Making Learning Count in Minnesota Through PLA

Transcription

1 Making Learning Count in Minnesota Through PLA 1

2 Goals for This Afternoon 1. Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) Overview 2. Review of Fueling the Race Research 3. Introduce Learning Counts.org 4. Spotlight several state-wide initiatives that are addressing PLA within their states 5. Get moving! 2

3 About CAEL The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning A 501(c)3 non-profit organization 38 years of lifelong learning and workforce development experience Nationally recognized as the expert in Prior Learning Assessment Meaningful learning, credentials and work for every adult 3

4 Supporting the Adult Learner Colleges & universities Public Policymakers Employers Government, community and philanthropic entities Labor unions 4

5 MN Jobs by Education Level Education 2008 Jobs 2018 Jobs Difference <High School 185, ,000 4,000 (2%) High School 759, ,000 24,000 (3%) Post Secondary 1,987,000 2,139, ,000 (8%) 69% of MN jobs in 2018 will require postsecondary education 5 Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce The Undereducated American Minnesota State Breakdown

6 Minnesota: The Future is Now Goals Montana s Goal for College Attainment in 2025: 60% Current National average is 38.3% Minnesota Projected college attainment rate in 2025: 55.4% Projected college attainment gap for 2025: 4.6% Current % of MN adults with college degrees: 45.79% Number of Degrees Needed to Meet Workforce in 2025: 140,631 Rank among states in College Attainment: 5 th 6 Source: A Stronger Nation through Higher Education Minnesota State Breakdown. Lumina Foundation (2012).

7 What Minnesota Needs Projected Education gap for 2025: 4.6% Number of additional degrees required to meet workforce needs in 2025: 140,631 Percentage of MN jobs requiring a college credential by 2018: 70% 7 Percentage Points above the National Average of 63% 7 Sources: A Stronger Nation through Higher Education Minnesota State Breakdown. Lumina Foundation (2012). The Undereducated American Georgetown University Center for Education and the Workforce Minnesota State Breakdown

8 Status of MN Percentage of Minnesota s Working Age Population with At Least an Associates Degree: Percent 8 Source: A Stronger Nation through Higher Education Minnesota State Breakdown. Lumina Foundation (2012).

9 The County Picture Percentage of Minnesota adults (25-64) with a two- or four-year degree by county: Aitkin Anoka Becker Beltrami 41.1 Benton Big Stone Blue Earth Brown Carlton Carver Cass 31.2 Chippewa Chisago 30.4 Clay Clearwater Cook Cottonwood Crow Wing Dakota 51.7 Dodge Douglas Faribault Fillmore Freeborn Goodhue Grant 37.3 Hennepin Houston Hubbard Isanti 27.9 Itasca Jackson Kanabec Kandiyohi Kittson 35 Koochiching Lac qui Parle 35.8 Lake Lake of the Woods Le Sueur Lincoln Lyon McLeod Mahnomen Marshall Martin Meeker Mille Lacs Source: A Stronger Nation through Higher Education Minnesota State Breakdown. Lumina Foundation (2012).

10 Education Pays MN Median Income for Persons 25+ by Educational Attainment <High High Some Bachelor's Graduate+ School School College 10 Source: US Census American Community Survey 2011 Estimates l?pid=acs_11_1yr_s1501&prodtype=table

11 Education Pays MN Poverty Rate for Population 25+ by Educational Attainment Percent of Pop <High 11.1 High School 8.5 Some 3.4 Bachelor's+ School College 11 Source: US Census American Community Survey 2011 Estimates id=acs_11_1yr_s1501&prodtype=table

12 The Talent Dividend CEO s for Cities calculates a staggering economic benefit for every 1% growth in degree completion. 12

13 Where to Focus? In 2010, 669,136 Minnesota adults had some college but no degree. They represented 24%, almost a quarter, of the state s adult population 13 Source: A Stronger Nation through Higher Education Minnesota State Breakdown. Lumina Foundation (2012).

