An Evaluator’s Primer

Awarding Credit for Military Training and Experience Using the American Council on Education Credit

Recommendations

Cynthia BruceAssociate Director, ACE Military Programs

Dawn LightSOC Degree Network System Project Director

Kathy SneadSOC Director

Workshop Goals

• To provide background and information about the military student population and potential transfer credit issues.

• To provide background and information on Servicemembers Opportunity College’s mission and function as liaison between higher education and the military’s voluntary education community.

• To provide a clear understanding of the American Council on Education’s (ACE) Military Programs credit evaluation process.

• To increase the awareness, use, and benefit of the transcript services (AARTS, SMART, and ACE transcript).

• To explore college options for applying evaluated credit for military training and experiences toward degree requirements.

Military Students and Veterans: Subpopulation of Adult Learners

• Active-Duty and Reserve Component—in 2008 more than 300,000 servicemembers used military tuition assistance

— enrolled in more than 800,000 courses — DoD spent roughly $475 million in tuition and fees

• Veterans in the Community—since August 1, 2009 VA has authorized more than $1.05 billion for education benefits

• Family Members—a reminder that military family members may also have education benefits

— transferability of education benefits included in Post-9/11 GI Bill— Marine GYSGT Fry Scholarship — Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance

• Released July 2009

• Identifies gaps

• Provides overview of programs and services

• Serves as a catalyst for discussion

• Downloadable publication from www.soc.aascu.org/socgen/whatsnew/html or www.acenet.edu/CPA/STS

A national snapshot of the programs,

services, and policies that campuses

have in place.

From Soldier to Student

• Serve as vehicle to help coordinate postsecondary educational opportunities for servicemembers

• Strengthen liaison and working relationships among military and higher education representatives

• Advocate for flexibility needed to improve access to and availability of educational programs for servicemembers

Servicemembers OpportunityColleges (SOC) Mission

• Servicemembers should share the same educational opportunities available to their civilian counterparts

• Educational programs that are provided by appropriately accredited colleges and universities

• Educational programs that are flexible in terms of scheduling, academic residency, course transfer, and acceptance of non-traditional credit

Servicemembers OpportunityColleges (SOC) Principles

• Reasonable with Transfer of Credit from other institutions- Minimum loss of previously earned credits- Avoid coursework duplication

• Reduced Academic Residency Requirements - 25% maximum for most programs- 30% for schools providing undergraduate degrees 100% online- No final year or semester requirement

• Credit for Military Training and Experience- Award credit for military service schools- Recognize and use ACE Guide in evaluating military training experiences

• Credit for Nationally-Recognized Testing Programs- Award credit for at least one nationally-recognized testing program such as CLEP (General and Subject Exams), DSST (DANTES Standardized Subject Tests), ECE (Excelsior College Examinations)

SOC Criteria for Membership

www.acenet.edu/CLLL

ACE’s Center for Lifelong Learning:

Guiding Philosophy

“WHAT an individual learns is more important than when, where, and how the individual learned it.”

ACE Center for Lifelong Learning

Program Evaluations

• Military Programs

• Corporate Programs

Third-party review gives unbiased assessment of non-traditional learning, training courses

Engages subject matter experts in evaluative credit process where institutions may not have expertise

Military Course Evaluations

• Formal military instruction and military occupations specialties courses approved by a central authority

• Correspondence courses with proctored end-of course exams

• Distance learning/online courses with documented rigid control test conditions and firm identification of the student.

Program Evaluation Activities

Evaluate formal courses and occupational specialties

Publish course and occupation descriptions and academic credit recommendations

Transcript and registry services

www.acenet.edu/militaryprograms

Overview: Process for Military Programs

• DoD contract

• Course and occupation materials submitted

• ACE’s Content Review Committee (CRC)

• Review Team Selection Committee

• Pre-site visit telephone conferences

• Team site visit and recommendations

Military Programs Does Not Evaluate the Following:

• Air Force courses transcribed by the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF)

• Military schools with degree-granting status

• Training Courses outsourced to colleges and universities

• Coast Guard additional skill identifier / qualification codes

About Military Evaluations

2008 Fiscal Year

• 35 installation visits • 1,200 courses • 25 occupations• 150 teaching faculty members• 3,400 semester hours in the lower division• 900 semester hours in the upper division • 300 semester hours in the graduate division

Reflections or Questions?

