Guiding Principles

OCCRL worked closely with the Illinois Community College Board, the Illinois State Board of Education, and the Illinois Center for Specialized Professional Support to draft a set of Guiding Principles and Design Elements under which Programs of Study were implemented and evaluated in Illinois. Throughout Fall 2008, work groups involving educational, policy and business leaders conferred on the programs of study framework, and recommendations were shared with the state. This work was updated in 2010 and in 2015.

To learn more about the Guiding Principles, including design elements for each principle, click on "View Content" under the principle name below.

Principle 1: Leadership, Organization and Support

PRINCIPLE STATEMENT:

Career pathways, career pathway systems, and programs of study are led and supported by P-20 educators and collaborative partners.

PRINCIPLE DESIGN ELEMENTS:

  1. Leaders form and sustain collaborative partnerships involving P-20 educators, employers, workforce partners, community-based organization partners, students, parents, and others who support student transition through postsecondary education and into employment.
  2. Leaders formalize partnerships with memoranda of understanding that communicate roles, shared responsibilities, and vision, goals and strategies that align with local, state, and federal policies.
  3. Leaders provide the guidance, cross-system alignment and resources needed for pathways to span the entire P-20 education system, the workforce, and other public and private systems.
  4. Leaders use labor market data, advise on and engage in curriculum development, and provide students with quality instruction within and beyond formal educational settings, including work-based learning.
  5. Leaders appreciate and use program quality indicators and outcome measures to monitor and continuously improve student performance.
  6. Leaders leverage and braid resources (e.g., personnel, money, curriculum, technology) to support student success. 

PRINCIPLE RESOURCES:

Principle 2: Access, Equity and Opportunity

PRINCIPLE STATEMENT:

All students have access to educational opportunities at multiple entry points and receive support services that lead to equitable outcomes.

PRINCIPLE DESIGN ELEMENTS:

  1. Barriers to initial entry or reentry are identified and overcome to ensure that students having diverse backgrounds and experiences have the opportunity to enroll and succeed in their chosen pathways.
  2. Flexible formats, locations, and times are offered to make learning accessible and achievable for all student populations.
  3. Comprehensive and proactive support services are offered to ensure students’ needs are met as they navigate pathways.
  4. Networks are used intentionally to assist all students with course navigation, academic and career advising, work-based learning, internships, and employment.
  5. Universal design principles for physical and virtual spaces and learning are used to promote access and support the successful transition of students through pathways.
  6. Evidence is collected, shared, and used continuously to identify and eliminate barriers to student access and success. 

PRINCIPLE RESOURCES:

Universal Design for Learning is a conceptual framework that combines knowledge, principles, and strategies from architecture, neuroscience, and education in an effort to create learning spaces that are inclusive and accessible for all learners by focusing on the person’s strengths and preferences rather than their limitations. Some websites to check out for more information:

Scaffold Learning – Learning environments created by educators, the instructional support that is provided, and the processes and language utilized recognize that good teaching builds upon connections from what the student already knows to new knowledge and skills. Teaching using learning scaffolds is critical because learning always proceeds from the known to the new. More information can be found at:

The Diversity Scorecard provides a means to involve campus leaders in the generation of knowledge about student outcomes disaggregated by the various groups of interest (e.g., ethnicity, gender, disability). Quite a few articles on this topic can be found at this link:

Some examples of the dashboard in relation to the scorecard idea can be found at these links:

Related Secondary Talking Points

Related Postsecondary Talking Points

Principle 3: Alignment and Transition

PRINCIPLE STATEMENT:

Curriculum, programs, and credentials are aligned to facilitate student preparation, progression, and success.

PRINCIPLE DESIGN ELEMENTS:

  1. Students learn about college and careers and are supported in making informed decisions about education and employment opportunities.
  2. Pathways offer non-duplicative curriculum, course sequences, and relevant assessments to maximize credit attainment and increase student success.
  3. Pathways accelerate the mastery of competencies that are aligned with relevant educational, state, and industry standards and credentials, including stackable certificates and degrees.
  4. Articulation agreements support credit attainment and transfer of credits that facilitate successful student progression and completion.
  5. Pathways lead to further education and training, including the baccalaureate and higher degrees (i.e. stackable credentials).
  6. Pathways lead to increasingly high-skill, high-wage, or high-demand occupations.

