To help address Idaho’s efforts to achieve its 60 percent attainment goal, Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter convened two task force groups in 2017 to focus on higher education and workforce development. At the conclusion of their work, both task force groups submitted recommendations to the Governor’s Office, which were subsequently adopted by the Idaho State Board of Education (which oversees all public K-12 and postsecondary education in the state). A core component to the recommendations involved the delivery of Complete College America Game Changers. It also included recognizing the need to ensure K-12 students are guided on a pathway to achieve career success upon graduation from high school, in addition to accommodating the unique needs of adult learners who did not complete or never engaged in postsecondary learning.
To plot first steps to achieve this ideal, a retreat on January 31st organized by the Office of the State Board of Education brought to the campus of Boise State University the Chief Academic Officers from all eight public higher education institutions in Idaho. They were joined by Board President Dr. Linda Clark and Board Secretary Dr. Dave Hill. Both serve on the Board’s Executive Committee and each co-chaired the Governor’s task forces, with Dr. Clark leading the higher education group and Dr. Hill the workforce development team. The day’s event was facilitated by Complete College America staff, Sarah Ancel and Emily Sellers, with support from OSBE staff.
During the meeting the group was joined remotely by several leaders in their fields. Josh Garrison and Liz Walker of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education discussed statewide implementation of adult learner strategies. In addition, Loretta Griffy from Austin Peay State University provided an institutional-level perspective regarding transition practices for first-year students, as well as the development of degree maps and effective advising models.
The purpose of the event was to begin mapping a path forward for the development of a statewide Guided Pathways concept. Within this approach a number of different strategies are encumbered to ensure that not only a pathway exists for students in pursuit of a quality postsecondary credential, but that it is accessible and navigable altogether. Broadening the scope of traditional pathway strategies, the Idaho model spans middle school to ‘traditional’ college to adult learning demographics, and includes emphasis on both academic and career-technical opportunities.
Five integral components were examined within this context:
1.) META-MAJORS: System-wide meta-major or focus field concept, with common disciplines and course milestones assigned within each.
2.) DUAL CREDIT INTEGRATION: With all Idaho students funded for 60 semester hours of dual credit in grades 7-12, flexible plans needed involving a minimum of 15 dual credit hours students can take to achieve meaningful degree progress and exploration within any meta-major field.
3.) OUTREACH AND INTERVENTION: System-wide K-16 student advising and intervention strategies and metrics for assessing effectiveness.
4.) 30 TO THRIVE (or, “DO THE MATH.”): Strategies and goals to ensure first-time, full-time students complete 30 hours each academic year.
5.) ADULT LEARNING ACCESSIBILITY: Ensure that, at minimum, the equivalent of an Associate’s Degree can be earned by an Idaho citizen through any combination of means involving: online modality, accelerated courses, block scheduling, evening and weekend availability, as well as through statewide PLA articulation of general education “core” (common-indexed) courses.
The outcomes from the day-long event centered on identifying several items under each of the aforementioned goals, which included: essential questions to address; barriers to implementation; key activities to achieve success; critical stakeholder groups; and, the rationale for each goal. Drawing from the vision and feedback shared by academic leadership to piece together a unified roadmap, the Idaho State Board of Education will be moving forward to develop a workflow that guides these efforts, one that will also facilitate timelines and deliverables.
At the Board meeting on February 13-14, I delivered a recap of the efforts and achievements from the retreat, and outlined the next steps the Board, institutions, and stakeholders will be embarking on in a collaborative effort to adopt this Guided Pathways platform for Idaho – and eventually accomplishing meaningful progress towards realizing the attainment aspirations shared for citizens across the state.
