Credit for What They Know: Increasing College Degree Completion in the Latino Community

September 20, 2013Presenter: Pamela Tate, President & CEOCouncil for Adult & Experiential Learning

• Council for Adult and Experiential Learning

• A 501(c)(3) non-profit, international organization with nearly 40 years of lifelong learning experience

• National leader in PLA best practices, research, and writing

• Dedicated to removing barriers to adult learning

• Recognized by regional accrediting bodies

Who Is CAEL?

Meaningful Learning, Credentials, and Work for

Every Adult

CAEL links learning and work – for nearly 40 years

CAEL’s Overarching Goal:

CAEL’s Unique Integrator Role

• Colleges & universities

• Corporations

• Labor unions

• Government, community

and philanthropic

entities

• Public Policymakers

Goal 1: Ensure that no adult learners are left behind in the pursuit of meaningful skills, credentials, and work by expanding our research agenda and partnership work.

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One of our Strategic Goals

U.S. “on a collision course with the future”

By 2018, our economy will have jobs for 22 million with college degrees, but a shortage of nearly 8 million people with degrees

By 2018, 63% of jobs will require postsecondary training

Why are Degrees Important? The U.S. Skills Gap

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U.S. Revenue – Status Quo

U.S. Return on Investment Dashboard, www.clasp.org

U.S. Revenue if 60% Attainment

U.S. Return on Investment Dashboard, www.clasp.org

National Perspective: Can the US Reach International Competitiveness by 2025?

Degrees needed to meet 60% attainment by 2025

Degrees produced by 2025 with current rate of production

62,000,000

39,000,000

Focusing on traditional-aged students will not be enough. Increasing rates of high school graduation, college participation, and public college completion rates will only reduce the gap by 9 million. Educating all adults must be part of the solution.

Data cited in Lumina Foundation Strategic Plan 2013-2016

23,000,000 gap

Who is addressing adult degree completion and PLA? President Obama – August 22nd

speech Departments of Education and

Labor Individual States Philanthropic Organizations Chambers of Commerce Individual Institutions

The Climate Is Right

To Remedy the Shortfall

Outreach to:

Adults with high school diplomas but no college

Adults with some college but no degree

What’s About Your State?

Example: Texas

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What’s About Your State?

Example: Texas

Data Point Texas

Current % of Adults with College Degrees 34.5%

Trend Projected for 2025 39.6%

Lumina Foundation Goal for 2025 60%

Gap 20.4%

Additional Number of Degrees Needed by 2025

940,404

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What’s About Your State?

Example: Texas

Lumina/Gallup Survey

America’s Call for Higher Education Redesign – Feb 2013.

87%

75%

of Americans think students should be able to receive college credit for knowledge and skills acquired outside the classroom

would be more likely to enroll in higher ed if they could receive credit for what they already know

Lumina/Gallup Survey

America’s Call for Higher Education Redesign – Feb 2013.

70%

of Americans think that if a student demonstrates that they have mastered material in less time, the student should get credit for a course without completing the full session (typically 16 weeks)

What Is PLA?

Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) is a process for evaluating knowledge and skills in order to award college credit for learning from:

• On-the-job

learning

• Corporate training

• Independent study

• Military service

• Volunteer service

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PLA Takes Many Forms

• Course challenge tests

• Evaluated non-college training and courses

• Standardized tests

•Student Portfolios

College Credit

• Credit is for LEARNING, not for experience

• Subject matter experts make credit

recommendations

• Any fees are for assessment, not for the

amount of credit awarded

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Key CAEL Standards

Why now?• Outcomes, Competencies, Accountability,

Using Technology to Scale

• Significant Learning

Outside of Academia

• Economic Pressures

• Changing Profile of Learners

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CAEL Research:

Fueling the Race to Postsecondary Success: A 48-Institution Study of PLA and Adult Student Outcomes

2010

N=62,475 adult students

PLA usage and academic outcomes

What Is the Value of PLA?

Graduation and Completion

PLA students earned either a bachelor’s or an associate’s degree in a shorter period of time than did non-PLA students.

Summary of Time to Degree Findings

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A Difference for Financial Aid Recipients

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Dramatic Difference for Hispanic Students

Hispanic PLA students earned bachelor’s degrees at a rate that was almost eight times higher than that of Hispanic non-PLA students

8,098 Hispanic students were in the sample examined for degree completion

Not enough colleges granting credit for prior learning

Need for consistent application of standards

Adult learners are not aware of PLA so they often repeat what they already know

Need for a national, online approach with easy access

Ability to use faculty experts nationwide to review learning portfolios in various disciplines using the CAEL portfolio assessment rubric for high quality assessments

Need to accelerate adult degree completion

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Why LearningCounts.org?

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Overview of LearningCounts

www.LearningCounts.org

Free PLA Credit Predictor

Complimentary student guidance on all forms of PLA

Courses to teach students how to discover their own college-level learning and build portfolios online.

Overview of LearningCounts One portfolio per subject

area, 1-12 credit hours can be requested per portfolio, and multiple portfolios welcome

Portfolios are routed electronically to CAEL-trained faculty assessors with appropriate subject matter expertise

Students find out within 2 weeks if credit is recommended or denied.

Credits are transcribed on a CAEL/NCCRS Transcript or directly by Featured Provider Network colleges and universities

No Current PLA program

Need support for existing program

Need for a streamlined, rigorous process

Why Colleges Are Interested

LearningCounts becomes your PLA service, with student tracking, reports, administration, and coordination with your Registrar’s office

* Free training for all of your frontline staff and academic leadership via webinars LearningCounts portfolio prep and

advising courses are listed in your catalog Student registers with you and you pay

LearningCounts Logo and link to your website from

LearningCounts.org Annual Fee (plus one-time

Implementation Fee) Your institution must be a member of

CAEL

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Featured Network

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Featured Network on Website

Two choices for scale

Do it yourself

1. Task Force with faculty representation

2. Departmental decisions

3. Faculty training4. Advisor training5. Hire PLA

Coordinator6. Define/price

process7. Market PLA

service

LearningCounts

1. CAEL-trained faculty assessors

2. Featured on LearningCounts website

3. Free training webinars for advisors

4. Free marketing assistance

5. Refer students6. Receive transcripts7. Receive data summaries

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Information Tech-nologyBusiness/Human ResourcesLiberal ArtsFinanceCommunicationCriminal JusticeVocational

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Research For example, we have a grant to work with

Excelencia in Education to research:1. What are the successful strategies used by

participating institutions to serve their Latino students? What role does PLA play?

2. What are the successful strategies used by the participating institutions to market PLA to Latino populations? What messages resonate with Latino students? Biggest challenges in promoting PLA?

3. How many credits – on average – do Latino students earn?

4. What are the courses/program areas for which Latino students are earning credit through PLA?

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How We Can Work Together

5. What PLA methods are currently used by Latino students to gain college credit ?

6. How many credits – on average – do Latino students earn?

7. What are the courses for which the Latino students are earning credit through PLA?

8. What specific degree areas/disciplines are Latino students pursuing and to what extent do their PLA credits “count” toward degrees in those disciplines?

9. How does the portfolio process help students articulate skills and competencies to employers?

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How We Can Work TogetherResearch

(cont.)

Pilot Spanish-language version of the LearningCounts course and portfolio tool?

Spanish version of PLA College Credit Predictor?

Sub-group of Featured Providers?

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How We Can Work TogetherPartnerships

How can we work with you to make this happen?

Pamela TatePresident & CEOptate@cael.org(312) 499-2681

www.cael.org

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