League for Innovation in the Community College March 2018 | Page 27

“The new pathways model has forced us to look at and refine MC Executive Vice President Richard Jolly said, “MC math
not only instructional components, but also systems and faculty have worked diligently to develop practical math
services, such as advising, Web services, admission, financial applications that focus on math for specific careers. Our
aid, and business office operations,” stated Thomas. outstanding math faculty teach these courses in a fun and
engaging format. The result is that students who previously
By building highly structured degree plans as pathways had to take as many as three developmental math classes
to on-time graduation, MC will place every student on the are now able to score high enough on college entrance
road to success. Students at Midland College are no longer exams after completing just one semester of the new
considered unclassified, undeclared, or general studies math curriculum.”
majors. All students now know the way forward to graduation,
and semester-by-semester plans are laid out for every student.
“
As part of the new Guided Pathways to Success initiative,
By building
highly structured
degree plans as
pathways to on-
time graduation,
MC will place
every student
on the road to
success.
While the college is still early in its implementation of the new
pathways system, preliminary reports indicate that Midland
College’s completion rates are improving. According to the
MC Registrar’s Office and as indicated in Table 2, the college
had an increase of 16.5 percent in the number of certificates,
associate degrees, and core completions from 2015 to 2016.
TABLE 2: INCREASE IN COMPLETION
2015 TO 2016
Award
Degrees
Certificates
Core Completers
Total
2015 2016 Increase
470 515 9.5 percent
175 226 29.0 percent
315 377 19.6 percent
960 1,118 16.5 percent
“We are certainly attributing this outcome to the collegewide
pathways approach to instruction and advising, which includes
Midland College is serving as a state leader in the assigned Pathways Advisors and collaborative and intentional
development of new math curriculum for community processes for offering courses, registering students for
colleges. As one of nine partner community colleges in a classes, and auditing degree plans,” said Midland College
project coordinated through the Charles A. Dana Center at Dean of Enrollment Management Liz Zenteno. “This method
The University of Texas, the college designed a systemic has created a focused and intentional review of students’
approach to improving student success and completion coursework for their pathways, which has resulted in more
in developmental math courses. The resulting curriculum students completing credentials.”
developed by MC math faculty supports student career goals
by implementing processes, strategies, and structures built Rebecca C. Bell is Dean of Community Relations and Special
around mathematics pathways. MC’s cutting-edge curriculum Events at Midland College in Midland, Texas. To view the full
has laid the foundation for statewide implementation of the version of this article, visit www.league.org/node/17645.
curriculum at other Texas community colleges.
MARCH 2018
27