Calbright and North Orange Continuing Education launch pilot to expand adult learner pathways
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Summary
Calbright trustees heard a presentation on a multiyear partnership with North Orange Continuing Education to pilot credit-for-prior-learning, streamlined onboarding, virtual supports and stackable pathways intended to improve outcomes for adult learners and inform statewide practice.
Calbright trustees reviewed a proposed multiyear partnership with North Orange Continuing Education intended to expand access and improve outcomes for adult learners.
The college said the collaboration will pilot credit-for-prior-learning mapping, shared onboarding and virtual student supports designed to reduce barriers and accelerate movement from noncredit to credit-bearing pathways. The presentation emphasized testing practices locally and sharing lessons across the system.
"This is a multiyear partnership...centered on sharing practices and learnings from one another to better support adult learners," said Tamika Conner, Calbright’s senior vice president for strategic initiatives. Calbright representatives said the work targets flexible, competency-aligned pathways and on-ramps for working adults.
North Orange leaders highlighted programs that are suitable for online delivery — including IT and healthcare certificates — and said NOCE serves tens of thousands of adult learners annually. The presenters said they will pilot a customer-relationship system and CPL mapping to make transitions between noncredit and credit programs more navigable.
Trustees asked about scale and student experience. Trustee Melgar asked for projected first‑year student counts and examples of noncredit programs; NOCE replied that it typically serves thousands of adults and that program examples include IT, medical assistant and pharmacy technician certificates offered in hybrid or online formats.
Trustees also raised questions about whether students in the partnership would be considered NOCE students, Calbright students, or both. Presenters said pathways could run in either direction (NOCE→Calbright or Calbright→NOCE) and that the institutions will build articulated transfer maps to other colleges statewide.
The board did not take a vote on the partnership at this meeting. Presenters said the pilots are intended to produce data and operational practices that can be adapted by other colleges in the system.
The next step is for staff to continue designing CPL mapping and customer‑relationship pilots and to report back on metrics and early outcomes.
