Report 2020-104 Recommendation 11 Responses

Report 2020-104: Calbright College: It Must Take Immediate Corrective Action to Accomplish Its Mission to Provide Underserved Californians With Access to Higher Education (Release Date: May 2021)

Recommendation #11 To: Calbright College

To assist its students in completing its programs, Calbright should immediately establish an efficient process to recognize previous training and experience and allow students to bypass areas of curriculum in which they have demonstrated competence.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2023

Credit for prior learning (CPL) is a critical tool to help adult learners succeed. It is used to evaluate and formally recognize learning that has occurred outside of the traditional academic environment and to grant college credit, certification, or advanced standing toward further education or training. CPL helps students value the skills and assets they bring to the table and well-designed CPL can boost college completion and workforce success particularly in underserved communities.

Calbright's competency-based education naturally allows students to move quickly through material they already know. In addition, we currently utilize a "prerequisite challenge form" in our IT programs so a student with prior IT experience may advance directly into our Cybersecurity program and bypass the prerequisite Introduction to IT program. Another example of Calbright's recognition of prior learning can be found in the College's newest Data Analysis program, which allows students to take a pre-assessment to evaluate their current knowledge. If they convey mastery in that pre-assessment, they may move directly to the final summative assessment for a competency and, if they pass that assessment, they are able to move ahead without engaging with all (or any) of the activities within the curriculum of that competency - they are able to "test out" so to speak.

To formally award credit for prior learning, Calbright had to first obtain accreditation, which it received in July 2023, one-and-a-half years ahead of the April 2025 deadline outlined in the College's founding legislation. The College will now begin the process of developing plans to offer credit, not only for prior learning, but also for its programs so that students can transfer credit into Calbright as well as carry Calbright credits to other institutions. Calbright expects to operationalize and implement this plan in late 2025, near the end of its seven-year start-up period.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2023

Credit for prior learning (CPL) is a critical tool to help adult learners succeed. It is used to evaluate and formally recognize learning that has occurred outside of the traditional academic environment and to grant college credit, certification, or advanced standing toward further education or training. CPL helps students value the skills and assets they bring to the table and well-designed CPL can boost college completion and workforce success particularly in underserved communities.

Calbright's competency-based education naturally allows students to move quickly through material they already know. In addition, we currently utilize a "prerequisite challenge form" in our IT programs so a student with prior IT experience may advance directly into our Cybersecurity program and bypass the prerequisite Introduction to IT program. Another example of Calbright's recognition of prior learning can be found in the College's newest Data Analysis program, which allows students to take a pre-assessment to evaluate their current knowledge. If they convey mastery in that pre-assessment, they may move directly to the final summative assessment for a competency and, if they pass that assessment, they are able to move ahead without engaging with all of the activities within the curriculum of that competency - they are able to "test out" so to speak.

To formally award credit for prior learning, Calbright had to first obtain accreditation, which it received in July 2023, one-and-a-half years ahead of the April 2025 deadline outlined in the College's founding legislation. The College will now begin the process of developing plans to offer credit, not only for prior learning, but also for its programs so that students can transfer credit into Calbright as well as carry Calbright credits to other institutions. Calbright expects to operationalize and implement this plan in late 2025, near the end of its seven-year start-up period.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2022

Credit for prior learning (CPL) is a critical tool to help adult learners succeed. It is used to evaluate and formally recognize learning that has occurred outside of the traditional academic environment and to grant college credit, certification, or advanced standing toward further education or training. CPL helps students value the skills and assets they bring to the table and well-designed CPL can boost college completion and workforce success particularly in underserved communities.

Calbright's competency-based education naturally allows students to move quickly through material they already know. In addition, we currently utilize a "prerequisite challenge form" in our IT programs so a student with prior IT experience may advance directly into our Cybersecurity program and bypass the prerequisite Introduction to IT program.

Calbright has also developed an implementation framework for a comprehensive approach to CPL, including a Board Policy, that provides a streamlined student experience and adheres to state compliance rules and regulations. This framework is conditioned on high-quality assessment design and the technical implementation necessary for students to benefit from CPL. This structured approach includes conducting research, implementing new technology, determining assessment methods, defining administrative procedures, and providing training and support to optimize the process for students. Calbright's Implementation Plan includes a timeline for the development, implementation, and review of a Credit for Prior Learning process.

