Information for Faculty Members

If you would like to create a new pathway for students to earn Credit for Prior Learning through industry certification, military credit, portfolio review or credit by exam, you are encouraged to contact the faculty CPL coordinator, Jayanti Roy, at royjayanti@deanza.edu. She can assist in developing the official pathways and assessment materials.  

  • It is important to contact the faculty CPL coordinator when new pathways are being created to ensure equitable student access and experience.
  • You should also keep any assessment materials on file for auditing purposes.

Faculty CPL Procedures

Credit by Exam

For Courses Already Approved

  • Please check back for instructions – coming soon

For Courses Not Currently Approved

If an examination or portfolio rubric has not been established for a specific course

  • You are encouraged to meet with Jayanti Roy, the faculty CPL coordinator, who can assist you through the process of establishing a Credit by Exam or Portfolio Review Rubric.  
    • All examinations or portfolio reviews must address each learning objective listed in the course outline.
    • Only Credit By Exam is accepted for UC transfer. Credit by portfolio review, industry certification or military transcript will not be considered for Cal-GETC or UC transfer requirements.
  • Even if you do not develop the assessment tools with the faculty CPL coordinator, please send her the materials so she can update the website and maintain the assessment tools for auditing purposes.

Credit by Industry Certification

Students can now initiate the procedure for requesting credit based on industry certification, for certain courses.

  • You can refer the student to the CPL homepage for step-by-step instructions.
  • Only Credit By Exam is accepted for UC transfer. Credit by portfolio review, industry certification or military transcript will not be considered for Cal-GETC or UC transfer requirements.

Credit by Portfolio Review

  • Please check back for updated instructions – coming soon

Additional Information

Faculty members retain sole discretion, in conjunction with their department chair, to do the following:

  • Consider requests for a course to be eligible for CPL
  • Award CPL to the individual for the course
  • Determine the type or types of assessment that may be used
  • Determine the content of the assessment 
  • Determine the grade earned by the individual

The following methods of assessment may be used to award CPL:

  • Advanced Placement (AP), College Level Examination Program (CLEP) or International Baccalaureate (IB)*
  • Joint Services Transcripts for military service*
  • Portfolio review*
  • Industry-recognized documentation*
  • Credit by satisfactory completion of an examination or assessment administered by college faculty, in lieu of completing a course listed in the college catalog

* Please note that credit by exam is the only method of Credit for Prior Learning that is accepted by the University of California (UC). If you would like to grant credit for a course numbered 001-049, or a Common Course Number, please be sure to develop an exam covering all learning outcomes. CLEP credit is not accepted by UC.

Requirements for Departments

On an annual basis, the Office of Instruction will ask that department chairs transmit a list of courses for which a department will consider awarding CPL through an assessment other than AP, CLEP or IB.

To promote consistent, transparent and equitable evaluation of an assessment submitted for CPL, each department must create and maintain in its files a rubric, evaluation instrument or predefined standard, as appropriate for a given assessment, for each CPL-eligible course.

The lack of such an instrument, however, shall not preclude an award of CPL in a particular case if equitable and appropriate. All assessments must address each learning outcome outlined in the course outline of record.

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