LearningCounts.org
A New Prior Learning Assessment Initiative
Judy Wertheim
V.P., Higher Education Services
Higher Education Conference on Enrollment
Management
February 23, 2011
What Is CAEL?
The Council for Adult and
Experiential Learning
www.cael.org
What Is CAEL?
▷ CAEL is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization, with
headquarters in Chicago.
▷ CAEL’s Mission: CAEL advances lifelong learning in
partnership with educational institutions, employers, labor
organizations, government, and communities
▷ CAEL works to remove the barriers to adults so that they
can pursue higher education and realize their potential.
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Some Barriers to Adult Participation
Affordability
Accessibility
Aspiration
Removing the Barriers
Prior
Learning
Assessment
Can Help
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How Can PLA Help?
What Is PLA?
The evaluation for college credit of the
knowledge and skills one gains from life
experiences (or from non-college
instructional programs) including:
employment
travel
hobbies
civic activities
volunteer service
military service
How Can PLA Help?
PLA Methods
• Standardized exams
•
•
•
•
Advanced Placement (AP)
College Level Examination Program (CLEP)
Excelsior College Exams
DANTES Subject Standardized Tests (DSST)
• Evaluation of non-college training
(e.g. corporate or military)
• Challenge exams
• Individual student portfolios
Standards to Ensure Quality
The 10 CAEL Standards for
Assessing Learning ensure quality
#1: Credit or its equivalent should
be awarded only for learning, and
not for experience.
How Can PLA Help?
CAEL Study of PLA and Student
Outcomes
•
48-institution study of PLA and academic outcomes,
funded by Lumina Foundation for Education (Fueling
the Race to Postsecondary Success)
•
62,475 total adult students in our sample (adult = age
25 or older)
•
Increased Graduation Rates, Greater Persistence, and
Shorter Time to Degree
CAEL’s New PLA Initiative
LearningCounts.org
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Planning for
LearningCounts.org
▷ Funded by Lumina Foundation for
Education
• November, 2009 – May, 2010
▷ Business and marketing plans
completed
• May, 2010
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LearningCounts.org
▷ Will use on-line platform
▷ Will help students earn all forms of PLA
credit
(CAEL is working with ACE and the
College Board.)
▷ Credit recommendations from
LearningCounts.org faculty experts will
be sent on ACE transcript to colleges
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LearningCounts.org
▷ Pilot phase began July 1, 2010
Funded by:
•
•
•
•
•
Joyce Foundation
Kresge Foundation
Lumina Foundation for Education
State Street Foundation
Walmart Foundation
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LearningCounts.org will offer
students:
▷ Brief assessment of whether
LearningCounts.org is appropriate at this time
▷ One-on-one advising
▷ Advice about ways to earn college credit for
learning
▷ PLA course (theory and practice)
▷ Faculty assessment of the PLA portfolio(s)
▷ Record of credit recommendations on an ACE
transcript
▷ Archive of the portfolio
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Whom Will It Serve?
▷ Individuals already enrolled in community
colleges or four-year institutions
•
Provide support for postsecondary institutions
that have no existing PLA programs
•
Augment existing PLA programs at some
postsecondary institutions
Whom Will It Serve?
▷ Unaffiliated individuals not yet in
college or having started but
never finished college
•
Active duty military and veterans
• Document and certify skills from
their military careers
• Workers in transition or lowerincome workers
• Workforce Investment Boards might
send workers to document skills
from previous jobs and have that
learning evaluated by faculty
Whom Will It Serve?
▷ Employers and industry groups
•
To pursue the further credentialing of
their employees
•
To document learning that has already
been completed and identify skills gaps
LearningCounts.org Can Help
If Your Institution:
▷ Lacks a PLA program at your
institution
▷ Cannot keep up with high volume of
portfolio submissions
▷ Lacks personnel to adequately staff
the PLA program
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LearningCounts.org Can Help
If Your Institution:
▷ Lacks credentialed faculty to review
submitted portfolios in certain fields
▷ Is interested in streamlining the
process through increased capacity
and speed
▷ Will rely on LearningCounts.org as
an interim resource
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Faculty Assessors
▷ We are seeking applicants from across
all disciplinary areas
▷ Faculty assessors and instructors will
have qualifications equivalent to those
that would enable them to lead an
undergraduate classroom
▷ Assessors and instructors will receive
formal training from CAEL
▷ To apply: faculty@learningcounts.org
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Requirements to Participate
in the Pilot Phase
▷ Be an active institutional/system/organizational
CAEL member
▷ Refer 5 students to LearningCounts.org in each
pilot year
▷ Accept credit recommendations as you would
any other transfer credits
▷ Be self-identified as adult friendly
▷ Have the approval of an administrator (e.g.
president, vice president, chief academic officer
or dean) to participate
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Criteria for Students
▷ Are matriculated at your institution
▷ Are in good standing at your institution
▷ Understand the costs involved. (Tuition
for the PLA course = $500.00. Fees for
portfolio assessment = $250/1-6 credit
hours requested in a single discipline.)
▷ Understand that the portfolio
development course lasts six weeks and
will require approximately 10 hours of
work each week
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Criteria for Students
▷ Have demonstrated competency in
written English
▷ Have access to a computer with highspeed capability and are good
candidates for online learning
▷ Have not taken a similar course
▷ Are willing to help us evaluate the course
▷ Are planning to graduate in August, 2011
or later
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LearningCounts.org
Goals for the pilot phase:
▷ Increase awareness of PLA (students, faculty,
general public, states, workforce organizations,
employers)
▷ Provide more PLA options than a single
institution can
▷ Offer uniform, consistent PLA credit
evaluations
▷ Increase numbers of students who earn credit
through PLA.
▷ Involve more institutions in PLA
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LearningCounts.org
Goals for the pilot phase:
▷ Teach students how to reflect on their own
learning and prepare a portfolio
▷ Involve 2 states in policy change efforts
▷ Extend outreach to unaffiliated students
▷ Refine LearningCounts.org model
▷ Track progress of students who earn PLA
credit
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LearningCounts.org
Questions?
Judy Wertheim
jwertheim@cael.org
312.499.2659
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