PORT ANGELES — Peninsula College has received a $500,000 grant to help students make choices about college courses.
College Spark Washington and the state Board for Community and Technical Colleges picked five colleges for Guided Pathways grants out of 18 schools that applied.
Guided Pathways simplifies choices about college courses, informs and supports those decisions, and directs students into programs that lead to a credential, officials said.
“The process from college entrance to program selection to degree completion is streamlined, providing students with a much clearer, more efficient path to completion,” Christine McCabe, College Spark Washington executive director, said in a Tuesday news release.
Guided Pathways has been shown to improve college completion rates and close completion gaps for low-income students and students of color, College Spark Washington officials said.
“We’ve been focused on student success and completion for several years, and the recent Guided Pathways approach builds on and clarifies our work to date,” Peninsula College President Luke Robins said.
“The Guided Pathways grant will accelerate our journey.”
Other schools that received five-year, $500,000 grants were Everett Community College, Pierce College, South Puget Sound Community College and South Seattle College.
The winners were picked based on their position to implement the program, officials said.
“These colleges have a history of implementing large-scale reforms, experience working cross-departmentally to implement large-scale changes that impact both instruction and student services, and solid work on closing the equity gap for low-income students and students of color,” said Jan Yoshiwara, state Board for Community and Technical Colleges deputy executive director for education services.
“They also have the enthusiasm and readiness to implement Guided Pathways with faculty engagement.”
In the first year, the five grant recipients will create plans for how they will implement Guided Pathways.
The Board for Community and Technical Colleges will provide technical assistance, convene teams and connect the pilot schools to other Guided Pathways colleges in the nation.
Five more colleges will receive five-year Guided Pathways grants in 2018.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
