1. PLA with a Purpose Symposium Columbus, Ohio April 29,2014 Partnering to Meet the Challenges of Implementation

2.  Funded by Lumina Foundation for Education 2 CAEL National Study

3. What We Wanted to Know:  Do adults who earn PLA credit have better graduation rates, compared with those who do not earn PLA credit?  Do they have better persistence?  Do they earn their degrees in a shorter period of time?

4. 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 4 What Is the Value of PLA?

5. Four Approaches to PLA Standardized exams Challenge exams Evaluated non-college programs and courses Individualized assessments 5

6. What Is the Value of PLA? 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 http://www.cael.org/pdfs/PLA_Fueling-the-Race 6

7. Graduation and Completion 7

8. PLA students in this study had better graduation rates than non-PLA students:  regardless of institutional size, level (two-year or four-year) or control (private for-profit, non- profit, or public)  regardless of the individual student’s academic ability or grade point average  regardless of the individual student’s age, gender, or race/ethnicity  regardless of whether or not the individual student receives financial aid 8 Summary of Graduation Findings

9. Persistence 9

10. PLA students have higher rates of persistence compared with non- PLA students.  In terms of credit accumulation/progress towards the degree  In terms of number of years of credit-earning 10 Summary of Persistence Findings

11.  PLA students earned either a bachelor’s or an associate’s degree in a shorter periods of time compared with non-PLA students. 11 Summary of Time to Degree Findings

12. 12 CAEL’s ALFI Project CAEL’s Principles of Effectiveness for Serving Adult Learners 1.Outreach 2.Life & Career Planning 3.Financing 4.Assessment of Learning Outcomes 5.Teaching-Learning Process 6.Student Support Systems 7.Technology 8.Transitions 9.Strategic Partnerships

13. 13 All of the Principles The Principles of Effectiveness are:  Integrated – they work together  Indivisible – they form a whole  Imperative – not just “a good idea”

14.  Employers and other organizations in the community  Other institutions  3 rd party reviewers  Other educational providers  CAEL and LearningCounts.org 14 Partnerships with: