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Building New Pathways to Degrees SHEEO Higher Education Policy Conference August 11, 2010. Judy Wertheim V.P., Higher Education Services The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL). Adult Learning: A National Priority. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Building New Pathways to Degrees SHEEO Higher Education Policy Conference
August 11, 2010
Judy WertheimV.P., Higher Education Services
The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL)
Adult Learning: A National Priority▷ Great and growing need for the
nation’s workforce to acquire more postsecondary credentials to compete
▷ Many emphasizing the importance of greater success and persistence among college enrollees:
• President Obama
• Lumina Foundation for Education
• Individual States2
The U.S. Skills Gap▷ Report Released June, 2010 by the
Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce:• 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
• By 2018, 63 % of jobs will require postsecondary training
3
Even Best Performance with Traditional College-Aged Students at Each Stage of the Educational Pipeline Will Leave Gaps in More than 30 States
0 300,000 600,000 900,000 1,200,000 1,500,000
MissouriConnecticut
MarylandWyomingGeorgia
Montana
WisconsinNew Mexico
Michigan
Oklahoma
West VirginiaAlabama
South Carolina
Mississippi
North CarolinaKentuckyArkansasLouisiana
NevadaTennessee
New JerseyCalifornia
2,7888,89810,87523,54224,74125,32628,65934,54737,70639,43644,75747,42053,57453,99562,33265,85374,752
110,495112,681114,375115,120122,061132,748
159,765186,640
204,814287,565
307,956320,720
560,688893,504
1,333,645
Indiana
Hawaii
IdahoMaine
Oregon
Alaska
Ohio
Arizona
FloridaTexas
In order to reach international competitiveness by 2025, the U.S. and 32 states can’t close the gap
with even best performance with traditional college students. They must rely on the re-entry pipeline – getting older adults back into the education system
and on track to attaining college degrees.
4
Adult Learning in Focus
Main sources will have to be tapped to rectify this shortfall:
• Adults (25-64) who never completed high school – 21 million
• Adults with high school diplomas but no college—46 million
• Adults with some college but no degree—32 million
5
Factors Affecting Adult Participation
Affordability
Accessibility
Aspiration
6
PLA Can Help
What Is Prior Learning Assessment
(PLA)?
The evaluation for college credit of the knowledge and skills one gains from life
experiences (or from non-college instructional programs) including:
employmenttravel
hobbiescivic activities
volunteer servicemilitary service
7
More about PLA
PLA Methods• Standardized exams
• Advanced Placement (AP)• College Level Examination Program (CLEP)• Excelsior College Exams• DANTES Subject Standardized Tests (DSST)
• Challenge exams• Evaluation of non-college
training (e.g. corporate or military)
• Individual student portfolios
8
PLA Addresses:
Affordability
Accessibility
Aspiration
9
How Can PLA Help?
CAEL Study of PLA and Student Outcomes
• 48-institution study of PLA and academic outcomes (funded by Lumina Foundation), released in March, 2010
• 62,475 total adult students in our sample (adult = age 25 or older)
• Increased Graduation Rates, Greater Persistence, and Shorter Time to Degree
www.cael.org
10
PLA and Community Colleges
▷ Spring, 2010 – a CAEL exploratory study of PLA in community colleges
▷ 91% of the respondents believe that their student populations have technical skills and knowledge learned on the job that could be assessed for college-level credit.
11
Need for More PLA
▷Other CAEL research, completed in 2006, indicated that only 66% of higher education institutions offered the portfolio method of assessing experiential learning.
▷Many institutions that do have a policy for assessing portfolios serve very few students annually.
12
Scaling Up the Use of PLA
CAEL Virtual PLA Center
• Designed with a planning grant from Lumina Foundation for Education
• Implementation began July 1, 2010
• ACE and College Board partnering on project
• CAEL will draw upon faculty experts nationwide for teaching portfolio development course and reviewing adult students’ portfolios
13
CAEL Virtual PLA Center
▷ VPLA Center will use on-line platform
▷ The Center will help students earn all forms of PLA credit
▷ Credit recommendations from CAEL VPLA Center faculty experts will be sent on ACE transcript to colleges, as ACE already does today with military and corporate training
Scaling Up the Use of PLA
14
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
15
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 lower-income workers • Workforce Investment Boards
might send workers to document skills from previous jobs and have that learning evaluated by faculty
16
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
17
Why Colleges Are Interested
▷ Consistent application of PLA standards
▷ Lack of a PLA program at their institution
▷ Existing program cannot keep up with high volume of portfolio submissions
▷ Lack of personnel to adequately staff their PLA program
▷ Lack of credentialed faculty to review submitted portfolios in certain fields
▷ Interest in streamlining their process through increased capacity and speed
▷ Reliance on VPLA Center as an interim resource while the institution prepares to launch or expand its own PLA program on campus 18
Pilot Institutions
▷CAEL has requested commitment from institutions, systems, and organizations to participate in the pilot launch of VPLA Center
19
Criteria for Participation in the Pilot
Institutions are adult-serving and adult learner-friendly and agree to:
• treat PLA credit recommendations as they do other transfer credit
• identify group of adults to participate in the VPLA Center process
20
Questions?
Judy Wertheim
V.P., Higher Education Services Council for Adult and
Experiential Learning (CAEL)
21