Melissa Reeve, a full-time English Professor, began her teaching journey in 2006 and has been a coordinator for the Guided Pathways program since 2021.
According to Reeve, Guided Pathways is a “framework for organizing ourselves as a college institution”, which is “to improve the rate and pace of students completing programs at Community Colleges.”
Reeve also explained that Guided Pathways is a system-wide program specific for Community College alongside the Chancellor’s office. Both of these organizations have been gathering student success data since 2017.
As a College, analyzing this data can improve how Solano is serving students, by clarifying academic pathways and supporting them to succeed on the path while learning, Reeve explained.
She recently presented data for the 2021-2022 academic year at an Academic Senate meeting, emphasizing why Guided Pathways is “important and urgent for Solano Community College” and that “we need to be doing better.”
According to the data, 18% Solano students completed both Math and English within their first year, compared to 17% of the entire state community college system.
38% of Solano students completed English in their first year compared to 36% for the state. Seeing that 24% percent passed for math.
Reeve says there might be students that are re-attempting for Math to improve on the percentage for math with re-lowering cost of the course , and the sections for math,
For classes compared to 21% Reeve explained based on the data shown for SCC students what their first year of class was like for 2021-2022. Seeing how many first year students apply to Solano Community College, and declaring transferring as their “goal”. While Reeve looked at the Student and Success rates she compared how students’ First Year of English 1 was for that 3-year cohort for students that started Fall or Spring 2021- 22.
In Fall 2021 there was a 63% success rate and in Spring 2022 there was a 57% seeing that the Spring rates are lower than SCC fall rates seeing that is better compared to the 38% rate” Reeve stated. Reeve said that “38% percent of students completed English, compared to students that didn’t signed up English classes.
The Institution-wide success rate for Spring 2022 for all courses was 74% which explains why the other rates are so much lower than 63% for English 1 which is why the pass rate is lower than the college-wide average rate.
Reeve explains there is a small increase but, over time those percentages have dropped. Back in 2012, it was 5% that students completed Math and English in their first year. Now it has been “over a decade she thinks it has improved year by year” Reeve stated. Looking back during the Pandemic when 64% of students started their Academic Year, as she explained for students who started in 2022. Data now has dropped to 53% reflecting to “sharp drops not just at SCC but state-wide too” Reeve stated.
Measuring the range of students that completed First-year English and Math within their First Year of college, Reeve explained tracking their cohort year for the whole population of “1.8 million students”to see if they completed their certificate or their associate degree within those 3 years or more.
Guided Pathways looks at 3 or more for their cohort years seeing that 3 cohort years are going to give us more time. But, Reeve explains that time passes and those rates drop seeing” what the most expensive thing to know while being in college is being in college” Reeve stated.
Due to Solano students are not working while attending Solano. She wants to see us get ahead and transferring from Solano. While also looking for ways to make students attend full-time and complete our courses in a shorter period.
Seeing that Reeve wants to see how we can improve on these “complex issues” while not ignoring the issue but what we can do differently to make these numbers increase because she knows that students come to Solano College with “hopes and dreams”.
