Student Success

8 Texas CCs Get Funding to Broaden Pathways Programs

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 11/17/20

Eight community colleges in east Texas are receiving funding to scale their pathways programs. The recognition came from the Texas Success Center, which operates out of the Texas Association of Community Colleges, to support the 50 community college districts in the state.

"Texas Pathways" is a structure for education for each student, which starts in high school with student placement into a specific degree program and continues with college admission and completion of a degree or certificate program. The goal is to expand the use of pathways in community colleges, enabling them to develop academic and career pathways for all of their students by the end of 2022.

San Jacinto College, one of the recipients, is receiving $210,511 for its work, which includes targeting students in gateway math and English courses with collaborative support from specially trained faculty, embedded advisers, retention specialists and academic tutors. The college said it intends to assign an academic adviser to three math and three English sections per campus, train faculty in its "Advise" early alert system, provide professional development for faculty and tutors in academic coaching and equity-focused instruction and train faculty and retention specialists in data literacy.

"We know that our students need support from before they come to our classrooms until the time they walk the stage at graduation," said Laurel Williamson, the college's deputy chancellor and president, in a statement. "We are grateful [for] this grant so that we can help those students who may not be completely prepared succeed in completing their certificate or degree."

Besides San Jacinto, the seven other colleges that have received awards under the latest grant are:

• Kilgore College;
• Lee College;
• Northeast Texas Community College;
• Paris Junior College;
• Texarkana College;
• Trinity Valley Community College; and
• Tyler Junior College.

The grant, totaling $960,000, was provided by the T.L.L. Temple Foundation.