Carnegie Backs New Learning Pilot Targeting Interstate Passport Initiative
The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) and Taskstream – a provider of assessment management and e-portfolio solutions for higher education – just announced the formation of a new partnership to pilot a mapping process in support of the Interstate Passport Initiative‘s new framework for the block transfer of lower-division general education based on learning outcomes and proficiency criteria.
With the cost of higher education under constant scrutiny, the goal of the Interstate Passport is to eliminate unnecessary repetition of academic work after students transfer, improve graduation rates, shorten time to degree, and save students money by developing a new framework for transfer based on learning outcomes and transfer-level proficiency criteria. The new framework is being developed and tested by faculty at institutions in 16 states.
During the first two phases of the development of the Passport (funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Lumina Foundation), faculty representatives from participating institutions developed the Passport Learning Outcomes (PLOs) – what a student should know and be able to do – and attendant Proficiency Criteria – examples of assignments faculty use to determine that their students achieved the learning outcomes – in nine knowledge and skill areas to build the new framework...