s Office statewide assistance grant eligibility Pell Grants Institutional Effectiveness Partnership student success funding criteria program evaluation technical assistance professional development work plan submission

(Added by Stats. 2017, Ch. 23, Sec. 14. (SB 85) Effective June 27, 2017.)