Credit for What They Know: Increasing College Degree Completion in the Latino Community September 20, 2013 Presenter: Pamela Tate, President & CEO Council 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. 5 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 6

U.S. Revenue – Status Quo U.S. Return on Investment Dashboard,

U.S. Revenue if 60% Attainment U.S. Return on Investment Dashboard,

National Perspective: Can the US Reach International Competitiveness by 2025? 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 ,000,000 gap

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

13 What’s About Your State? Example: Texas

Data PointTexas Current % of Adults with College Degrees 34.5% Trend Projected for % Lumina Foundation Goal for % Gap20.4% Additional Number of Degrees Needed by , What’s About Your State? Example: Texas

Lumina/Gallup Survey America’s Call for Higher Education Redesign – Feb % 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 % 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? P rior L earning A ssessment (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

18 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 19 Key CAEL Standards

Why now? Outcomes, Competencies, Accountability, Using Technology to Scale Significant Learning Outside of Academia Economic Pressures Changing Profile of Learners 20

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

24 A Difference for Financial Aid Recipients

25 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 26 Why LearningCounts.org? 26

Overview of LearningCounts   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 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 30 Featured Network

31 Featured Network on Website

Two choices for scale Do it yourself 1.Task Force with faculty representation 2.Departmental decisions 3.Faculty training 4.Advisor training 5.Hire PLA Coordinator 6.Define/price process 7.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 students 6.Receive transcripts 7.Receive data summaries

33

35

36

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? 37 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? 38 How We Can Work Together Research (cont.)

 Pilot Spanish-language version of the LearningCounts course and portfolio tool?  Spanish version of PLA College Credit Predictor?  Sub-group of Featured Providers? 39 How We Can Work Together Partnerships How can we work with you to make this happen?

Pamela Tate President & CEO (312) Contact