There are several things making this year’s annual conference special. As CAEL’s 50th conference, it will be the capstone of CAEL’s year-long semicentennial celebration. It also happens to coincide with Halloween in New Orleans. For these reasons (and more, including six tracks, 175+ speakers, and 125+ sessions), we expect record-breaking attendance. But it’s not too late to receive reduced rates. Register before they sell out; a discount is available through Sept. 30.
In May, CAEL and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) announced the inaugural winners of the Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) Equity Awards, established to highlight and promulgate proven strategies for making CPL more accessible and commonplace among underserved adult learner populations. Closing Equity Gaps in Credit for Prior Learning: Tools and Strategies to Recognize All Learning also details the winners’ successes, including how they closed CPL equity gaps and the outcomes they achieved.
CAEL and the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers partnered to survey postsecondary institutions in the U.S. and Canada on their CPL policies and practices. While the report, issued in May, shows that CPL programs are present at more than 80% of responding institutions, it also exposes several challenges around CPL access and transferability.
CAEL has received a grant from Lumina Foundation to support a cohort of five Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in North Carolina selected to participate in the Foundation’s HBCU Adult Learner Initiative. The institutions include Elizabeth City State University, Fayetteville State University, Johnson C. Smith University, Shaw University, and Winston-Salem State University.
Last summer, CAEL partnered with Pittsburgh ScholarHouse, the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education, and Vibrant Pittsburgh to bolster its Regional Upskilling Alliance (RUA), which CAEL established to provide more education and training options to traditionally underserved populations in Pittsburgh and the surrounding Allegheny region. Now, thanks to a grant from SkillsFWD, CAEL is further enhancing the RUA, via an end-to-end learning and employment record (LER) infrastructure. LERs capture diverse forms of education and employment achievements, offering individuals a more equitable way to showcase their competencies and making it easier for employers to recognize them during the hiring process.
Earlier this year, CAEL formed a higher education community of practice dedicated to serving military-connected learners. The community of practice provides another space for sharing insights about program successes as well as common challenges and opportunities. CAEL is publishing highlights from this dialogue in a series of blogs, beginning with this one, which is about “recruiters helping military recruiters,” a strategy for success at Black Hawk College. Learn more about CAEL's work with military-connected learners.