2022 Texas Pathways Award Winners
Dallas, TX - The Texas Success Center (TSC) is excited to announce the winners of the 2022 Texas Pathways Awards. TSC honored the exemplary work of five colleges for their implementation and scaling of the Texas Pathways strategy. Awardees were celebrated in Dallas, Texas at the November Texas Pathways Institute, Teaching and Learning in a Texas Pathways Framework, with over 450 attendees representing 47 Texas colleges statewide.
Three colleges were recipients of the Recognition of Dedication to Educational Outcomes (RODEO) award, including Kilgore College, Houston Community College, and Amarillo College. These colleges are deeply engaged with the network of Texas colleges, have CEOs who deeply support the guided pathways work at their campus, and show remarkable success in the growth of key performance metrics correlated with student completion.
Two colleges were recipients of the Recognition of Scaling Excellence (ROSE) award, including Del Mar College and Tyler Junior College. Outstanding among their peers, both colleges have dramatically scaled the essential practices associated with transforming the college culture through Texas Pathways to become a more student-centered and responsive to improving the student experience.
Learn more about these exemplar colleges below.
2022 RODEO Award in Recognition of Dedication to Educational Outcomes - Kilgore College
Kilgore College was selected as a recipient of the 2022 RODEO award in Recognition of their Dedication to Educational Outcomes. Kilgore College exhibits excellence in student success and has provided tremendous leadership in promoting the Texas Pathways strategy among peer institutions, actively engaging in leading professional development opportunities to cultivate the capacity of leadership across the state to advance systems change.
For example, throughout 2022, Kilgore College coordinated closely with the Texas Success Center to support four colleges in implementing new 8-week terms for program pathway transformation. Kilgore College stands out for its success in key performance indicators associated with credential completion which are closely monitored by the Texas Success Center. Notably, Kilgore College excels in credit accumulation. Sixty percent of incoming students earned 15 or more college credit hours in Year 1 and 19 percent of incoming students earned 30 or more college credit hours in Year 1 (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2022). This early success enables students to stay on track toward their goals. Kilgore College ranks 8th in the state with 77 percent of incoming students persisting from Term 1 to Term 2 (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2022). The commitment of Kilgore College to systems redesign and student success enables students to achieve their postsecondary goals.
2022 RODEO Award in Recognition of Dedication to Educational Outcomes – Houston Community College
Houston Community College (HCC) was selected as a recipient of the 2022 RODEO award in Recognition of their Dedication to Educational Outcomes. Houston Community College exhibits excellence in student success, making significant gains over the past four years in the growth of eight key performance indicators (KPI) associated with postsecondary degree completion.
Notably, Houston Community College is among the top colleges in Texas for having the highest KPI scores. HCC stands out among its peers for the completion of reading and writing in Year 1 (ranking 7th and 9th in Texas, respectively) (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2022). While many high-performing institutions find it difficult to maintain growth in student success, Houston Community College has seen dramatic growth in all KPI since 2016. For example, over the last four years, the percentage of new enrollees earning 15 or more credits in Year 1 increased by 30 percent, while the percentage of new enrollees completing college-level math, reading, and writing courses in Year 1 grew by 56 percent (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2022).
This impressive growth reflects Houston Community College’s commitment to Texas Pathways and student success. So many individuals across the system have stepped into leadership roles sharing what is working with their peers across the state, including expertise in comprehensive financial aid services, how the college is building sustainable practices to address students’ basic needs insecurity, and the use of student personas to improve student support systems.
2022 RODEO Award in Recognition of Dedication to Educational Outcomes - Amarillo College
Amarillo College was selected as a recipient of the 2022 RODEO award in Recognition of their Dedication to Educational Outcomes. Amarillo College exhibits excellence in building a student-centered culture through the scaling of Texas Pathways.
As a student-centered institution, students feel a sense of belonging and connectedness early with staff and faculty. The responsiveness of the institution is demonstrated in key performance metrics associated with degree completion. Most notably, Amarillo College excels among its peers in student success for the first college-level courses in math, reading, and writing. For example, 45 percent of incoming students complete math in Year 1 (ranking 11th in the state), 71 percent of incoming students complete reading in Year 1 (ranking 3rd in the state), and 59 percent of incoming students complete writing in Year 1 (ranking 11th in the state) (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2022).
Over the past four years, Amarillo College has also seen dramatic growth in these same KPI. For example, in 2016, 63 percent of incoming students completed reading in Year 1. By 2020, this rate had risen to 70 percent) (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2022). Amarillo College also excels among its peers, ranking 7th in the state for gains in student persistence from Term 1 to Term 2, rising from 72 percent in 2016 to 75 percent in 2020. These improvements in institutional outcomes reflect the deep commitment of leadership, staff, and faculty to serve all students.
2022 ROSE Award in Recognition of Scaling Excellence – Tyler Junior College
Tyler Junior College was selected as a recipient of the 2022 ROSE award in Recognition of Scaling Excellence. In 2017, 2019, and 2021, the Texas Success Center administered a Scale of Adoption Assessment (SOAA) process to better understand how Texas colleges are scaling reform efforts to serve a broader group of students. As such, the SOAA provides a snapshot of systems change activities that have occurred at the institutional level since 2017. Tyler Junior College stands out among its peers as an exemplar in the growth of the essential practices associated with the four pillars of the Texas Pathways strategy.
Tyler Junior College has the second highest growth rate among Texas colleges for the essential practices relating to Pillar 1, Mapping Pathways to Student End Goals, Pillar 2, Helping Students Choose and Enter a Program Pathway, and Pillar 3, Keeping Students on Path. Additionally, Tyler Junior College has the third highest growth rate among Texas colleges for the essential practices relating to Pillar 4, Ensuring that Students are Learning.
TSC is proud to spotlight how Tyler Junior College has exhibited dramatic institutional transformation through the dramatic scaling of Texas Pathways. This means that the student experience at Tyler Junior College has been dramatically altered with each of the 23 individual essential practices impacting a broader group of students.
2022 ROSE Award in Recognition of Scaling Excellence – Del Mar College
Del Mar College was selected as a recipient of the 2022 ROSE award in Recognition of Scaling Excellence. In 2017, 2019, and 2021, the Texas Success Center administered a Scale of Adoption Assessment (SOAA) process to better understand how Texas colleges are scaling reform efforts to serve a broader group of students. As such, the SOAA provides a snapshot of systems change activities that have occurred at the institutional level since 2017. Del Mar College stands out among its peers as an exemplar in the growth of the essential practices associated with the four pillars of the Texas Pathways strategy.
Del Mar College has the second highest growth rate among Texas colleges for the essential practices relating to Pillar 1, Mapping Pathways to Student End Goals. Del Mar College is the state exemplar for the highest growth rate in the essential practices relating to Pillar 2, Helping Students Choose and Enter a Program Pathway. Del Mar College has the fourth highest growth rate among Texas colleges for the essential practices relating to Pillar 3, Keeping Students on Path. And finally, Del Mar College has the second highest growth rate among Texas colleges for the essential practices relating to Pillar 4, Ensuring that Students are Learning.
The reform efforts of Del Mar College are expansive and far-reaching. This means that the student experience at Del Mar College has been dramatically altered through the implementation of Texas Pathways, with each of the 23 individual essential practices impacting a broader group of students.