Relational Map coming soon. Learn more about the work we’re doing with AI and view our example prototypes here.
The Mapping Upward Project was a two-year project (2015-2017) of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE). The project's aim was to recognize that stackable credentials can focus career and technical education programs on building the critical skills needed for students to advance in various sectors of the economy. By awarding academic credit for a range of education, training, and workplace learning and skill-building experiences that "stack" toward associate degrees, stackable credential programs can help working students develop the skills they need to advance on the job and earn credentials that enable further study – at the same time. This can accelerate credit attainment and may increase the likelihood of degree completion.
The project provided technical assistance to 13 community colleges that were working to embed stackable credentials within technical associate degree programs:
Prior to the selection of the Mapping Upward colleges, OCTAE interviewed faculty and staff from nine community and technical colleges that had been offering stackable credentials for several years:
The study colleges helped inform the project’s development and provided examples from a range of colleges offering stackable credentials.
Case studies from several colleges along with the Mapping Upward colleges informed the development of the Stackable Credentials Tool Kit which provides an overview of the stackable credentials approach and strategies for tracking success, course correcting, and measuring impact.
Download: Tool Kit(PDF 3.2 MB) | Word Version (DOCX, 2.9MB)
Other Resources include podcast interviews with leaders from community colleges in the Mapping Upward Network.
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