Council for Adult and Experiential Learning

More and more college students enter postsecondary education with prior college credit and learning from work or military experience, on-the-job training, and self-directed study. These students often see their knowledge discounted because most degree programs are designed around the amount of time a student spends in class. The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, which created a national online system for awarding credit for prior learning, proposes a pilot to train up to seventy-five faculty to assess students' portfolios and award credit based on uniform learning competencies. If successful, the Council will integrate this assessment into its national system, opening the door for deeper learning skills to be valued and assessed.

The Council for Adult and Experimental Learning is a national nonprofit that works to improve education-to-career pathways for adult learners. This grant will support the development of a new framework to effectively serve adult learners in postsecondary education. There is an urgent need to develop a well-defined, evidence-based, and community validated set of principles — key tenets for success — that postsecondary providers can use to make improvements toward adult learner enrollment, success, and completion. The principles forged from this effort will serve to fundamentally improve the educational systems, programs, and policies that support economic opportunity for adult learners.