Non-Credit and Credit Alignment Lab
The Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) and Education Strategy Group (ESG) today announced the launch of the Non-Credit and Credit Alignment Lab (NCAL), a two-year initiative to support 10 community college governance units’ efforts to develop new or improved pathways between non-credit and credit programs. The project is supported by a $1.2 million grant from ECMC Foundation.
Non-credit programming can be a steppingstone to further education and training that leads to higher earnings and greater career sustainability. Unfortunately, our systems are designed to discourage rather than facilitate pathways across non-credit and credit programs, according to ESG research. The result is that many students in non-credit programs are left without pathways to additional learning, and colleges fail to take advantage of a significant population of engaged learners ready to enroll in credit-bearing programs. To achieve greater equity and develop more resilient and responsive systems following a global pandemic, community colleges must bridge the divide between non-credit and credit programs.
