An Evaluator’s Primer

1. An Evaluator’s Primer Awarding Credit for Military Training and Experience Using the American Council on Education Credit Recommendations Cynthia Bruce Associate Director, ACE Military Programs Dawn Light SOC Degree Network System Project Director Kathy Snead SOC Director

2. Workshop Goals • To provide background and information about the military student population and potential transfer credit issues. • To provide background and information on Servicemembers Opportunity College’s mission and function as liaison between higher education and the military’s voluntary education community. • To provide a clear understanding of the American Council on Education’s (ACE) Military Programs credit evaluation process. • To increase the awareness, use, and benefit of the transcript services (AARTS, SMART, and ACE transcript). • To explore college options for applying evaluated credit for military training and experiences toward degree requirements.

3. Active-Duty and Reserve Component—in 2008 more than 300,000 servicemembers used military tuition assistance — enrolled in more than 800,000 courses — DoD spent roughly $475 million in tuition and fees Veterans in the Community—since August 1, 2009 VA has authorized more than $1.05 billion for education benefits Family Members—a reminder that military family members may also have education benefits — transferability of education benefits included in Post-9/11 GI Bill — Marine GYSGT Fry Scholarship — Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance Military Students and Veterans: Subpopulation of Adult Learners

4. From Soldier to Student A national snapshot of the programs, services, and policies that campuses have in place. • Released July 2009 • Identifies gaps • Provides overview of programs and services • Serves as a catalyst for discussion • Downloadable publication from www.soc.aascu.org/socgen/whatsnew/html or www.acenet.edu/CPA/STS

5. Serve as vehicle to help coordinate postsecondary educational opportunities for servicemembers Strengthen liaison and working relationships among military and higher education representatives Advocate for flexibility needed to improve access to and availability of educational programs for servicemembers Servicemembers OpportunityColleges (SOC) Mission

6. Servicemembers should share the same educational opportunities available to their civilian counterparts Educational programs that are provided by appropriately accredited colleges and universities Educational programs that are flexible in terms of scheduling, academic residency, course transfer, and acceptance of non-traditional credit Servicemembers OpportunityColleges (SOC) Principles

7. Reasonable with Transfer of Credit from other institutions - Minimum loss of previously earned credits - Avoid coursework duplication Reduced Academic Residency Requirements - 25% maximum for most programs - 30% for schools providing undergraduate degrees 100% online - No final year or semester requirement Credit for Military Training and Experience - Award credit for military service schools - Recognize and use ACE Guide in evaluating military training experiences Credit for Nationally-Recognized Testing Programs - Award credit for at least one nationally-recognized testing program such as CLEP (General and Subject Exams), DSST (DANTES Standardized Subject Tests), ECE (Excelsior College Examinations) SOC Criteria for Membership

8. ACE’s Center for Lifelong Learning: Guiding Philosophy “WHAT an individual learns is more important than when, where, and how the individual learned it.” www.acenet.edu/CLLL

9. ACE Center for Lifelong Learning • Program Evaluations • Military Programs • Corporate Programs • Third-party review gives unbiased assessment of non-traditional learning, training courses • Engages subject matter experts in evaluative credit process where institutions may not have expertise

10. Military Course Evaluations • Formal military instruction and military occupations specialties courses approved by a central authority • Correspondence courses with proctored end-of course exams • Distance learning/online courses with documentedrigid control test conditions and firm identification of the student.

11. Program Evaluation Activities Evaluate formal courses and occupational specialties Publish course and occupation descriptions and academic credit recommendations Transcript and registry services

12. Overview: Process for Military Programs • DoD contract • Course and occupation materials submitted • ACE’s Content Review Committee (CRC) • Review Team Selection Committee • Pre-site visit telephone conferences • Team site visit and recommendations www.acenet.edu/militaryprograms

13. Military Programs Does Not Evaluate the Following: • Air Force courses transcribed by the Community • College of the Air Force (CCAF) • Military schools with degree-granting status • Training Courses outsourced to colleges and • universities • Coast Guard additional skill identifier / • qualification codes

14. About Military Evaluations • 2008 Fiscal Year • 35 installation visits • 1,200 courses • 25 occupations • 150 teaching faculty members • 3,400 semester hours in the lower division • 900 semester hours in the upper division • 300 semester hours in the graduate division

15. Reflections or Questions? On to the Evaluation Process

16. Review Committees • Content Review Committee (CRC) Role • Determines the appropriate content and academic disciplines for courses and occupations • Reviews discipline alignment by the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) • Determines the scope of the team • Review Team Selection Committee Role • Reviews evaluators nominated for the team • Approves nominations

17. Evaluator Representation • Accrediting agencies • Types of institutions • Approximately 7,000 faculty on military teams (since 1954)

18. The General Review Process • Conduct pre-meetings with points of contacts • Travel to training locations • Review materials (conduct interviews for occupations) • Document evaluation and write descriptions • Final reports

19. Evaluative Criteria for Courses • Course content • Learning outcomes • Depth and breadth of material • Level of difficulty • Applicability to postsecondary programs • Evaluative instruments • Outside assignments • Instructor qualifications

20. Defining College Level Work • Content, scope, and rigor must be at the postsecondary level. • Vocational / Certificate • Lower Division • Upper Division • Graduate

21. Vocational/certificate level This type of coursework is normally found in year-long certificate programs that are designed to provide students with occupa- tional skills. Course content is specialized, and the accompanying training emphasizes procedural (hands-on) rather than analytical skills (theory).

22. Lower Division Associate/Baccalaureate Degree Category • Course emphasis is on learning basic principles that have broad judgmental applications. • Coursework typically found in programs leading to the Associate Degree and/or the first two years in a baccalaureate institution.

