Building Momentum - Using Guided Pathways to Redesign the Student Experience - National Report

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mia

“Building Momentum” examines how students experience the guided pathways movement in community colleges. Rooted in the Three Rs, the report contextualizes nationwide efforts initiated in 2015 and supported by instruments such as SENSE and CCSSE. It evaluates progress in transforming student experiences and identifies where additional attention is required across guided pathways pillars, faculty engagement, and applied learning practices, grounded in institutional analyses.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages32

Reading Time1 h 21 min

AccessFree to download

Foreword: To Improve Outcomes, Colleges Must Change the Student Experience

On the Cusp of Transformation

Why Guided Pathways?

Methodology: Institutional Analyses

The Evolution of Guided Pathways

Guided Pathways and the Student Experience

Findings on Pillar 2: Help Students Get on a Path

Findings on Pillar 3: Help Students Stay on Their Path

Findings on Pillar 4: Ensure Students Are Learning

The Power of Applied Learning

Engaging Students Begins With Engaging Faculty

Campus Conversation Starters

BUILDING MOMENTUM Using Guided Pathways to Redesign the Student Experience 2020 NATIONAL REPORT ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Reclaiming the American Dream, the 2012 report from the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) 21st-Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges, posed the question,“What might such a reimagined community college look like?” To answer this question, the Commission set forth the Three Rs: Redesign students’ educational experiences. Reinvent institutional roles. Reset the system to create incentives for student and institutional success.* In 2015, AACC coordinated the first national project focused on guided pathways, which included 30 institutions. These early adopters made a commitment to institutional transformation through redesigning the student experience from connection to completion and to aligning programs more clearly with employment and transfer outcomes. Since that time, many more colleges have committed to this transformational journey. Even though the development of the guided pathways model is recent, the work undergirding it is not new. The Center for Community College Student Engagement (the Center) and many other partners in the field have long encouraged colleges to identify and implement educational practices that are proven to increase student success. The guided pathways model helps colleges start with students’ end goals in mind so that from the beginning, colleges help students explore career and transfer options and interests. Now that momentum for guided pathways is building in the field, this report seeks to understand how students are experiencing the movement. Where are we making progress in transforming the student experience, and where is attention still needed? To make answering questions such as these possible, the Center thanks the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for funding the development of the guided pathways items that were added to the 2018 Survey of Entering Student Engagement (SENSE) and the 2019 Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), the Center’s focus group work on guided pathways, and the development of this national report. The following individuals were instrumental in supporting the Center as staff developed the guided pathways survey items:Î Laurie Heacock, Senior Advisor, Data and Analytics, Achieving the Dream Î Dr. Davis Jenkins, Senior Research Scholar, Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University Î Dr. Rob Johnstone, Founder & President, National Center for Inquiry & Improvement (NCII) Î Dr. Kay McClenney, Senior Advisor to the President, AACC Î Dr. Tonjua Williams, President, St. Petersburg College, and AACC Pathways Coach The Center also gives very special thanks to Dr. Walter Bumphus, President and CEO of AACC, for spearheading the national guided pathways work. Additionally, we acknowledge Dr. Kay McClenney and Dr. Gretchen Schmidt, Executive Director of the Pathways Project at AACC, for overseeing this project, which guides colleges to design and implement structured academic and career pathways at scale for all students. The members of the Pathways Collaborative, a group of organizations that came together and were collectively responsible for creating and refining the pathways model, have been the boldest advocates of this work and also deserve recognition. Finally, we would like to thank the colleges and their faculty, staff, and students for participating in the survey administrationsand the focus groups. Without these voices, we would not be able to share how students are experiencing guided pathways on a national level. This report is dedicated to the many colleges on this transformational journey. Dr. Linda L. García Executive Director Center for Community College Student Engagement * [www.aacc21stcenturycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/21stCenturyReport.pdf](www.aacc21stcenturycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/21stCenturyReport.pdf) Pleas

FAQs

What is the core purpose of the “Building Momentum” report?

To understand how students are experiencing the guided pathways movement and to identify where progress and remaining needs exist in transforming the student experience.

How did guided pathways efforts develop nationally?

AACC coordinated the first national project on guided pathways in 2015 with 30 institutions, and more colleges have since joined the transformation journey focused on connection to completion and clearer alignment with outcomes.

What data sources and research activities support the report?

Funding supported the guided pathways survey items added to the 2018 SENSE and the 2019 CCSSE, along with focus group work and development of this national report, complemented by institutional analyses.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mia