Mission and Core Values


Guided Pathways Mission

The De Anza College Guided Pathways Initiative provides students opportunities to explore prospective majors and careers while still making progress towards their academic goals; it keeps equity at the core of our decision-making while understanding that improving academic and support services for underserved populations will also benefit all students; it proactively and holistically addresses students and their needs by offering wrap-around services, and it helps students to gain self-efficacy in navigating their educational journeys.

Guided Pathways Core Values

In order to ensure equity-focused, institutional change that will clarify pathways for students, help them enter and stay on the path, and ensure learning, we embrace the following core values:

  • We embrace the institutional responsibility to be student-ready and to proactively assist students in obtaining necessary resources.
  • We are dedicated to providing clear and direct information to students to “stop the bounce.”
  • We acknowledge and advocate for the multiple access points and varying educational goals that exist for students.
  • We are committed to both listening to and hearing students’ stories, counting them as valuable experiences that must be considered both quantitatively and qualitatively in supporting student success.
  • We aspire to create a culture of engagement, mutual respect and meaningful interaction that will benefit our entire campus community.
  • We pledge to eliminate any unnecessary bureaucratic barriers that are within local control.
  • We endorse and support our larger community, including our intersegmental partners, our local communities, and local businesses, upon whom we depend to help our students.
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