23. Upper Division Baccalaureate Course content usually involves specialization of a theoretical or analytical nature beyond the introductory level. Course content is usually found in the last two years of a baccalaureate program.

24. Graduate Degree Level • The Course and its Content Involves: • Critical Analysis • Scholarly and Professional Application of Specialized Knowledge within a Discipline • Oriented towards Independent Study • Typically involves Original Research

25. No Credit Recommended • Material presented in the course is not comparable to content and rigor at the postsecondary level • Material offered is inadequate for a judgment to be made • Inadequate outcome assessments

26. Military Occupation Evaluation • Occupation is a job designation by the military service • Review and assessment are more experiential in nature • Teams validate demonstrated and expected job knowledge, skills, abilities by pay grade

27. Military Occupation Evaluations: The General Process • Review Committees • Content Review Committee (CRC) • Review Team Selection Committee • Teams • Travel to the military installation • Review official occupation documentation • Interview service members • Develop final recommendations

28. Military Occupation Evaluations: Official Documentation • Occupation manuals • Technical guides and training manuals • Promotion examinations • Study guides • Other official branch specific documentation

29. Military Occupation Evaluations: Service Member Interview Focus on the representation of the job expectations at the pay grade Clarification and validation of the official military documentation

30. Military Occupation Review: Team Process • Synthesis of information • Alignment to current curricula • Determination of post secondary content and rigor • Team consensus must be 100%

31. Military Guide Online www.militaryguides.acenet.edu • Daily updates • 1954 to1989 • The last printed Guide

32. Military Guide Online Updated Daily • Over… • 15,000 course exhibits • 3,100 occupation exhibits www.militaryguides.acenet.edu

33. Sample Exhibits

34. The Military Guide on CD 2009 Guide On CD (late November 2009 release)

35. Reflections or Questions? On to Transcript Overview

36. 2008: Top 10 Transcript List AARTS SMART ACE Corporate

37. Military Transcripts: AARTS and SMART

38. Features of Web Delivery https://aartscolleges.army.mil https://smart.navy.mil

39. Web Sites and Contact Information SMART Operations NETPDTC, N2 6490 Saufley Field Road Pensacola, FL 32509 Laurine Anderson sfly_smart@navy.mil 1-850-452-1001 x1097, 1236, or 1149 www.smart.navy.mil AARTS Operations 415 McPherson Avenue Ft. Leavenworth, KS 66027-1373 Carol Brown LEAV-AARTS@conus.army.mil www.aartstranscript.army.mil

40. Military Transcripts: CGI and CCAF

41. Web Sites and Contact Information Community College of the Air Force Operations CCAF/DFRS 100 South Turner Blvd Gunter Annex AL 36114-3011 (334) 649-5000 registrar.ccaf@maxwell.af.mil http://www.au.af.mil/au/ccaf/non_airforce.asp Coast Guard Institute Commanding Officer (ve) 5900 SW 64th Street, Rm 228 Oklahoma City, OK 73169-6999 (405) 954-0072 fax 405-954-7249 cgi-pf-ed_advisor@uscg.mil http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cgi/ve/official_transcript.asp

42. Resources: A Transfer Guide • Written specifically for the service member • Released March 2009 • Provides simple, straightforward guidance on understanding military credit recommendations and transcripts • Includes definitions of common terms, answers to frequently asked questions, and a transfer credit checklist • On ACE Web site www.acenet.edu/militaryprograms/ transferguide

43. Resources: ACE Military Brochures

44. Serve as an Evaluator • You must be actively teaching college-level courses. • When your discipline expertise is needed, you are contacted directly to serve on the ACE team. • Evaluator training provided; also provide evaluator handbook • ACE pays all evaluators an honorarium and travel. www.acenet.edu/evaluators evaluators@ace.nche.edu

45. Faculty Evaluator Database • Online application • Academic institution affiliation • Degrees / credentials • Current teaching position • Short biography • Resume or CV required • CIP codes identified • Routinely audited www.acenet.edu/evaluators/serve

46. Applying Evaluated Credit • Mapping non-traditional credit toward degree requirements is much like applying transfer credits: • There is no “magic” formula • Varies by individual student (as appropriate to his/her degree requirements) • Requires knowledge of what was learned (depth and breadth of content, learning modalities, and outcomes) • Often involves faculty/departmental involvement in those credit decisions • Goal of the decision process is to find the “best fit”

47. Transfer Decision Resources • “Related Competency” descriptions in the ACE Guide exhibits • SOC DNS Credit Evaluation Supplement • Alternative methods for demonstrating acquired knowledge and skills: • — Portfolio Review (EERs, OERs, certificates) — Challenge examinations • — Nationally recognized testing programs (CLEP, DANTES SST, or Excelsior College Exams) • Combining credits from other military experiences

48. SOC DNS Credit Evaluation Supplement • Purpose: academic placement guidelines for optimizing the application of non-traditional credit toward degree requirements • Credit mapping of ACE credit • recommendations for military • training and occupational • specialty experience • CLEP/DSST/ Excelsior Exams • CCAF courses • DANTES Independent Study • Courses

49. Ensuring Consistent Credit Awards • Establishing standard procedures • (institutional and departmental level) • Creating institutional tracking mechanisms • Automating credit award “look up” function • Building your database incrementally (as • evaluations needed) • Collaboration, rely on “experts” to guide • policy and procedural development • Where state-wide articulations exist, • leverage work of other institutions with • military evaluations

50. ACE Resource Tools for Colleges and Universities www.acenet.edu/militaryprograms/resourcetools • Centralized repository for colleges and universities • Sample transcripts • Rank charts • Quick links to other resources