Lowery-Hart Committed to Implementing New Guided-Pathways Approach

Amarillo College will continue to reap the benefits of its national status as a Leader College in Achieving the Dream when President Russell Lowery-Hart attends the Achieving the Dream-Aspen Presidents’ Leadership Symposium Sept. 27-29 in Warrenton, Va.

Lowery-Hart is one of just 25 attendees selected through a competitive application process among chancellors and presidents of Achieving the Dream Leader Colleges, Aspen Prize finalists and presidents of any community college in North Carolina or Texas, whether participating in Achieving the Dream or not.

It is the topic of the symposium—“Implementing Guided Pathways as Structural Reform”—which immediately piqued Lowery-Hart’s interest; it has explicit ties to AC’s new Strategic Plan.

“It’s the target we’re aiming for,” Lowery-Hart said. “Our new Strategic Plan is focused on completion, labor market demands, learning, equity, and financial effectiveness. I am excited about ending the ‘cafeteria’ approach to educating students, so this symposium is simply ideal.

“Our goal is to replace the ‘cafeteria’ approach with intentional, clear, guided pathways to completion,” he said. “Our goal is to move 80 to 90 percent of all courses, whether technical or academic in nature, to an accelerated, eight-week model that will be offered year-round with multiple entry points.”

It has become common among community colleges to employ a “cafeteria” or “self-service” model of education featuring a vast array of programs and course options that Lowery-Hart says may be attractive to students at first glance but lead too often to confusion and the accumulation of unnecessary credits.

The AC president is one of a growing number of community college leaders who realize the time has come to redesign the college model by creating structured pathways that limit options while optimizing the student experience.

“We must completely redesign our approach to connecting, advising, serving and educating our students around a few guided pathways,” Lowery-Hart said. 

That will be the focus of the symposium, where attendees will engage in strategic discussions with each other and with national experts from the Community College Research Center, The Aspin Institute, and elsewhere.

Achieving the Dream is the nation’s foremost authority on community college achievement. AC was selected to join its selective ranks in 2011 and ascended to its elite Leader College designation in September of 2014. Just three months after achieving that prestigious accolade, Lowery-Hart was among a group of college presidents and community leaders invited to attend the White House Opportunity Summit hosted by President Obama, the first lady, and Vice President Joe Biden.

September 10, 2015