Charter Oak/Alternative Credit Project

[cookderosa]

Maybe he's waiting for today (Monday) so he can check with his employee(s)? :p

<trying to give the benefit of the doubt. heh.>

I think it's a one-man-band over there, but I'll message them/him again.

[cookderosa]

Here's what I got today:

Hello Jennifer,
Charter Oak is no longer an active institution in the Alternative Credit Project™ (ACP). However, Charter Oak continues to accept credits from the participating providers in the alternative credit project. Charter Oak has a long history of accepting credits from alternative providers and will continue to do so. Charter Oak, while a participant, accepted all courses put forward in the ACP and will continue to accept the courses from these providers but will no longer be considered a participant in the ACP. Students interested in taking courses with our providers should continue to do so. Students will still be able to transfer credits to Charter Oak utilizing the ACE transcript. If you have any questions or concerns about transcripts, please feel free to reach out to our resource center 1-866-205-6267.
Thanks

[dfrecore]

Here's what I got today:

Hello Jennifer,
Charter Oak is no longer an active institution in the Alternative Credit Project™ (ACP). However, Charter Oak continues to accept credits from the participating providers in the alternative credit project. Charter Oak has a long history of accepting credits from alternative providers and will continue to do so. Charter Oak, while a participant, accepted all courses put forward in the ACP and will continue to accept the courses from these providers but will no longer be considered a participant in the ACP. Students interested in taking courses with our providers should continue to do so. Students will still be able to transfer credits to Charter Oak utilizing the ACE transcript. If you have any questions or concerns about transcripts, please feel free to reach out to our resource center 1-866-205-6267.
Thanks

I'm glad you got a response, but wonder what brought this on?

One of the things I don't like about TESU's participation in this group is that it may make it look like they recommend these particular course/exam providers over other providers; and I say this just based on some messages we get here on the forum. It seems like there have been quite a few people who link back to the page and ask questions about those courses in particular, and they (the OP's) sound like they don't quite understand that there are plenty of other providers out there who may provide the exact same course/exam, possibly for less money. I prefer the format of Study.com or SL, where they have partner colleges, and show how the courses will transcribe over to each particular school (and SL does a much better job of showing it, with their partner colleges page, where study.com makes you really search for the info).

[jsd]

I wonder if the member schools are charged some fee to be listed as part of the ACP, which is essentially useless from the school's perspective. If that's the case, I imagine the thinking is save the money and accept ACE recommendations without the unnecessary advertisement on the ACE website.

[Mamasaphire]

I wonder if the member schools are charged some fee to be listed as part of the ACP, which is essentially useless from the school's perspective. If that's the case, I imagine the thinking is save the money and accept ACE recommendations without the unnecessary advertisement on the ACE website.

At one time there was a generous stipend given to the school for joining or being part of the ACP. Not sure if they still do that.

[cookderosa]

At one time there was a generous stipend given to the school for joining or being part of the ACP. Not sure if they still do that.

Mama- can you tell me where you saw that? That's the first I've heard of it.

[Mamasaphire]

Mama- can you tell me where you saw that? That's the first I've heard of it.

Jennifer, I need to see if I kept the info I had from when I wrote a research paper about the benefits to schools from allowing the use of alternative credit. I was told, possibly by our friendly ACP rep on fb, that the beta-program partner institutions received between $5,000-$10,000 as a bonus, paid for basically by "[URL=https://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Pages/Alternative-Credit-Project.aspx"]the generous support of a $1.89 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates[/URL]".

I believe it was also listed here, but I don't see it currently: https://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Pages/A...tions.aspx, where, interestingly, Charter Oak is listed as the 5th partner in 2014.

Actually I believe $10,000 is an accurate amount based upon announcements such as this one:
"The American Council on Education Alternative Credit Project awarded a total of $1.86 million to schools. CMU Global Campus officials said they received a $10,000 grant."

[Mamasaphire]

Okay, just found this, making the "grant" amount actually $13,000 for some partner colleges:

http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Document...ct-RFP.pdf

. Participating institutions must commit
to begin accepting a high percentage of the alternative credit courses for transfer credit no later than fall
2015. Each of the selected institutions will receive $3,000 to help defray travel costs to attend planning
sessions and $10,000 to help defray costs of implementation on their campus, including tracking and
reporting student persistence and completion data.

[Mamasaphire]

Also, the State Board of Regents itself mentions Charter Oak as what sounds like an ACP partner:

http://das.ct.gov/Digest/Digest_2015/Reg...d%20of.pdf

CHARTER OAK STATE COLLEGE
• Gained state approval for our first master’s degree—Master of Science in Organizational
Effectiveness and Leadership.
• Achieved a 17.2% growth in unduplicated registered students and an overall enrollment
growth of 11.9%.
• Selected as an Experimental Site by the U.S. Department of Education for financial aid
for prior learning assessment.
• Selected to participate as a founding institution in the Alternative Credit Project
sponsored by the Gates Foundation and the American Council on Education (ACE).
• Exceeded our deliverables for the Department of Labor funded HL-SCI grant. Charter
Oak conducted the prior learning assessments for non-credit health related programs
offered by the community colleges and health related credentials.

[sanantone]

So, COSC took the money and ran?