League for Innovation in the Community College March 2018 | Page 25

GUIDED PATHWAYS
TO SUCCESS:
A Game Changer for Midland College
BY REBECCA C. BELL
F
or the past two years, Midland College (MC) has been designing
and implementing a pathways model with clear, educationally
coherent program maps that are aligned for program completion,
quality credentials, workforce skills, and transferability for baccalaureate
and graduate degrees. As a result of MC’s efforts, the college has been
recognized as a leader in the Texas Success Center’s Texas Pathways
initiative, and the MC developmental math program has been named
as exemplar in its efforts to redesign curriculum for the new
pathways approach.
Statistics indicate that nationwide, only 9.5 percent of students entering a
two-year college will graduate within three years. According to the Midland
College Office of Institutional Research, the average time for MC students
to earn an associate degree is 3.6 years and 80 semester credit hours.
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