Picture three different individuals on their unique paths to college: One is enrolling for the first-time after years of full-time work experience, another is enrolling directly after high school—where they earned college credit through dual enrollment—and a third is returning to higher education after time off, having previously completed courses at another institution. Varied as their paths have been, they each face the same challenge: figuring out if their previous learning will count toward the credential they seek. 

As the number of Americans entering higher education with some type of prior learning continues to grow, institutions must think differently about how they recognize such learning. For this reason, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers and Sova launched the Learning Evaluation and Recognition for the Next Generation (LEARN) Commission, bringing together a diverse group of forward-thinking campus leaders, issue area experts and institutional accreditors to help evolve policy and practice for recognizing undergraduate learning in the 21st century.....

.....Learning evaluation processes should all be driven by the same end goal—to identify and award academic credit for learning experiences that meet the same learning outcomes as “homegrown” courses. However, as Commissioner Marjorie Dorimé-Williams, senior research associate for postsecondary policy at MDRC, pointed out, “Research shows that many variables cloud the evaluation process in practice.”

For example, institutional decisions about whether or not to accept and apply transfer credit may be swayed by such variables as where the credit was earned, including whether it was earned at a comparable “peer” institution, such as an institution of the same degree level or an institution with the same accreditor; when the credit was earned, with a preference for greater recency; what type of grading basis was used, such as pass-fail or letter grading; what mode of instruction was used, such as online, in person or hybrid; or even such granular details as what textbook edition was used.....

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