This brief is part of a broad landscape analysis focused on policy and practice issues related to the recognition of prior learning. The landscape analysis focuses on issues arising in the practice of the recognition of prior learning, policies that encourage or limit its adoption, and key research needs and future directions for the field. This…

The College-Level Examination Program® (CLEP®) is a computer-based prior-learning assessment that allows examinees the opportunity to demonstrate mastery of knowledge and skills necessary to earn postsecondary course credit in higher education. Currently, there are 33 exams in five subject areas: composition and literature, world languages,…

The Higher Education Opportunity Act (E2SHB 1795), passed by the Legislature in 2011, identified prior learning assessment (PLA) as an innovative means for improving degree and certificate attainment and improving cost effectiveness and efficiency within Washington's higher education system. The Act defines prior learning as "the knowledge…

The Educational Testing Service (ETS) created the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) in 1965 and over the years it has become a staple of American higher education. In order to better understand the ramifications of the CLEP program, this article provides a brief history of CLEP and reexamines some of the findings of earlier research. The…

A description is given of the system developed by the College Board during the past three decades through which, on the basis of examination, more than 1,500 colleges award degree credit for prior learning. Over 140,000 individuals take the examinations each year. (Author/MSE)

Accreditation issues raised by the use of educational technology not being substantially different from those raised during the decade of the seventies by the nontraditional education movement, there are several lessons about accreditation issues which are applicable to both movements. For example, credentialing and accreditation issues are…

Reports the results of a survey of the practices of 78 Michigan colleges and universities in awarding and transferring credit for nontraditional or experiential learning. (WD)

A national survey reported on institutional practices in awarding credits for extrainstitutional learning. Results reveal that 98 percent of respondents award credit for extrainstitutional learning, with credit-by-examination, general exam, institutionally developed exams, College Board placement exams, and others used, in that descending order.…

This study sought to investigate the educational outcomes of the College-Level Examination Program® (CLEP®) for students who earned credit through CLEP compared to those students who earned comparable credit through the Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) and through traditional course enrollment. In order to evaluate the short- and long-term…

In the 1960s, credit-by-examination was promoted as a way to broaden access to college. In 1971, Ewald Nyquist, Commissioner of Education in the Regents system of New York, proposed that the Educational Testing Service offer a degree based entirely on performance on examinations. Although a few institutions theoretically offer such degrees, in…

The College-Level Examination Program® (CLEP®) consists of a battery of 34 tests covering courses in which entering college students often enroll. CLEP exams are tools that help accredited colleges and universities provide course requirement exemptions to students who have gained outside-the-classroom knowledge of certain subjects. Students may…

Nontraditional methods of qualifying for a college degree are described in this student guide to off-campus study and examination. The three external degree institutions in the United States that offer these programs are discussed. They include: Regents External Degree Program of the University of the State of New York; Thomas A. Edison College of…