Rural Guided Pathways Project

The Rural Guided Pathways Project curriculum includes a series of six Institutes over three years, site visits, and virtual consultation. Specifically, participating colleges and their community partners will participate in:

• Institutes. There will be six 2.5-day Institutes (five in person and one virtual). Each college will send a team of eight people to each in-person Institute. The team will be required to prepare for each Institute and develop action plans following the Institute with a broader group of stakeholders. Each Institute will include keynotes by national experts and leading institutions from the field; smaller, more interactive breakout sessions; and team working time with the support of a designated rural pathways coach. (Attendance requirements are to be determined for the virtual Institute; one possibility may be using it for broader engagement at the college.)
• Office Hours. Each regional team will participate in two virtual office hours per semester; these sessions will include the college’s project lead and other team members as needed, a member of the NCII team, and the college’s designated rural pathways coach.
• Virtual Consultancies. Each college will be invited to participate in two virtual consultancies per semester. These virtual sessions, led by the college’s rural pathways coach and involving multiple colleges, are opportunities to collectively address problems of practice with peers from other institutions.
• Topical Webinars. NCII and its partners will develop and host three topical webinars per year. Participants can watch in real time and ask questions; NCII also will post the PPTs and audio recordings online.
• Site Visits. Each college will have one on-site visit from its rural pathways coach each year. During these visits, coaches can provide professional development to the broader campus community, customize support to specific college needs, and/or generate insight on challenges and potential next steps.

NCII is providing the project leadership for this effort and will build on longstanding partnerships with the Community College Research Center and the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program to support participating colleges. NCII will call on other partners to bring additional content expertise and perspectives as we develop the curriculum, create Institute agendas, and develop materials.

The selection process will identify a cohort of 15 rural community colleges that are well positioned, internally and externally, to implement guided pathways at scale. Interested colleges will submit their applications by March 1, 2022, and then there will be a two-step review process to select the participating institutions.

1. All applications will be read by two reviewers with knowledge of rural community colleges and guided pathways. The reviewers will use a rubric to score the college applications. Details about the rubric will be shared during the informational webinar on Wednesday, February 9, at 2pm ET. Register for the webinar.
2. Based on the scores, the review team will select 20–25 applicants for individual college interviews. These hour-long interviews will involve a series of questions that will help the review team delve deeper into the college’s institutional culture and capacity to embark on this work. The 15 strongest applicants will then be selected based on the results of the college interviews.

The overarching criteria the review team will assess is whether colleges have established the conditions that will enable their institutions to implement — at scale — the reforms that are part of the guided pathways framework. Ideally colleges will have already begun the process of laying the groundwork for and/or implementing guided pathways and adopting its underlying practices. Some colleges may be far along in the implementation process. Most important, successful colleges will demonstrate that they have the internal culture and the external partnerships needed to advance this work.