Recommending College Credit

Making recommendations involves constructing a description of the student's knowledge in a recommendation report with recommendation justifications for the number of credits and any credit designations .

Note: The recommendation report you write may or may not match the original student request.

All recommendation reports must include the sections outlined by policy, as described below.

Writing the Evaluator Report

Once you have assessed the student's learning, you are required to include specific information in your report:

  1. Describe the methods used to evaluate the student’s learning (reviewing the student’s essay, the phone interview, additional written materials, etc.).
  2. Describe the source of learning (work experience, seminars, hobbies, readings, etc.).
  3. Describe the college-level knowledge (not experience) as demonstrated by the student (specific skills, concepts, learning components, etc.).
  4. Identify the level of learning (introductory or advanced level) and justify advanced-level credit, when necessary.
  5. Identify where the learning falls within the liberal arts and sciences, with a justification for the liberal arts and sciences credit, when necessary.
  6. Justify the learning meets one or more of the SUNY general education requirements, if applicable.
  7. Discuss any possible redundancy or duplication with other components in the student’s degree program plan, when necessary.
  8. Recommend an appropriate title that describes the student’s learning.(If the student’s title describes an experience, job title, training, or program that does not reflect their learning, please recommend another title appropriate to this learning.)
  9. Recommend a semester-hour credit award for the student’s learning.
  10. Include the evaluator’s qualifications, if requested by the center.

Some centers have established a form for completing the recommendation report. Check with your center assessment specialist to determine if one of these forms is needed.

Submitting the Recommendation Report 

Recommendation reports must be submitted through PLA Planner.

We advise evaluators to use a word processing application (such as Microsoft Word) to prepare their recommendation report. This will allow for document formatting, spell checking and saving of the report.

Note: PLA Planner does not support bold, italics, underline or similar formatting of text.

After you finish composing your recommendation report, add it to PLA Planner:

  1. copy the report and paste it into the space provided on the PLA Request screen, located beneath the policy statement
  2. click "Save"
  3. click “Submit Report to COAR.”

If you need assistance, contact the center assessment specialist who sent you the assignment. You can also contact your assessment specialist using the Evaluator-COAR dialog in PLA Planner.

After Submission

  • Your recommendation report will be reviewed by the assessment specialist, who will then accept it or ask for further clarification on your report.
  • The center faculty assessment committee may have some questions upon review. In those cases, the assessment specialist will contact you for clarification.