Bridging the Skills Gap: The Credit for Prior Learning Imperative

June 07, 2024

​A Q&A with Michele Spires, assistant vice president of ACE Learning Evaluations, and Lauren Collier, senior consultant with Vantage Point Consulting, Inc., on the value of credit for prior learning in the current work-learn-earn ecosystem

The concept and practice of awarding credit for experience go back to the GI Bill. Why is it so important now?

There are two major trends converging: (1) Employers identify skills gaps, difficulties finding workers with the skills needed for current and future jobs, as a major threat to productivity, growth, and even the existence of their companies, and (2) higher education institutions are facing declining enrollments and an “enrollment cliff” of traditionally aged students.

At the intersection of the trends is the opportunity to reengage adult learners. A recent study by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (NSCRC) found there are more than 40 million people in the United States who have started, but not completed, a postsecondary credential. Often, these students stop out for reasons unrelated to their academic capability, more commonly due to personal obligations or financial challenges of attending. (See Determining the Barriers to Entry and Completion for Returning College Students in New Jersey). 

Reengaging adult learners requires a different approach. Potential students indicate they would be most interested in affordable programs with flexibility and a connection to their intended professional outcomes, all of which are student benefits of earning credit for prior learning (CPL). And when adult learners do return to postsecondary education, they have a higher completion rate than their peers (NSCRC). CPL helps fast-track adult learners to completion and meaningful work by acknowledging their learning across a variety of settings. 

What is new with credit for prior learning?

Quoting ACE’s Jenifer Kautzman, “The days of higher ed institutions operating in a vacuum are over.” Worker/learners move between higher education institutions, postsecondary sectors, industry training and professional development providers, and work experiences—learning all along the way. 

You may notice that we use “worker/learners” to recognize that most students are both, regardless of age; the linear, full-time student path to graduation is less and less common. Acknowledging the increasing connectedness of working and learning, ACE and Vantage Point recently updated the Maximizing Credit for Prior Learning in a Data-Informed Ecosystem tool. The updated CPL implementation matrix incorporates an ecosystem approach and recognizes data and technology as tools to align and communicate experiences across the ecosystem.

A data-informed ecosystem approach sounds like themes from skills-based initiatives. How does CPL fit in the broader skills conversation?

Skills are increasingly the currency of the talent ecosystem. Employers want more effective ways to identify individuals for hiring and advancement. Worker/learners want clear, right-sized, cost-effective paths to well-paid, high-need jobs. Higher education can help align educational program outcomes with employers’ competency needs. Skills are the shared unit of analysis to help connect the dots.

CPL shares, or can share, the same skills and competency frameworks developed to align learning between education and training and occupations. And new technologies can enable not just the alignment of understanding as data but also the verification of accomplishments over time and across providers through tools like learning and employment records (LERs). Skills-based initiatives share commitments to growing and diversifying the workforce by translating expectations into skills for transparency, trust, and the collective good. In line with other skills-based initiatives, CPL centers the learner and validates their accomplishments to support and motivate them in pursuit of their career and life goals

Does CPL pose a risk for higher education institutions? How do you respond to concerns that CPL is “giving credits away?”

Historically, and in pockets today, we hear pushback about giving credits away or fears of losing academic rigor. Our answer to that is the longstanding best practice of learning evaluation built on rigorous assessment—not just giving credit for time on task. We invite faculty to dig into the research and practice of learning evaluation to understand not just how to assess learning for credit but also why CPL is important for their students, department, and institution.

It is also a common misconception that students will take fewer credits if they can earn credit via portfolio or challenge exams—the research suggests adult students report an increased feeling of loyalty to their institution, as they appreciate being “seen” as a whole person who is bringing their own experience and learning into the classroom. 

This is further borne out in increased retention rates. Rather than CPL resulting in fewer earned credits from the awarding institution, students who earn CPL go on to take an average of 17.6 additional credits than their peers (PLA Boost). Students who might otherwise have stopped out of their programs are more likely to progress to credential completion, taking higher-level courses, which can also be a benefit to faculty. Earned CPL also is associated with a 17 percent increase in the likelihood of completing a credential, including a 24 percent increase for Hispanic students and a 15 percent increase for Black students, according to Higher Learning Advocates.  

How can colleges and universities play a role in empowering adult learners through CPL?

Effective CPL depends on an integrated institutional approach. The CPL implementation matrix serves as a self-assessment to gauge practice across five functional areas: (1) academic engagement and faculty development, (2) student support and outreach, (3) institutional support, (4) data and technology, and (5) ecosystem engagement. Taking both a broad and deep approach to the CPL ecosystem, New Jersey engaged Vantage Point to assess and benchmark CPL practices across institutions. Those findings and feedback from adult learners and campus professionals are currently being used to inform professional development and technical assistance to help build CPL capacity and expertise.  

Regardless of where you start, please collect data to track your progress. Successful, sustained CPL is a process. Put the right institutional supports in place: thoughtful policies, efficient processes, and clear messaging. Build and refine a model that works with one academic program. Replicate and refine. Keep progressing by scaling across disciplines, opening doors to diverse student populations across learning experiences, and continuously improving.  

Bottom line: organizational change depends on the ability and the willingness of individual professionals to engage—invest in them!