On to the Evaluation Process

Review Committees

Content Review Committee (CRC) Role

•Determines the appropriate content and academic disciplines for courses and occupations

•Reviews discipline alignment by the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP)

•Determines the scope of the team

Review Team Selection Committee Role

•Reviews evaluators nominated for the team•Approves nominations

University51%

4-Year College27%

Community College19%

Practitioner or Other3%

• Accrediting agencies

• Types of institutions

• Approximately 7,000 faculty on military teams (since 1954)

Evaluator Representation

The General Review Process

• Conduct pre-meetings with points of contacts

• Travel to training locations

• Review materials (conduct interviews for occupations)

• Document evaluation and write descriptions

• Final reports

Evaluative Criteria for Courses

• Course content

• Learning outcomes

• Depth and breadth of material

• Level of difficulty

• Applicability to postsecondary programs

• Evaluative instruments

• Outside assignments

• Instructor qualifications

Defining College Level Work

Content, scope, and rigor must be at the postsecondary level.

• Vocational / Certificate

• Lower Division

• Upper Division

• Graduate

Vocational/certificate level

This type of coursework is normally found in year-long certificate programs that are designed to provide students with occupa- tional skills.

Course content is specialized, and the accompanying training emphasizes procedural (hands-on) rather than analytical skills (theory).

Lower Division Associate/Baccalaureate Degree

Category

Course emphasis is on learning basic principles that have broad judgmental applications.

Coursework typically found in programs leading to the Associate Degree and/or the first two years in a baccalaureate institution.

Upper Division Baccalaureate

Course content usually involves specialization of a theoretical or analytical nature beyond the introductory level.

Course content is usually found in the last two years of a baccalaureate program.

Graduate Degree Level

The Course and its Content Involves:

• Critical Analysis

• Scholarly and Professional Application of Specialized Knowledge within a Discipline

• Oriented towards Independent Study

• Typically involves Original Research

No Credit Recommended

• Material presented in the course is not comparable to content and rigor at the postsecondary level

• Material offered is inadequate for a judgment to be made

• Inadequate outcome assessments

Military Occupation Evaluation

• Occupation is a job designation by the military service

• Review and assessment are more experiential in nature

• Teams validate demonstrated and expected job knowledge, skills, abilities by pay grade

Military Occupation Evaluations: The General Process

Review Committees•Content Review Committee (CRC)•Review Team Selection Committee

Teams•Travel to the military installation•Review official occupation documentation•Interview service members•Develop final recommendations

Military Occupation Evaluations: Official Documentation

• Occupation manuals

• Technical guides and training manuals

• Promotion examinations

• Study guides

• Other official branch specific documentation

Military Occupation Evaluations: Service Member Interview

Focus on the representation of the job expectations at the pay grade

Clarification and validation of the official military documentation

Military Occupation Review: Team Process

•Synthesis of information

•Alignment to current curricula

•Determination of post secondary content and rigor

•Team consensus must be 100%

www.militaryguides.acenet.edu

Military Guide Online

•Daily updates

•1954 to1989

•The last printed Guide

• Over…

• 15,000 course exhibits

• 3,100 occupation exhibits

www.militaryguides.acenet.edu

Military Guide Online

Sample Exhibits

2009 Guide On CD(late November 2009 release)

The Military Guide on CD

Reflections or Questions?

On to Transcript Overview

AARTS SMART ACE Corporate

Central Texas College 33,326

University of Phoenix 28,497

University of Maryland University College/Europe/Asia 16,143

American Military University 9,031

North Central Institute 8,924

Troy University 7,178

Excelsior College 5,328

American Intercontinental University Online 4,810

Grantham University 4,342

Pierce College 3,762

University of Phoenix 12,260

American Intercontinental University 5,446

Coastline Community College 4,368

Excelsior College 3,527

Colorado Technical University OnLine 3,302

American Military University (Manassas) 2,961

Thomas Edison State College 2,374

University of Maryland University College 1,807

Park University (Main Campus) 1,489

Ashford University 1,448

Thomas Edison State College 482

Excelsior College 220

University of Maryland University College 83

Community College of the Air Force 44

University of Phoenix 39

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University 34

American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography 30

Ashford University 29

Walden University 29

Michigan Technological University 28

2008: Top 10 Transcript List

Military Transcripts: AARTS and SMART

https://aartscolleges.army.mil https://smart.navy.mil

Features of Web Delivery

AARTS Operations

415 McPherson Avenue

Ft. Leavenworth, KS

66027-1373

Carol Brown

LEAV-AARTS@conus.army.mil

www.aartstranscript.army.mil

SMART Operations

NETPDTC, N2

6490 Saufley Field Road

Pensacola, FL 32509

Laurine Anderson

sfly_smart@navy.mil

1-850-452-1001

x1097, 1236, or 1149

www.smart.navy.mil

Web Sites and Contact Information

Military Transcripts: CGI and CCAF

Web Sites and Contact Information

Coast Guard Institute

Commanding Officer (ve)

