CAMPUS
NEWS
Part 2: College Funding
STORY
LEVI MONDOZA
PAVING THE PATHWAYS
new education
reform adopted
by Santa Ana
College will
direct students
towards academic skills pro-
grams with a map in hand.
The Guided Pathways
develops program maps that
lead students towards de-
grees, certificates, and future
careers.
SAC is the only community
college in Orange County
implementing the pathways
initiative. Faculty and admin-
istrators are drafting plans to
ensure students make steps
towards graduation and ca-
reer goals.
By simplifying class and
program choices, the plan is
to close achievement gaps.
“We are asking SAC to be
very clear and honest about
its data, determine which
students are not succeeding
at the same rates as others,
and to ask direct questions
about why that’s happening,”
said California Communi-
ty College Chancellor Eloy
Oakley.
Over half of all SAC stu-
dents come from Hispanic
or Asian backgrounds, and
about three-quarters of all
students enroll part-time,
according to Data USA.
In 2017 nearly half of all
students planning to transfer
to a four-year college, only
A
4
completed nine units or less,
according to the 2018 SAC
factbook. At this rate, half of
all enrolled will take at least
six semesters to graduate or
transfer.
The adoption of Guided
Pathways is a critical element
of accelerating progress by
using program mapping to
keep students on a plan that
includes at least 12 units per
term.
Faculty coordinator Dr. Fer-
nando Ortiz, a committee of
five faculty design teams, are
redrafting major programs,
reorganizing departments,
and presenting them in a
student-friendly layout that
helps make class choices
more clear.
Students can choose from
seven program categories
described by career objec-
tives, rather than majors. Ortiz
refers to them as “Career
and Academic Pathways.”
Described in each group are
programs of study suggested
for various careers by indus-
try professionals and faculty.
“The idea of creating a
grouping of programs is to
help students make informed
decisions about their pre-
ferred major,” Ortiz said.
In response to the new
reform, every academic
department is responsible for
drafting program maps. They
are designed to include criti-
el Don Santa Ana College · December 2018
cal courses, complementary
elective suggestions, and
meet a two-year time frame
for degree completion.
With the current system,
students often rely on them-
selves as academic advisors.
“You go to your counselor,
and yeah they’re guiding you,
but sometimes it doesn’t sink
in. They’ll give you the infor-
mation, but you need to go
out of your way to research it
too”, Jennifer Jimenez, a sec-
ond-year Speech-Language
Pathology Assistant student,
said.
As a result, about one in five
students say that SAC is not
supportive of their personal
development according to
the 2018 SAC fact sheet, and
only 47 percent of transfer
students persisted from their
first term to their second
term last year, compared to
the state average at about 68
percent.
“We know that our students,
and community college stu-
dents throughout California,
are not succeeding at rates
that are acceptable,” Ortiz
said.
By using Guided Pathways
SAC officials aim to keep
students in school and help
them graduate and transfer,
by requiring appointments
with counselors, tracking
milestones, and meeting
required deadlines.
Schools are asked to
focus on improving
student success and
enacting changes on
campuses.
2018
SAC faculty and staff
convene to design and
shape guided pathways
2019
Guided pathways roll-
out begins for students
in fall semester
2022
State implements
new student-success-
centered funding model