Policy

1. Students must be currently enrolled in at least one semester hour of credit at MCC.
2. Student must declare a major.
3. The college level learning must correspond to specific courses in the students program.
4. Courses selected must not overlap knowledge areas of any course previously documented on the student's transcript.

Definition

Standards

1. Academic credit will be awarded only for those courses directly applicable to curriculum requirements at the college of enrollment and to the student's declared certificate or degree program as outlined in college publications.
2. A student may use CPL to fulfill all degree or certificate  graduation requirements except the 15 semester hour residency requirement. CPL cannot be used to meet residency credit requirements of certificate or degree programs.
3. CPL may be applied toward the courses in the core general education curriculum only for the purpose of satisfying degree or certificate requirements. CPL may not be applied to courses in the core general education curriculum for the purpose of determining whether the core curriculum has been completed and the transcript should be stamped "core program completed."
4. All work assessed for CPL must meet or exceed "C" level work. Minimum cut-off scores on standardized tests are set at "C" level work.

Methods for Awarding CPL

 Standardized Tests

1. National standardized placement tests [such as College Level Examination Program (CLEP), both general and subject examinations; Advanced Placement Program (AP); Defense Activity for Nontraditional Education Support program (DANTES); Regents College Exams; and other nationally recognized testing, training, licensing or certification programs] will be used to assess levels of knowledge, skills and competencies of students.
2. The MCC representative to the statewide CPL committee will be responsible for distributing a comprehensive matrix of CPL credits for standardized tests that have been approved by the System President or designee.

Institutional Challenge Examinations

Published Guides

1. Educational Experience in the Armed Services The credit recommendation of the American Council on Education (ACE), as published in The Guide to the Evaluation of Educational Experiences in the Armed Services, will be used to evaluate military training and learning experiences.
2. Industrial and Corporate Training Programs The credit recommendation from the American Council of Education's (ACE) Program on Non-collegiate Sponsored Instruction (PONSI), as published in The National Guide to Educational Credit for Training Programs, will be used to evaluate industrial and corporate training programs.
3. Individual colleges may elect to use other published guides developed by a nationally recognized organization which evaluate non-college training programs.
4. Policies established by the System President or designee will take precedence over recommendations in published guides.

Portfolios

Development of Portfolio

1. Upon request from a student, MCC will provide an orientation session designed to assist students in identifying, describing and documenting skills and knowledge gained through prior learning experiences.
2. Once students have an approved program plan and have applied to the portfolio assessment program, they will be assigned to a content specialist who will work with them to make the final selection of appropriate course descriptions. Content specialists serve as students' strongest advocates. They help them review rough drafts of material, identify the best documentation, verify learning, and make several decisions relevant to the construction of their portfolio.
3. Students, when developing their portfolio, are to address each of the evaluative criteria delineated below:

1. The learning must be demonstrable.
2. The learning must have both a theoretical and an applied component.
3. The learning must be college level.
4. The learning must be currently applicable.
5. The learning must be the equivalent of a specific course or courses in the college's curriculum applicable to the student's certificate or degree requirements.

1. A student may apply for CPL at any time, but credit will be posted on the transcript only after successful completion of at least one semester's credits in the student's declared program of study.
2. Applications will be available in the Student Services Office. Completed applications should be returned to the Student Services.
3. The Instructional Dean, upon receipt of the application from Student Services, reviews each application and assigns a content specialist to each applicant.
4. The student and content specialist confer to discuss the application and to design a plan for the completion of the portfolios.
5. The student develops appropriate portfolio materials. This stage includes compiling evidence and writing narratives. Students are encouraged to submit rough drafts of narratives and lists of proposed evidence to the content specialist for preliminary review. This step in the process allows the content specialist to catch and correct potential problems.
6. Once the student has assembled the portfolio in the appropriate format (see next section) and has made a copy for his/her files, the finished work is returned to the content specialist. All documents are addressed to the content specialist's attention.
7. The content specialist reviews the materials for completeness. Essentially, if the format is correct, the narrative is acceptable and the evidence appears appropriate, then the portfolio is complete.
8. Once a portfolio is accepted, the student is charged fees based on the number of credits applied for.
9. After the fees have been recorded in the business office, the content specialist arranges for the individual portfolio to be assessed by a committee made up of the content specialist, Dean, faculty member of the same discipline, and the Dean of Student Success and Enrollment Management (ex-officio).
10. The committee may make one of three decisions: (a) award credit, (b) deny credit, or (c) require further evidence. The content specialist then generates the appropriate paperwork for courses that have been awarded or denied credit, or facilitates the development of the follow-up evidence.
11. The student and the Morgan Community College Registrar are sent official notification of the results of the assessment.

Additional information on portfolio is available from the Student Services Office in the form of Portfolio Assessment Guidelines, October 1989

Records and Transcripts

Official transcripts shall designate all CPL awarded. Such credit shall be identified by specific course, number of semester credit hours, and method of award. No letter grades will be posted for CPL. All documentation used as a basis for CPL credit awarded will be maintained by the Office of the Registrar at MCC.

Transfer of Credit

CPL will be transferred among all state system community colleges. Transfer shall be in accordance with the above requirements and limitations on credit hours and assessment procedures, provided that the credits apply to the degree or certificate program at the institution the student is entering.

2.  To State Colleges and Universities:

Transfer guides and articulation agreements shall include information on the transfer of CPL as stipulated in the Colorado Commission on Higher Education (CCHE) Policy and General Procedures for Transfer.

Processing and Evaluation Cost

1. Proficiency Examination

The examination evaluation fee will be $8.00 per credit hour applied for.

2. Portfolio

The portfolio evaluation fee will be equivalent to one-half the current tuition rate per credit hour applied for.

3. Published Guides and Standardized Tests

No fees will be charged by the college for credits awarded using published guides or standardized tests. (However, the student will incur the cost associated with administering a national standardized test such as CLEP, etc.)

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