Comprehensive Student Record Pilot

Introduction In 2015, conversations among members of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) and NASPA: Association of Student Personnel Administrators, were filled with questions about the nature and future of student records. In the AACRAO sphere, registrars were realizing the limitations of current records to convey the nature of learning in courses. The transcript, according to Stanford University Vice Provost and Registrar Tom Black, is “a chronological record of enrollment.” Fixed in form for decades along conventions developed by registrars, it contains information vital to other registrars and admissions officers. Degree program, degree earned, terms where credit was attempted, course codes and titles, credits attempted and resulting grades, are listed in a condensed format to minimize the amount of paper needed to transmit the information between academic institutions. To be certain, this information is still vital among institutions of higher education. Its relevance to those outside higher education, however, is questionable. A panel of employers at the 2015 AACRAO Technology and Transfer Conference noted that none of them use a transcript to hire employees. They rely upon their own evaluations of student ability to determine if there is a fit for open positions. The sole use of the transcript, if ever requested, was to confirm a degree. Other mechanisms, such as the National Student Clearinghouse’s degree verification service, allow employers to confirm degrees reported by job applicants without requiring a transcript. At NASPA, the conversation was centered on the growing number of options to create cocurricular transcripts. As most registrars had eschewed these as non-academic certificates, student affairs professionals were left to develop their own mechanisms to capture and report student activities and learning outside the classroom. One important element of these records was the opportunity to use the process as a reflective exercise for students, allowing them to summarize a multi-year learning experience in ways they could communicate those experiences Page 2 to employers, graduate admissions offices or others in preparation for life after college. Some even became formative experiences, where students could think about how they might acquire experiences that would help them upon graduation. What constitutes student learning in American higher education? Is it only those topics covered by the syllabus of a course or does it extend to experiences outside those courses? There is already evidence that experiences outside the physical or virtual classroom of the institution are valued for institutional recognition, such as study abroad and internships. The growth and regularity of these types of out-of-classroom experiences and the strong impression they make on students who engage in them have expanded the acceptance of out-of-classroom learning. There is wider acceptance that learning is not limited to faculty-student interactions in a course but that students learn through a broader set of experiences that are part of many students’ college experiences. In records and student affairs spheres, technology was racing ahead of both associations. AACRAO pioneered the standardization of digital records transmission in 1992 and helped launch the Post-Secondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC) in 1997 (now known as the P-20 Electronic Standards Council). Companies, such as Credentials Solutions and Parchment, as well as non-profit NSC, picked up these standards and began to form networks that allowed institutions to transmit traditional student records data across them. The spread of digital technologies allowed for information beyond the basic information contained on the transcript to be created in records. Institutional practitioners in both organizations began to experiment with these ideas and the companies began to see possibilities for new ways to express information, as well. As these ideas grew and spread, both organizations received requests from members for guidance and even standards on what to include on such documents. None existed, as there was not enough practice to determine what may or may not be possible or desirable. Page 3 AACRAO and NASPA approached Lumina Foundation for support to accelerate the development of model records. This resulted in a successful proposal for funding to support the work with an initial group of eight institutions, followed by a second round of funding to support an additional eight institutions. The project would support these institutions as they worked to create what came to be known as Comprehensive Student Records (CSRs). It was important to distinguish the name from what was initially referred to as the “extended transcript.” This was not a project to upend the information that is widely used and standardized across American higher education. That information is highly valuable in the exchange of student records between institutions. It was a way to expand beyond that information to demonstrate that a college education is more than that chronological enrollment summary, allowing students and those with whom they choose to share their records to see and understand what was learned. A timeline and process for the project was developed prior to the institutions starting their work to guide them toward successful results. The twelve institutions in the CSR project were supported through a series of group meetings/convenings, onsite and remote support. Experienced campus leaders from AACRAO and NASPA were selected as consultants to advise the institutions and keep them on track toward completion of a model, according to the project schedule. During the project, information was shared with both AACRAO and NASPA association members, as well as higher education groups, generally. Presentations at conferences and meetings were provided by project team members. Articles and news releases were created and distributed by both organizations. AACRAO and NASPA created web pages on their sites to distribute information and allow anyone interested in this topic to see information about the institutions and their projects, as they progressed.