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Prior Learning Assessments

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Prior Learning Assessment

  • Many adult learners can demonstrate college-level knowledge and competencies. Such learning—gained from experiences outside postsecondary education—often merits academic credit. Prior learning assessments (PLAs) provide a range of options from recognition of military and workforce training to national examinations and portfolio development. With more options comes the increased likelihood for greater numbers of learners to complete credentials.
  • For more than 60 years, ACE has been a nationally recognized leader in the evaluation of workforce and military training and provides standards, practices, and tools that higher education institutions can rely on.

Featured Content

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    Credits to Credentials™

    Credits to Credentials™ is ACE’s large-scale strategy to develop and implement clearly- mapped education and career pathways for adults that have successfully completed workforce and military training and occupations with ACE credit recommendations. Credits to Credentials™ collaborates with higher education institutions and ACE CREDIT clients, such as employers, professional associations, unions and government agencies, to create articulated maps that guarantee transfer credit, shorten time to credential completion, and decrease education costs for both learners and employers. As one example, ACE’s Credits to Credentials™ is working with Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, and McDonald’s Corporation to design and test accelerated paths to credential completion and job advancement, beginning with a pilot group of employees in Fall 2012.

  • ACE to Assess Potential of MOOCs, Evaluate Courses for Credit-Worthiness

    ACE has announced a wide-ranging research and evaluation effort that will examine the academic potential of massive open online courses (MOOCs).

  • Campus building

    The ACE CREDIT® College and University Network

    The Network is a group of more than 2,000 higher education institutions that consider ACE credit recommendations for transfer to degree programs.

  • Thumbtack in a map

    Maps to Credentials: Creating an Integrated Prior Learning Assessment Model to Accelerate Postsecondary Attainment

    Maps to Credentials, a 3-year project funded by FIPSE (Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education), is designing and piloting credential road maps for student veterans, applying ACE credit recommendations for military occupations and training and incorporating other PLA methods to accelerate veterans' postsecondary attainment.

Previous Content

  • January 15, 2013

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    ACE to Forge New Ground in MOOC Evaluation and Research Effort

    ACE is opening a new front in its groundbreaking initiative to evaluate massive open online courses (MOOCs) for possible college credit and explore how this new learning mode can best spur student success.

  • Content Item

    Man assessing a form

    Adult Learners Guide to PLA

    Prior Learning Assessments motivate adult learners to return, persist, and complete postsecondary credentials. This is a guide to Prior Learning Assessments for adult learners.

  • Adult Learners

    Adult Learners: Using Your ACE Credit Recommendations

    A guide to help adult learners use their ACE credit recommendations for military or workplace training.

  • Joint Statement on the Transfer and Award of Credit

    The Joint Statement on the Transfer and Award of Credit was developed by the three national associations whose member institutions are directly involved in the transfer and award of academic credit: the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, the American Council on Education, and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. The statement is intended to serve as a guide for institutions developing or reviewing policies dealing with transfer, acceptance and award of credit. "Transfer" as used here refers to the movement of students from one college, university or other education provider to another and to the process by which credits representing educational experiences, courses, degrees or credentials that are awarded by an education provider are accepted or not accepted by a receiving institution.

  • Military Guide Frequently Asked Questions

    Answers to frequently asked questions about the Military Guide.

  • How to use the Military Guide

    Instructions on using the Military Guide

  • Transfer Guide

    This publication is a resource to help service members use their ACE credit recommendations and military transcripts to achieve their higher education goals. (PDF) 3 MB

  • Navy Sample Joint Services Transcript

    Navy Sample Joint Services Transcript. This is a sample of a Navy Joint Services Transcript. It includes all details found on an official transcript and serves as an example.

  • Fireman

    Employers and Organizations

    If your organization offers courses designed to expand and improve the knowledge base and skill sets of your employees or members, then you should learn more about the ACE College Credit Recommendation Service (CREDIT). Participants in your programs may be able to earn college credit with successful completion of your courses.

Events

 

 Links

 
  • Lifelong Learning Resource Center
    Staff in the Lifelong Learning Resource Center answer questions about ACE transcripts and credit recommendations for military and corporate training and provide resources to guide returning adult learners.
  • Military Guide
    The ACE Military Guide presents ACE recommendations for formal courses and occupations offered by all branches of the military.
  • The National Guide to College Credit for Workforce Training
    The ACE National Guide to College Credit for Workforce Training contains ACE credit recommendations for formal courses or examinations offered by various organizations, from businesses and unions to the government and military.
  • Adult College Completion Network (ACC Network)
    The ACC Network, facilitated by Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), brings together organizations to share programs and practices that boost adult learners’ credential completion, focusing on those with prior credits. The Network’s Project Warehouse highlights PLA initiatives at institutional, state, and national levels.
  • Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
    Giving Credit Where Credit is Due: Creating a Competency-Based Qualifications Framework for Postsecondary Education and Training.
  • LearningCounts.org
    LearningCounts is dedicated to helping adult learners earn affordable college degrees. We respect the learning that adult learners achieve in life, and recognize that it can be translated into college credit.
  • Prior Learning Inside Out (PLAIO)
    Visit the recently launched PLAIO, the first online scholarly journal focused on prior learning assessment. The first issue focuses on the historical roots of PLA.
  • Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC)
    SOC functions in cooperation with 15 higher education associations, the Department of Defense, and Active and Reserve Components of the Military Services to expand and improve voluntary postsecondary education opportunities for servicemembers worldwide.