Public Allies National Office has recently partnered with the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) to pilot a project that creates an opportunity for Public Ally participants to build an undergraduate portfolio demonstrating their knowledge and expertise to earn college credit. Public Allies and CAEL recognize that not all college-level learning takes place in the classroom. This program is designed to help Allies earn college credits by demonstrating expertise from past work and volunteer experience, including their apprenticeship with Public Allies, through the prior learning assessment (PLA) process.
Public Allies Pittsburgh was recently asked to be an expansion site for this program. Six Allies - India Brown, Daija Buchanan, Megan Loftus, Raenelle Lowery, Samantha Meyer, and Devon Taliaferro - have been selected to participate in this program and have received a full scholarship to complete an online course, CAEL 100. This accelerated course will help the Ally identify areas of learning that they may want to have evaluated for college‐level equivalency. This 3 credit hour course will also guide the Ally through the preparation and compilation of all of the components required for the evaluation of a portfolio of prior learning. After the Ally successfully completes CAEL 100, they can submit portfolios for assessment to earn undergraduate college credit (approximately 3-4 credit hours), which is also covered under their full scholarship. If you’d like to hear more about this initiative or would like to support these Allies, please contact Jessica Ruffin at [email protected].