Ensuring Learning

Ensuring Learning is a faculty focused and practical guide that will benefit all educators seeking to implement Guided Pathways. With student learning and success as the driving forces behind the recommendations, this book should be required reading for those seeking to design educational environments that prioritize completion and quality.--Tia Brown McNair, EdD, Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Student Success, AACU Congratulations to Christine Harrington for writing a book that anyone engaging in guided pathways should read. Her book recognizes that real, transformative change will not happen if community colleges do not address the core function of teaching and learning. Recognizing that ensuring student learning shouldn't be an add-on or afterthought of guided pathways reform, Dr. Harrington speaks directly to the important roles faculty should play in improving instructional practices in classrooms across campuses and in their communities. Using her well-informed lens as a faculty member at Middlesex County College and leader of New Jersey's Student Success Center, Dr. Harrington addresses the most important questions that faculty ask about guided pathways to demonstrate how faculty expertise can support reform, leverage untapped talents to lead change, and garner commitment to continuously improving student success.--Debra Bragg, director, Community College Research Initiatives, University of Washington For decades, the majority of education reform efforts have focused on institutional supports that largely reside outside of the classroom. And while these systems of support are important, the student success and completion needle has not moved significantly enough as a result. Ensuring Learning: Supporting Faculty to Improve Student Success is a timely book as the role of faculty is positioned in the academy where it should have been all along...at the center of student learning and success. Christine Harrington presents solid insights into the critical role of faculty in student success, as well as practical tools for practitioners to use at any level.--Paula P. Pando, EdD, president, Reynolds Community College, Richmond, VA In concert with the overarching premise of Guided Pathways critically examining the way in which community colleges function to increase student success, Dr. Harrington embarks in original work in operationalizing learning. The specificity and clarity behind her arguments discern a clear road map for institutional success.--Carlos Nevarez, Chair and Professor, Graduate & Professional Studies in Education at California State University-Sacramento Community colleges are monuments to equity, but they don't always live up to their missions. Christine Harrington provides a practical, accessible, step-by-step guide for community colleges to ensure not only that they fulfill their missions through guided pathways, but that they improve student learning as they go. The sheer scale of the efforts can be overwhelming; Harrington does a real service by breaking them into small, actionable steps to keep those efforts from getting sidetracked. It's the sort of book to read with a pen.--Matthew Reed, Vice President for Learning, Brookdale Community College This is a timely and practical guide for helping student-success leadership teams engage in the kind of thinking and planning needed to build a strong sense of co-ownership and shared purpose among faculty for whole-college reforms in service of better and more equitable student outcomes.--Alison Kadlec, PhD, Sova