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Press Releases

  • Higher Education Leaders Align on Guiding Principles for Learning and Employment Records

    February 26 2025

    The American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) is proud to announce we are part of 12 leading national associations have collaborated to adopt a unified set of core principles for advancing Learning and Employment Records (LERs). This collective agreement marks a pivotal step toward aligning learning and skills development with workforce needs, ensuring access for all to verifiable credentials, and supporting lifelong learning pathways. This initiative aligns with national movements by public and private sector employers and education to shift to skills-first approaches to respond to the growing economy and quickly connect people with good jobs. By prioritizing LERs, the coalition seeks to build upon this momentum and further strengthen the nation's workforce.

  • New AACRAO Report Explores Accelerating Learner Success Through Flexible Scheduling

    November 19 2024

  • New AACRAO Report Examines States with Existing Transcript-Hold Regulations

    October 22 2024

    AACRAO and Ithaka S+R have released "Balancing Access and Accountability: Insights from States with Existing Transcript-Hold Regulations Part 2," highlighting the effects of state-level transcript-hold regulations on higher education. Key findings include that 97% of institutions altered their practices following state regulations, with over half eliminating transcript holds for unpaid balances. The report notes that while changes affected a small portion of learners, 90% of institutions felt prepared to comply with new federal regulations. It emphasizes the need for proactive strategies to prevent unpaid balances and offers recommendations for institutions to adapt effectively to regulatory changes. For more details, the full report can be accessed online.

  • AACRAO Facilitates the Southeastern Regional Talent Ecosystem Pilot, Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

    September 03 2024

    Innovative new resource hub aims to support the adoption and implementation of Learning and Employment Records (LERs) in postsecondary education.

ED Updates

Executive Director Statement Regarding the U.S. Department of Education's DEI "Dear Colleague" Letter | 02/20/2025

AACRAO Executive Director Statement on Transcript Withholding and Partial Transcript Holds | 06/06/2024

AACRAO has developed guidance to help institutions navigate the changing landscape around transcript holds. Our guidance document, "AACRAO Guidance in Response to Federal Regulation Changes on Financial Responsibility and Administrative Capability," builds upon our previous work on this issue and the joint statement we issued with NACUBO in April 2022.

Evolving the Learning and Employment Ecosystem in Higher Education | 11/22/2023

Both the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) and International Business Machines (IBM) are active in pursuing the development of an ecosystem that enables learners to communicate, with trust and confidence, their skills, competencies and learning to support their next career opportunities. The opportunities might present themselves academically via pursuit of a credential from another institution or in the labor market. In either case, the ability to transmit trusted, verifiable credentials to reviewers with enough information embedded for recipients to discern how these skills translate into their specific contexts is, we believe, crucial for both sectors, and for the learner, as we move into a more volatile future. We felt the combined subject matter knowledge of the two organizations might highlight the need for the learning and employment ecosystem, the challenges to adoption and some recommendations for how to proceed.

  • Rick Goldgar
  • Mark McConahay
    • Headshot of Melanie Gottlieb.

    Statement on the Supreme Court Ruling in the SFFA v. Harvard and UNC Cases | 06/29/2023

  • Melanie Gottlieb

    • AACRAO 2023 Hill Day Returns to Capitol Hill | 06/22/2023

    Today, over 20 AACRAO advocates met with nearly 50 Congressional offices to share their practitioner perspective on how policy impacts the work our AACRAO members do on a daily basis.

  • Melanie Gottlieb