14 Prior Learning Assessment 14 14

15 What is PLA? Prior Learning Assessment 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 15

16 PLA Takes Many Forms Student Portfolio College Credit Standardized tests ACE recommended credit Transfer credit 16

17 Ensuring Quality Quality Assurance Principles Source: Assessing Learning: Standards, Principles, & Procedures, by Fiddler, Marienau &Whitaker. CAEL:

18 5 Academic Standards 1. Credit or its equivalent should be awarded only for learning, and not for experience. 2. Assessment should be based on standards and criteria for the level of acceptable learning that are both agreed upon and made public. 3. Assessment should be treated as an integral part of learning, not separate from it, and should be based on an understanding of learning processes. 4. The determination of credit awards and competence levels must be made by appropriate subject matter and academic or credentialing experts. 5. Credit or other credentialing should be appropriate to the context in which it is awarded and accepted. 1 8

19 5 Administrative Standards 1. If awards are for credit, transcript entries should clearly describe what learning is being recognized and should be monitored to avoid giving credit twice for the same learning. 2. Policies, procedures, and criteria applied to assessment, including provision for appeal, should be fully disclosed and prominently available to all parties involved in the assessment process. 3. Fees charged for assessment should be based on the services performed in the process and not determined by the amount of credit awarded. 4. All personnel involved in the assessment of learning should pursue and receive adequate training and continuing professional development for the functions they perform. 5. Assessment programs should be regularly monitored, reviewed, evaluated, and revised as needed to reflect changes in the needs being served, the purposes being met, and the state of the assessment arts. 1 9

20 PLA Research Fueling the Race to Postsecondary Success higher education institutions 60,000 student records Complete study: 20

21 PLA helps students graduate Graduation rates are 2 ½ times higher for students with PLA credit Fueling the Race to Postsecondary Success, March

22 Ways We Measured Persistence Credit accumulation towards an associate s or bachelor s degree Number of years in which the student earned credit between and

23 Credit Accumulation, No Degree-Earners 60% Did not earn PLA credit (n=23,101) 56% 60% 50% 50% Did not earn PLA credit (n=23,101) Did earn PLA credit (n=1,800) 56% 40% 40% Did earn PLA credit (n=1,800) 30% 28% 30% 20% 10% 20% 0% 10% 28% 1% Earned fewer than 10% of credits for degree 12% 2% 16% 7% Earned 10-19% of credits Earned 20-39% of credits needed needed 12% 13% 16% 16% Earned 40-59% of credits needed 7% 9% 18% 22% 16% 13% Earned 60-79% of credits Earned 80% or more of needed credits needed 9% 18% 22% 0% 1% Earned fewer than 10% of credits for degree 2% Earned 10-19% of credits needed Earned 20-39% of credits needed Earned 40-59% of Earned 60-79% of credits needed credits needed Earned 80% or more of credits needed 23

24 Persistence Consecutive Credit-Earning Years 60% 56% 50% Did not earn PLA credit (n=41,469) Did earn PLA credit (n=7,010) 40% 30% 29% 21% 23% 20% 18% 14% 11% 10% 7% 7% 4% 4% 6% 0% 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years 4 Years 5 Years 6 Years 24

25 Time Saver: Time to Degree 45.0 Months to Bachelor's Degree No PLA Credit (n=5,342) 1-6 PLA credits (n=860) 7-12 PLA credits (n=782) PLA credits (n=1,170) PLA credits (n=668) PLA credits (n=161) 49 or more PLA credits (n=219) 25

26 Money Saver An adult student who earns 15 credits from PLA applied to a degree saves $1,605 to $6,000 on tuition costs. 26

27 Need for More PLA In a 2010 CAEL survey, two-year institutions reported that PLA options were not promoted or advocated by advisors or faculty or were simply not broad enough in scope to meet the needs of students. 91% of the respondents believe that students come to their institutions with technical training that has been learned on the job technical training that could be assessed for college-level credit. 72% of the respondents think they will be seeing increased demand for PLA in the future. 27

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29 Why LearningCounts.org 1. One-Stop shop for PLA 2. Free academic advising 3. Individualized portfolio development and assessment Faculty expert network to review learning portfolios Credit recommendations on an ACE transcript or on the institution s own transcript if a Partner Plus

