FIRST IN THE WORLD PROGRAM
FITW Concept Paper – Discussion Draft
Background: The First in the World (FITW) Program1 is a grant opportunity provided by the
U.S. Department of Education/Postsecondary Education. The purpose of FITW is to build
evidence for “what works” in removing barriers to student success with the goal of spurring
innovation and growing evidence-based programs. FITW is in its second round of funding. The
grants are for four year projects which expand programs for which there is established evidence
of their effectiveness. The program’s emphasis is on serving adult learners, working students,
part-time students, low-income students, students of color, and first-generation students. FITW is
prioritizing projects which include one or more of the following outcomes: Improve
developmental education; Improve teaching & learning; Improve student support services;
Develop/use assessment of learning; Facilitate pathways; Increase financial aid effectiveness;
Implement low-cost/high-impact practices; Fund Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs); or
Systems/consortia focused on large-scale impact.
Timeline: The grant process timeline is:




The Notice Inviting Applications is scheduled to be available in mid-May.
Final proposal due June 30, 2015.
Department of Education approves grants in July.
Funding period starts in Fall 2015.
Initial Focus: In collaboration with participating colleges (TBD) and in partnership with the
Community College Research Center (CCRC), SBCTC is proposing to develop a system
application for FITW. The concept is Guided Pathways with an emphasis on math which
incorporates career advising and navigational support, workforce education, transfer programs,
basic skills, on-ramps to I-BEST, High School 21and I-BEST. The Guided Pathways model
comprises three elements:
1. Clear roadmaps to students’ end goals
2. On-ramps to programs of study
3. Embedded advising, progress tracking, feedback and support.
Building on the work that has already been done in Washington to identify career pathways,
SBCTC is proposing to build an application with partner colleges which develops career
pathways, creates metrics for measuring the project outcomes, develops tools and strategies for
engaging students in the new pathways and creates the needed supports and wrap around services
to help students to persist and complete programs in the new pathways. The Guided Pathways
would be built to include students from pre-college through graduation.
1
Federal Register/Vol. 80, No. 35/February 23, 2015/Proposed Rules U.S. Department of Education/Postsecondary Education
FIRST IN THE WORLD PROGRAM
Case for support: We have momentum going into this proposal.
 CCRC has investigated and published research which provides evidence that Guided
Pathways are effective.
 The Alliance for Career Pathways, supported by CLASP, has initiated work in
Washington State to identify specific pathways and now has additional research
underway to investigate career pathways’ effectiveness.
 We have a national reputation for well-developed I-BEST programs that teach basic skills
in the context of technical education.
 College and career pathways are being developed in basic skills as part of the Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).
 K12 has identified 16 career pathways that we could use as a starting point to group our
programs and majors, potentially creating clear pathways from K12 to our college
programs.
 Pathways are an additional way to further the connection between K-12, the new high
school transition courses and our colleges.
 Guided Pathways are applicable for both workforce and transfer programs and can
provide support for students entering from a variety of pre-college programs.
 The Guided Pathways approach has links to Major Related Programs, Courses of Study
and Centers of Excellence. Centers of Excellence have worked to map pathways from
K12 through bachelor’s degrees in key industry clusters.
 Applied Baccalaureate degrees and transfer agreements will be an important part of a
comprehensive pathway system.
 The system’s Math Strategic Plan recommends differentiating pre-college to college level
math pathways based on students’ educational and career goals.
 Other system level efforts?
Concept design questions and draft ideas for discussion with system groups: Our goal is to
increase rates of program participation and completion for students. Participating colleges would
focus on different student populations and momentum points based on local data.
1. Are individual colleges planning to apply for FITW?
2. Which colleges would like to partner with SBCTC to propose a system project?
3. For the first year of the grant we could:
a. Convene a task force with instruction, student services, and researchers from
participating colleges.
b. Study Guided Pathways work nationally, identify elements we already have in
place, and identify successful practices that we want to pilot or expand in our
system.
c. Develop an implementation plan for years 2-4.
4. Identify metrics to track progress. Use CCRC’s analysis as baseline2?
2
Get with the Program…and Finish It: Building Guided Pathways to Accelerate Student Completion Davis Jenkins
and Sung-Woo Cho January 2014 CCRC Working Paper #66