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Comprehensive Learner Record/Learning and Employment Record

Building A Learning and Employment Record

AACRAO is a long-standing leader in the advancement of innovation in learner records.  Since 2015 AACRAO has supported the development of over 50 CLR/LER projects across the U.S.  AACRAO is working to promote awareness and advance knowledge around the Learner Employment Record (LER), a system that contains verifiable information about a person’s achievements spanning an inclusive range of contexts to include the CLR, the higher education component of the LER, in order to provide credentials that represent the skills and competencies achieved by the student during their academic career.  These learner records seek to capture, record, and communicate learning when and where it happens in a student’s higher education experience in ways that traditional transcripts are not usually able to accomplish. This includes learning outcomes from courses, programs, degrees, and experiences students have outside the classroom that helps develop their career-ready skills and abilities.

AACRAO Consulting will work with you and your team to provide recommendations for academic record practices that protect the integrity and validity of these expressions of learner achievement, supporting the principles of interoperability and student-centered records.  

While institutions should have various stakeholders engaged in CLR/LER exploration, implementation, and management, AACRAO strongly believes the Registrar must play a vital and necessary role to assure the expansion of the learner record and that its expressions beyond the institution are valid, have integrity, and represent the learner.  Additionally, as stewards of learning data, the Registrar defines and operationalizes the processes and practices to ensure compliance with Federal, State, institutional and academic policies while also providing the means and scale through which the curriculum is taught, recorded, and expressed on behalf of the learner for those outside the institution.

AACRAO CLR consulting services are learner-focused.  We believe the main reason to develop and deliver a comprehensive learner record is to demonstrate the learning outcomes of your students.  

The AACRAO process

Your CLR/LER planning and implementation process begins with a careful assessment of multiple areas, first focusing on the needs of the learners you serve - from delivery of student services, to use of staff resources, to workflow processes, to how you leverage technology.

Together, we’ll consider new CLR/LER strategies and processes, allowing you to:

  • Build frameworks and communication plans related to the CLR/LER

  • Measure, capture, and assess learning data

  • Analyze and understand data needs, inputs, sources and connections

  • Facilitate collaboration and stakeholder involvement

  • Identify goals and measure your success in reaching them

  • Enhance the use of technology to drive efficiencies and improve service

  • Work with curricular and co-curricular stakeholders to identify and record learning where and when it happens

  • Assist in evaluating current curricular and co-curricular landscape 

  • Determine areas, practices, and policies for the development of additional alternate credentials 

  • Evaluate the many components of a successful CLR/LER project

Contact AACRAO Consulting today to schedule your CLR Planning and Implementation and learn how we can help you.

Related Resources

University of Delaware (UD)

Location: Newark, DE

Objective:

Founded in 1743, the University of Delaware (UD) has evolved from a private academy to a research-intensive, technologically advanced university committed to making a positive global impact. In July of 2014, UD created a new position, Vice President of Enrollment, and embarked on the process of developing the university’s first Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) plan. Familiar with AACRAO Consulting’s extensive work with registrar’s offices, university leadership learned that the organization was also a leader in SEM. After reviewing several proposals, UD chose to partner with AACRAO Consulting to guide them through their SEM assessment and deliver an SEM plan.

Challenge:

As UD intensified its focus on improving enrollment, it became apparent that the university urgently needed a more strategic approach to recruiting students and increasing yield. Enrollment leadership knew that the university had the means and knowledge to create its own SEM plan, but also knew they could not wait several years for the plan to be developed internally. UD decided to bring in an outside expert to assess the university’s SEM readiness, and provide guidelines for creating and implementing a plan that would generate the desired outcomes.

Solution:

AACRAO Consulting began their work with UD in February 2015. While conducting a series of on-site interviews with leaders and staff members from multiple departments, AACRAO Consultants also collected and assessed the university’s enrollment data. Within a few months of initiating the engagement, AACRAO Consulting had taken their findings and put together the recommendations.

Throughout the process of formulating their recommendations, AACRAO Consultants continually updated leadership on their findings and reaffirmed the relevance of their conclusions. By October, AACRAO Consulting presented a completed report, backed by hundreds of pages of data. They also gave a series of on-campus presentations to multiple departments to summarize the report’s findings as well as their top-line recommendations for identifying and reaching specific as well as strategic enrollment goals. These including reaching and attracting a more diverse range of students, including underrepresented, transfer and international applicants. By the end of the engagement, AACRAO Consulting had also put together a comprehensive SEM plan, ready for UD to implement.

Results:

Since receiving the final report and SEM plan, UD has implemented or is in the process of implementing every one of AACRAO Consultant’s recommendations. The university has also seen a significant improvement across enrollment targets. UD grew its enrollment of underrepresented minority students from 14.6% of the university’s total enrollment in 2015 to 15.4% of total enrollment in fall of 2018. Between the same years, the university increased enrollment of students of color residing in Delaware from 29.5% to 35.2%, and increased Delaware transfer student enrollments from 31% to 33.8%. In fall 2018, UD also welcomed 113 international students — up from just 42 international students in 2015. All in all, UD has experienced enrollment gains across all the student populations they were seeking to reach more effectively.

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Testimonials

One of the big plusses of working with AACRAO Consulting is that their people have extensive experience in the field. They are seasoned professionals who have been in my shoes, and know how to work with culture and change in the real-world operation of an institution. They also understand the need for recommendations to be actionable. I appreciated their ability to dissect the situation, get right to the meat of the issue, and prioritize implementation. Their insight and guidance proved invaluable in helping us manage change. I couldn’t have asked for more empathic and professional consultants.

—Luisa Havens Gerardo, PhD, Vice Provost, Enrollment Management, Virginia Tech University

Contact an AACRAO Consultant today with questions.

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