5900 SW 64th Street, Rm 228

Oklahoma City, OK 73169-6999

(405) 954-0072

fax 405-954-7249

cgi-pf-ed_advisor@uscg.mil

http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cgi/ve/official_transcript.asp

Community College of the Air Force Operations

CCAF/DFRS100 South Turner Blvd

Gunter Annex AL 36114-3011(334) 649-5000

registrar.ccaf@maxwell.af.mil

http://www.au.af.mil/au/ccaf/non_airforce.asp

Resources: A Transfer Guide

•Written specifically for the service member

•Released March 2009

•Provides simple, straightforward guidance on understanding military credit recommendations and transcripts

•Includes definitions of common terms, answers to frequently asked questions, and a transfer credit checklist

• On ACE Web site

www.acenet.edu/militaryprograms/

transferguide

Resources: ACE Military Brochures

www.acenet.edu/evaluators

evaluators@ace.nche.edu

Serve as an Evaluator

• You must be actively teaching college-level courses.

• When your discipline expertise is needed, you are contacted directly to serve on the ACE team.

•Evaluator training provided; also provide evaluator handbook

• ACE pays all evaluators an honorarium and travel.

www.acenet.edu/evaluators/serve

Faculty Evaluator Database

•Online application

•Academic institution affiliation

•Degrees / credentials

•Current teaching position

•Short biography

•Resume or CV required

•CIP codes identified

•Routinely audited

Applying Evaluated Credit

Mapping non-traditional credit toward degree requirements is much like applying transfer credits:

• There is no “magic” formula• Varies by individual student (as appropriate to

his/her degree requirements)• Requires knowledge of what was learned (depth

and breadth of content, learning modalities, and outcomes)

• Often involves faculty/departmental involvement in those credit decisions

• Goal of the decision process is to find the “best fit”

Transfer Decision Resources

• “Related Competency” descriptions in the ACE Guide exhibits

• SOC DNS Credit Evaluation Supplement• Alternative methods for demonstrating acquired

knowledge and skills:— Portfolio Review (EERs, OERs, certificates) — Challenge examinations — Nationally recognized testing programs (CLEP, DANTES SST, or Excelsior College Exams)

• Combining credits from other military experiences

Purpose: academic placement guidelines for optimizing the application of non-traditional credit toward degree requirements

• Credit mapping of ACE credit recommendations for military training and occupational specialty experience

• CLEP/DSST/ Excelsior Exams• CCAF courses• DANTES Independent Study Courses

SOC DNS Credit Evaluation Supplement

Ensuring Consistent Credit Awards

• Establishing standard procedures (institutional and departmental level)

• Creating institutional tracking mechanisms

• Automating credit award “look up” function

• Building your database incrementally (as evaluations needed)

• Collaboration, rely on “experts” to guide policy and procedural development

• Where state-wide articulations exist, leverage work of other institutions with military evaluations

ACE Resource Tools for Colleges and Universities

• Centralized repository for colleges and universities

• Sample transcripts

• Rank charts

• Quick links to other resources

www.acenet.edu/militaryprograms/resourcetools

SOC Resource Tools for Colleges and Universities

“Burning” Issues in Military Voluntary Education

• Aggressive marketing strategies of educational competitors/ incentives and inducements to enroll (free laptop)

• Academic policies (or lack thereof) related to military deployments, attendance, and withdrawals for military reasons

• Accountability — what are appropriate measures of student success given military students’ high operations tempo?

• Affordability of college for military students/family members

• Awareness of military/veteran issues as an institutional priority

• Fair treatment of returning “warriors” by faculty and college administrators

American Council on EducationOne Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 250

Washington, DC 20036

Toll Free: 866-205-6267

Military Programs202-939-9470 or mileval@ace.nche.edu

www.acenet.edu/militaryprograms

Corporate Programs202-939-9434 or credit@ace.nche.edu

www.acenet.edu/programs/CREDIT

Lifelong Learning Resource Center

Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges

Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges1307 New York Avenue, NW Fifth FloorWashington, DC 20005-4701

Phone: 800-368-5622; 202-667-0079Fax: 202-667-0622E-mail: socmail@aascu.org