To formally award credit for prior learning, Calbright must first obtain accreditation from an accreditor recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, which we are actively seeking to secure and for which we are two years ahead of schedule.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

1-Year Agency Response

Credit for prior learning (CPL) is a critical tool to help adult learners succeed. It is used to evaluate and formally recognize learning that has occurred outside of the traditional academic environment and to grant college credit, certification, or advanced standing toward further education or training. CPL helps students value the skills and assets they bring to the table and well-designed CPL can boost college completion and workforce success particularly in underserved communities.

Calbright's competency-based education naturally allows students to move quickly through material they already know. In addition, we currently utilize a "prerequisite challenge form" in our IT programs so a student with prior IT experience may advance directly into our Cybersecurity program and bypass the prerequisite Introduction to IT program.

Calbright has also developed an implementation framework for a comprehensive approach to CPL, including a Board Policy, that provides a streamlined student experience and adheres to state compliance rules and regulations. This framework is conditioned on high-quality assessment design and the technical implementation necessary for students to benefit from CPL. This structured approach includes conducting research, implementing new technology, determining assessment methods, defining administrative procedures, and providing training and support to optimize the process for students. Calbright's Implementation Plan includes a timeline for the development, implementation, and review of a Credit for Prior Learning process.

To formally award credit for prior learning, Calbright must first obtain accreditation from an accreditor recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, which we are actively seeking to secure and for which we are two years ahead of schedule.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending

6-Month Agency Response

Credit for prior learning (CPL) is a critical tool to help adult learners succeed. It is used to evaluate and formally recognize learning that has occurred outside of the traditional academic environment, to grant college credit, certification, or advanced standing toward further education or training. By meeting learners where they are, CPL helps students value the skills and assets they bring to the table and well-designed CPL can boost college completion and workforce success particularly in underserved communities.

Calbright currently utilizes a challenge method to assess prior learning in our IT programs. We have implemented a process to allow students with prior IT experience to advance directly into the Cybersecurity program, bypassing the prerequisite of our IT program, through the use of our "prerequisite challenge form."

Calbright has also developed an implementation framework for a comprehensive approach to CPL that provides a streamlined student experience and adheres to state compliance rules and regulations. This framework is conditioned on high-quality assessment design and the technical implementation necessary for students to benefit from CPL. This structured approach includes conducting research, implementing new technology, determining assessment methods, defining administrative procedures, and providing training and support to optimize the process for students. Calbright's Implementation Plan includes a timeline for the development, implementation, and review of a Credit for Prior Learning process.

To formally award credit for prior learning, Calbright must first obtain accreditation from an accreditor recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, which we are actively seeking to secure.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

Recognition for prior learning results in the awarding of credit, certification, or advanced standing toward further education, based on equivalent learning outside the classroom. To formally award credit for prior learning, Calbright must first obtain accreditation, currently in process through a U.S. Department of Education recognized accreditor. In the interim, Calbright has taken steps to implement a process for the recognition of prior learning.

Under a competency-based educational program, students demonstrate mastery of skills associated with the academic program typically through assessment and can hasten advancement through their programs with prior experience. Calbright has taken initial steps in its cybersecurity programs to allow students with prior experience to advance faster and is working to develop additional opportunities for students to accelerate progress through demonstrated mastery.

Calbright has a process in place to collect information from students about their prior IT experience, to support the advancement of students into the Cybersecurity program without completing the recommended IT support program or possessing CompTIA A+ certification. The experience is validated by the Cybersecurity instructional faculty. This process will be evaluated to determine how best to leverage the approach with other program pathways.

Calbright has researched best practices in the assessment of prior learning and has begun analyzing how our current course structures and content can be used to assess mastery of competencies in ways that can be leveraged to recognize prior learning. Process design for the recognition of prior learning has an estimated completion date of November 2022.

Full implementation for students also requires the college to accelerate development work on skills assessment, and rework existing onboarding and instructional technologies. The anticipated completion date of this work is May 2022.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2020-104

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.