30 A System Approach Tennessee Pennsylvania Washington Indiana Colorado Oregon Vermont Minnesota 30

31 Tennessee: Case Study Creating Incentives for Transformational Change 31 Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) Builds on the Complete College Tennessee Act of 2010 Robust taskforce with all the stakeholders at the table Rolling up their sleeves Student services Institutional policies THEC PLA web site Faculty training Workforce staff training

32 Pennsylvania: Case Study Transforming to a Culture that Respects Prior Learning of Adult Students Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) Student services training focused on returning adults for all campuses Leveraging the capacity of Learning Counts.org 32

33 Minnesota s CPL Landscape Veteran legislation MNSCU policies and procedures 33

34 Subdivision 2 of Statute : Higher Education Fairness Requires MN institutions to award educational credits for courses that were part of a veteran s military training or service if the courses meet American Council on Education or Equivalent standards for awarding academic credits. 34

35 MNSCU Policy 3.35 (2009) Requires colleges and universities to provide opportunities for students to demonstrate college-level learning gained in non-credit or experiential settings develop or update institutional policy in accordance with system policy comply with Statute , Higher Education Fairness, and disseminate information about prior learning assessment opportunities to students

36 Procedure College and University Transcripts May award credit earned by means other than actually taking a course at the institution, including challenge exams, CLEP or AP tests, DANTES or International Baccalaureate. May note credit either in the term when it was earned or in the transfer section. If placed in the term section, the type of special credit must be noted in parentheses immediately below the course. 36

37 Get Real 37 Transfer policies Transcripting policies Faculty and department policies Training Intra-institutional transfer and articulation Implications for student services Implications for external professional certification Do students know about PLA? Do employers know about PLA? How do you track PLA?

38 To Implement PLA in Your State 1. Investigate the status of PLA in your state 2. Benchmark what s happening in other states? 3. Convene state stakeholders 4. Create a PLA task force with clear goals 5. Expect a comprehensive, consistent state PLA policy 6. Communicate to current and prospective students, to workforce boards and to employers 7. Monitor require regular PLA reports 38

39 PLA Research at Your Institution Data tracking basics Understanding usage throughout the institution Measuring the impact of PLA Student Institution

40 PLA Research: Data Tracking Basics Key Question: Do you track PLA credit-earning in your student data systems? Are credits earned through PLA coded differently? Does your system differentiate the different types of PLA credit ACE credit recommendations and other evaluations of external/military training? Portfolio assessment? Standardized exams? Challenge exams? Application: Having these systems in place will allow you to: Understand how PLA is used in your institution Calculate the impact of PLA on students and the institution itself

41 PLA Research: Usage at Your Institution Key Questions: Who is using PLA at your institution? (student demographics: age, race/ethnicity, military/veteran status) What are the usage patterns in terms of # of PLA credits earned by students in various departments/disciplines? Are these patterns due to specific PLA policies for those departments? Or is something else going on? Application: This information can help you: Develop PLA offerings program for students throughout the institution With student recruitment efforts Target faculty/staff training resources

42 Measuring the Impact of PLA Step 1: Clearly define research questions that are of appropriate scope Examples: Do students earning credit through PLA: Have better completion rates (long term)? Have better persistence (short term)? Take less time to earn their degrees/certificates? Save money? Do the results vary by key student characteristics?

43 Measuring the Impact of PLA Step 2: Recognize the noise and control for it when you can Possible confounding factors: Other retention initiatives at your institution Previous educational history: high school performance, previous higher education performance Student characteristics: level of motivation/drive, level of engagement with the institution, writing ability, social support system, financial status, socio-economic background, employment status, test scores, GPA, and so on

44 Measuring the Impact of PLA Step 3: Use outcomes/findings from your research to educate others Students Faculty Staff Leaders Policy makers Employers

45 Gloria 45

46 Questions Comments 46

47 Contact Us Amy Sherman Associate Vice President, Policy and Strategic Alliances 47