PRINCIPLE RESOURCES:

Related Secondary Talking Points

Related Postsecondary Talking Points

Principle 4: Enhanced Curriculum and Instruction

PRINCIPLE STATEMENT: 

Curriculum and pedagogy offer rigorous and relevant instruction that enhances learning and enables students to master competencies that align with industry-recognized standards and credentials.

PRINCIPLE DESIGN ELEMENTS:

  1. Pathways use assessments that are known to be valid and meaningful for culturally and experientially diverse student populations.
  2. Pathways integrate contextualized coursework that aligns with workforce needs, engages student interest, and improves learning outcomes.
  3. Applied learning is infused throughout pathways to help students understand the logic and relevance of curriculum that leads to informed career choices.
  4. Pathways promote learner-focused instruction that involves employers and other partners in classrooms, work-based learning, mentoring, and student service and leadership development.
  5. Technology-enabled, online, and hybrid delivery is integrated into pathways to foster student mastery of academic and technical competencies.
  6. Pathways encourage dual-credit and advanced placement that supports progression through college to completion.

PRINCIPLE RESOURCES:

Getting Results: A Professional Development Course for Community College Educators— According to the website, “This multimedia resource for community college faculty will challenge your previous thinking about teaching and learning and give you the basic tools for effective classroom practice. The key theme of the course is to encourage you to focus on what the students will do and take responsibility for their success.” More information can be found at:

 

Related Secondary Talking Points

Related Postsecondary Talking Points

Principle 5: Professional Preparation and Development

PRINCIPLE STATEMENT:

Comprehensive and continuous professional development is delivered to enhance the recruitment, preparation, and retention of qualified instructional, support, and administrative personnel.

PRINCIPLE DESIGN ELEMENTS:

  1. Professional development is high quality, sustained, intensive, and participant-focused and includes opportunities for all educators and partners to collaborate in implementing pathways.
  2. Leaders conduct and use needs assessments to design professional development and involve partners in collaborative planning.
  3. Professional development is designed to improve the quality of classroom instruction and assessment and raise student achievement.
  4. Professional development is offered on topics such as partnerships, student support services, the use of technology, evaluation, etc. that helps build, evaluate, and sustain successful pathways.
  5. Leaders leverage technology via webinars, open educational resources, and other web-based sources to ensure professional development is widely accessible and affordable to diverse types of faculty and staff.
  6. Professional development includes the sharing of evidence-based, promising practices that demonstrate pathway effectiveness and contribute to continuous improvement. 

PRINCIPLE RESOURCES:

Related Secondary Talking Points

Related Postsecondary Talking Points

Principle 6: Program Improvement and Accountability

PRINCIPLE STATEMENT:

Data are collected, shared, and utilized to map student progression through pathways, improve student outcomes, and demonstrate accountability.

PRINCIPLE DESIGN ELEMENTS:

  1. Pathways are evaluated using multiple forms of data (e.g., qualitative and quantitative) obtained from local, state, and federal systems and from industry and workforce partners.
  2. Partners establish data-sharing agreements, common language, and valid and reliable measures of student progress through college and careers.
  3. Partners set measureable goals to ensure equitable student outcomes, and they share responsibility for meeting those goals.
  4. Student-level data are disaggregated to identify inequities in performance among student groups and improve the outcomes of different student groups.
  5. Students are recognized as a primary stakeholder and their perspectives are actively obtained and used to inform pathway implementation and improvement.
  6. Outcomes are displayed and shared in multiple ways to help partners understand results, improve accountability, and continuously improve.

PRINCIPLE RESOURCES:

Related Secondary Talking Points

Related Postsecondary Talking Points

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