Three Institutions Awarded Pathways

Collaborative Equity Partners Fund by OCCRL

Selected proposals incorporate equity-centered practices that address educational equities in the guided pathways model.

March 11, 2019
1 p.m. CD

The Office of Community College Research and Leadership is pleased to announce the Pathways Collaborative Equity Partners Fund. With support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, OCCRL is awarding a one-year grant of $50,000 to three organizations, for a total of $150,000, to examine best practices that support equitable access and outcomes for students. OCCRL announced in October 2018 the requests for proposals (RFPs) that sought to further incorporate equity-centered practices that specifically address educational inequities in the guided pathways model.

The funding allows Pathways Partners to explore and examine aspects of an intervention, program, practice, or strategy to improve or promote equity-centered and culturally responsive initiatives.

Applicants were encouraged to consider exploratory research, program implementation, program evaluation, or scalability of an intervention, policy study, or other equity-centered activities. Proposals that promoted partnerships with other equity stakeholders were strongly encouraged.

The funding allows Pathways Partners, individually or collaboratively, to test aspects of an intervention, program, practice, or strategy to improve or promote equity-centered and culturally responsive initiatives.

Applicants were encouraged to think about exploratory research, program implementation, program evaluation, or scalability of an intervention, policy study, or other equity-centered activities. Proposals that promoted partnerships with other equity stakeholders were strongly encouraged.

The grant awardees are:

The Aspen Institute

Project Summary: The Aspen Institute will use the Pathways Collaborative Equity Partners Fund in conjunction with Achieving the Dream to develop a set of case studies and instructional resources that support colleges in anchoring their pathways design and implementation in a clear, data-informed theory of change in the realm of equity. The project will address equitable integration and delivery of academic and nonacademic supports for marginalized students and offer strategies for engaging faculty in examining and using disaggregated data. It will provide professional development to support innovative course design and delivery, implement high-impact practices and culturally responsive instruction, and help ensure that all students have equitable access to inclusive educational practices.

Carnegie Mathematics Pathways

Project Summary: The Carnegie Mathematics Pathways network will use the Pathways Collaborative Equity Partners Fund to create and pilot at least four video vignettes under the title “Making the Path by Walking It.” These equity-centered video-case activities will support the professional growth of institutional decision-makers in the same way that cases rooted in classroom video have supported intercultural responsiveness among teachers. Each video will include professional learning activities for institutional leaders, administrative coaches, faculty mentors, and instructors. Case facilitation materials will provide the means for orchestrating equity-centered conversations that are challenging, purposeful, and consequential.

Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University

Project Summary: The Community College Research Center will use the Pathways Collaborative Equity Partners Fund to develop two tools to help colleges examine student access, progression, and success at the program and degree level; scrutinize how current college practices are shaping these inequities and develop plans for equity-centered processes to address them; and assess whether these practices have led to improved outcomes for underserved student groups.