Guided Pathways at CPTC

Clover Park is strengthening our community through responsive education and services by transitioning our processes to the Guided Pathways approach.

As part of that transition, the college has been selected as a College Spark grant recipient and will join a cohort of eleven other Washington community and technical colleges in receiving a total of $1,000,000 over five years to support its comprehensive implementation.

As a technical college, Clover Park is uniquely positioned to quickly implement the components of Guided Pathways.

Guided Pathways at CPTC

Guided Pathways is a research-based approach to higher education that simplifies choices for students. While the traditional community college structure features an array of disconnected course, the Guided Pathways model groups courses together to form clear paths through college and into careers. This helps streamline the process for students to select and pursue a degree with a clear and efficient path to completion.

The process of implementing Guided Pathways includes four design principles.

Colleges must clarify the paths, mapping out each program journey and establishing detailed information on employment and transfer opportunities at the end of each program.
The second principle is to help students choose a path, with support systems in place from the moment of entry to help them identify the best path for them.
The third principle is helping students stay on the path through intensive advising and intervention when students stumble along the way.
Finally, colleges must align program learning outcomes with requirements for success in further education and employment in the field to ensure students are learning.

As a technical college, CPTC is well-positioned to realize student results quickly and at a large scale and to achieve implementation of all of the Guided Pathways components. Our leadership, faculty, staff, and students are committed to implementing all components of Guided Pathways within five years.

CPTC has already grouped its 40+ programs into seven schools: Aerospace and Aviation; Automotive and Trades; Nursing; Business and Personal Services; Science, Technology, Engineering and Design; Advanced Manufacturing; and Health and Human Development. View Programs by School at www.cptc.edu/schools.

“Through the discussion and planning that has occurred at Clover Park over the past two years, our college community has demonstrated the commitment and drive necessary to implement guided pathways principles. We understand large-scale reform, have demonstrated our willingness to make things mandatory, and are ready to take our institution to the next level by fully implementing every aspect of Guided Pathways.”
~ Dr. Joyce Loveday, CPTC President

Guided Pathways Committees

Core Team - Monitors progress on the grant, sets goals/outcomes, facilitates communication and engagement, reporting, and training opportunities. Co-chairs Tom Broxson Thomas.broxson@cptc.edu, and Dean Kelly dean.kelly@cptc.edu.

Outreach/Recruitment - Monitors outreach/recruitment plan, reviews outreach, intake and onboarding of prospective students. Michelle Hillesland michelle.hillesland@cptc.edu

Retention/Completion - Monitors the retention plan, reviews Advising practices, retention strategies/interventions, monitors student progress, and technology to support retention/completion. Co-chairs Dean Kelly dean.kelly@cptc.edu, and Claire Korschinowski Claire.korschinowski@cptc.edu.

Student Learning - Monitors several essential practices such as assessment, learning outcomes, program mapping, scheduling, gateway courses, exploratory sequence, and getting students into college level Math/English. Chris Mahoney chris.mahoney@cptc.edu

Join us!

Guided Pathways work at CPTC relies on the active involvement and engagement of faculty and staff from across the College. If you would like to serve on one of the committees, please email the co-leads listed above for more information.