Scale Improvements


Scaling improvements for sustaining Guided Pathways refers to expanding and institutionalizing effective practices across all programs, departments, and student support systems to achieve consistent and equitable student success. Scaling ensures that the benefits of Guided Pathways are experienced system-wide, creating long-term impact.

Here you’ll find strategies and resources to help your institution scale and sustain Guided Pathways improvements effectively.


Build on Your Successes and Next Steps for Scaling and Sustaining Improvements

Integrate financial aid into Guided Pathways, combine student success initiatives, and implement 8-week terms—practical strategies for driving lasting, scalable change at your institution.

This comprehensive report details the an institution’s successful integration of two major student success initiatives: Gateways to Completion and Guided Pathways. You can leverage this resource to gain practical insights on fostering faculty leadership, addressing initiative overload, and creating scalable communication methods to support institutional change in your own guided pathways implementation.

(2) Intentionally Linking Gateway-Course Transformation Efforts with Guided Pathways

Intentionally Linking Gateway-Course Transformation Efforts with Guided Pathways Intentionally Linking Gateway-Course Transformation Efforts with Guided Pathways

This paper offers valuable insights for how financial aid policies and practices can be better integrated into the guided pathways framework. You’ll find valuable insights and practical recommendations to address key financial obstacles: forging partnerships with employers to provide training and internships, offering tuition discounts for Pell-eligible students to incentivize continuous enrollment, and investing in peer debt advisors to improve financial counseling.

(3) Leveraging Guided Pathways to Improve Financial Aid Design and Delivery

Leveraging Guided Pathways to Improve Financial Aid Design and Delivery Leveraging Guided Pathways to Improve Financial Aid Design and Delivery

This comprehensive guide provides a structured approach to implementing and scaling 8-week terms in community colleges, which has shown promise in improving student outcomes. You will find on how to adopt this model at your college, with detailed guidance provided on policy, process, practice, and people considerations aligned with the Guided Pathways strategy.

(1)TexasSuccessCenter_Texas Playbook for Scaling Eight-Week Terms for Pathways Transformation

Texas Playbook for Scaling Eight-Week Terms for Pathways Transformation Texas Playbook for Scaling Eight-Week Terms for Pathways Transformation

Supports for Universities

Improve collaborative efforts between two-year and four-year institutions, and thus better the transfer experience for students moving between institutions.

This research paper explores common challenges faced by transfer students, such as credit transfer issues, academic adjustment, and social integration, and how the Guided Pathways framework can enhance transfer orientation practices to facilitate a smoother transition for community college students. You will learn about strategic collaborative efforts between two-year and four-year institutions that can be used to address those challenges, such as shared electronic portfolios for advising and intentional major declaration processes.

Extending ?Guided Pathways? Beyond the Community College

Extending ‘Guided Pathways’ Beyond the Community College: Lessons for University Transfer Orientation Extending ‘Guided Pathways’ Beyond the Community College: Lessons for University Transfer Orientation

Supports for Specific Student Populations

Understand specific supports, barriers, and needs of different student populations to better access, success, and economic mobility for all.

This resource provides insights and strategies from a webinar on designing inclusive pathways for adult learners in community colleges. You can use this guide, with practical examples and tools, to implement effective strategies for building pathways with high-value credentials for adult learners.

Designing Inclusive Pathways for Adult Learners

The Guided Career Pathways framework is a transformative approach to postsecondary education that aligns educational programs with labor market needs while promoting economic mobility and equity. This resource will help you integrate work-based learning, credit for prior learning, and partnerships with employers into your programs to accommodate diverse learner needs.

Guided Career Pathways: Credentials That Lead to Careers

This report examines how three Tennessee community colleges implementing guided pathways reforms provide support for adult students. Use this resource to gain insights into effective strategies for helping adult learners choose and enter programs of study, stay on their educational paths, and enhance their learning experiences through inclusive classroom practices.

How guided pathways reforms can improve support for adult students- Lessons from three Tennessee community colleges

How Guided Pathways Reforms Can Improve Support for Adult Students How Guided Pathways Reforms Can Improve Support for Adult Students

This resource outlines seven key principles for effective work-based learning models that aim to increase access and success for underserved populations. You should use these principles to design or improve work-based learning programs that provide meaningful experiences, support skill development, and create pathways to career advancement for all participants.

Making Work-Based Learning Work

Spotlight: How to Align Math Pathways

Strategies to integrate Guided Pathways with math pathways, addressing key barriers like placement issues and misaligned content, while promoting better student outcomes through corequisite math support courses.

This toolkit explains how to implement equitable and effective corequisite math support courses in higher education, using nationally agreed-upon design principles and actionable tools. Use this toolkit to improve academic success and achieve more equitable outcomes for underrepresented students by enrolling them directly into gateway math courses with aligned corequisite supports.

Corequisites Mathematics Toolkit

This brief explores the integration of guided pathways and mathematics pathways so that institutions can address three key structural barriers in traditional entry-level colleges mathematics programs: inaccurate placement of students, misalignment of content to student needs, and long developmental course sequences. You can use this resource to understand how aligning these two major higher education reform movements can create a more effective, student-centered educational system that addresses completion rates and attainment gaps.

Systemically Aligned: Guided Pathways and Mathematics Pathways Working Together for Student Success