Milestones & Momentum Points
To An Associates Degree:
Career Pathway Certificates at Klamath & Umpqua
Community Colleges & Statewide
OACTE Conference
April 11, 2014
Career Pathways Initiative
Guiding Vision
• In service of meeting Oregon’s 40-40-20 goal
for the “middle 40”
• Certificate completion & continued education
• Address the changing needs of employers, job
seekers, workers, and students
• Focus on Career & Technical Education (CTE)
short-term certificates tied to occupations
Goals
• To increase the number of Oregonians with
certificates, credentials, and degrees
• To ease transitions across the education
continuum—high school to community
college; pre-college (ABE/GED/ESL) to
postsecondary credit ; community college to
university; and to employment
What’s a Career Pathway?
Career Pathways are linked education and
training services that enable students, often
while they are working, to advance over time to
successfully high education and employment in
a given industry or occupational sector.
Each step of a Career is designed to prepare
students to prepare student stop progress to the
next level of employment and education.
What’s a Career Pathway?
(continued)
Career Pathways focus on easing and facilitating
student transition--- from high school to community college;
- from pre-college courses (ABE/GED/ESL) to
credit postsecondary;
- from community college to university or
employment.
Career Pathway Marketing &
Communications
• 400+ Career Pathways Roadmaps available
through 17 community college websites & OLMIS
Occupational Reports
• www.MyPathCareers.org/cp
• 30 second TV/radio spot statewide -6 months
• http://www2.clackamas.edu/pathways/
• 90 second video by Lane Community College:
• http://lanecc.edu/pathways
• MyPathCareers brochure & Roadmaps “card”
Policy Direction Drives
Increased Completions
• State Board of Education approved Career Pathway
Certificate (CPCC) effective July 1, 2007.
• CTE program Certificates tied to competencies for jobs in
local labor market & approved by employers
• More than 300 Career Pathway Certificates offered
statewide (12-44 credits)
• More than 100 Less Than One Year (LTOY) Certificates
offered already offered statewide (12-44 credits)
• Average number of credits for certificates: 22
• More than 7600 certificates have been awarded since 2008
• Pathways Descriptive Study of initial cohort of completers
released March 2013 www.oregon.gov/CCWD
Stackable Credentials
• Career & Technical Education (CTE)
• Occupations in six career focus areas
• Short-term certificates (12-44 credits):
– Career Pathway Certificates (CPCC)
– Less Than One Year Certificate (LTOY)
• Examples of stackable credentials for Lower
Divison Transfer: Oregon Transfer Module (OTM)
& Associate of Arts Oregon Transfer (AAOT)
Financial Aid Guidelines
Federal and state financial aid is not designed for short-term Certificate
programs and does not fund most Career Pathway, Less Than One Year (LTOY),
and other stand-alone 12-44 credit Certificate Programs. Career Pathway,
LTOY, and other stand-alone Certificates that are 36-44 credits and three
terms in length can be submitted on a college’s Program Participation
Agreement (PPA) and considered for federal and state financial aid. This
guideline is similar for Apprenticeship Certificates.
While many students are not entirely certain of their major goal when they
enter community college and apply for financial aid, declaring an associate
degree as their major goal allows students the most options to attain a
certificate or degree. Students who declare a course of study as an Associate
Degree can obtain a Career Pathway Certificate, LTOY, or other stand-alone
Certificate as they complete the required coursework toward attaining their
degree goal. Career Pathway Certificates & Less Than One Year Certificates
are “momentum points” in student progression toward an associate degree.
Pathways Descriptive Study:
Baseline Data
• Initial cohort: 2008/09 and 2009/10 completers: 1461 completers
• 96 percent of completers had SSNs that allowed for employment
impact analysis; 92 percent of cohort had Oregon wage data
• Scope: Includes both Career Pathways Certificates (CPCC) and Less
Than One Year Certificates (LTOY); both are 12-44 credits
• Data sources: OCCURS, CCWD Program Submission, OED wage
data
• Limitations: no “universe” or comparison group possible; wage
data limited to Oregon; continued education data limited to Oregon
community colleges; no data available on employment in same
career focus area as certificate
• Full report: www.oregon.gov/CCWD scroll to middle of home page
Descriptive Completer Findings
• Short-term certificate completions nearly evenly divided between
men and women
• Most certificate completers were over 25 years and many older
than 45 years (28% were 45-64 yrs. of age)
• Less than 5 percent of completers took an ABS course one or two
years prior to completion (ABE/GED/ESL)
• Approximately one-third of completers took a Developmental
Education course one year prior to completion
• 38.9% completer cohort also enrolled in WIA program
• Two career areas with highest number of certificate awards:
– Industrial & Engineering Systems
– Business & Management
Career Pathway Certificates at
Umpqua Community College
Career Pathways at Umpqua
Community College
• Since 2008, we’ve developed 14 Career
Pathway Certificates in areas as diverse as
entrepreneurship to viticulture
• We have 10 career pathway certificates in
development
ABS and Career Pathways
• From the start, we’ve tied our work on Career
Pathways closely to our Adult Basic Skills program
• We’ve tried various strategies to get students
enrolled in ABS classes interested in Career
Pathway Certificates
• Early variations included developing a term-byterm planner for students to map out possible
degree programs with a CPC embedded to having
students co-enroll in a pre-selected Career
Pathway Certificate area with varying levels of
success.
ABS and Career Pathways
• Currently, we are developing a transition program
that will be embedded in our GED classes and
that will introduce our students to the roadmaps
and Career Pathways Certificates.
• We use the roadmaps during our ABS
orientations and will also use them to follow-up
in individual advising conversations with students
enrolled in ABS.
• Emphasis on momentum points and stackable
credentials.
Successes
• Better integration of career pathways in campus
culture, including strategic plan
• New, more varied career pathway certificates
• Refocusing of our catalog to better match visual
representation of pathways model
• Pilot project with two charter high schools to put
dual credit students on career pathways
certificate path
• Using data to determine students close to
completion of career pathways certificate
Challenges
• Employer buy-in in our region
• Not having certificates in areas with greatest
employment need or student interest
• Initially, not having a strong faculty buy-in
• High level of transition and turnover in
administrators and at department chair level
in some key areas, like healthcare
Career Pathway Certificates
Options for Students
Many students are not able to attend college and
complete a one year certificate or a two year degree
Students “Self-Advise”
Career Direction
Prerequisites
Class Schedules
KCC’s Approach
 Illustrate Career Paths Through “Roadmaps”
 “Modularize” Curriculum
 Combine Certificate Completions with
Industry-Recognized Credentials
Benefits
 Students
 Businesses
 Colleges
 Community
Challenges/Opportunities
 Course Content
Business entry level needs and
university transfer needs
 Combine NCRC with Career
Pathway Certificate
WorkSource leverage
 Business Awareness
 Continue Current Efforts
No large scale employer, outreach to
many mall businesses
Eight areas of ASE certifications; create
”stackable” credentials
For More Information…
Mimi Maduro, Pathways Initiative Statewide Director
Oregon Department of Community Colleges & Workforce Development (CCWD)
541-506-6105
mmaduro@cgcc.edu
Ali Mageehon,
Umpqua Community College
541-440-4720
ali.mageehon@umpqua.edu
Paula Pence, Grants Manager
Klamath Community College
541-880-2235
pence@klamathcc.edu