Parchment Launches First CLR Design-to-Deployment Product to Help Higher Ed Holistically Represent a Learner’s Education

Parchment Award – CLR Services Moves Comprehensive Learner Records (CLRs) From Research to Reality

SCOTTSDALE, AZ (March 8, 2021) – Today Parchment, the industry leader in academic credentials management, announced it has launched Parchment Award – CLR Services, the first product that lets higher education institutions design, implement, and issue Comprehensive Learner Records (CLRs). Parchment CLR Services allows learners to better tell their story to employers in a secure, verifiable way, by expanding an institution’s ability to share learner growth and capabilities developed in ways that a traditional transcript can’t. 

For years, one of the most active conversations about innovation in higher education has been around extending the traditional academic transcript to better convey the learning that happens both inside and outside of the classroom, as well as the skills and competencies developed through learning. Institutions have struggled with the fact that the traditional course and grade format does not have the ability to holistically represent a learner’s education for self-reflection, to allow a learner to tell their own story, or for employers to understand workforce ready skills developed during a learner’s academic career. In 2016, Elon University conducted a survey to employers and graduate school admissions officers to assess their perceptions of a visual transcript that they had launched the year before. 81.7 percent of respondents said that the visual transcript was easy to understand, 78.9 percent indicated that it painted a different picture of the applicant, and 80.9 percent indicated that it differentiated an Elon applicant from other applicants. At a time where the relevance of higher education is being challenged, CLRs can show the true value of the skills a learner attains during their time at an institution.

In the fall of 2019, Parchment launched a CLR Services Charter Member program to build a CLR technology with leaders in higher education who had prioritized improving learner success through innovating a new credential that the institution can stand behind with the same level of integrity as the traditional transcript. The Charter Members represent a diverse set of student populations, and are made up of the following institutions:

• Elon University
• Loma Linda University
• Penn Foster College
• Temple University
• University of Maryland Global Campus

This technology is the core of Parchment’s CLR Services and allows learners to showcase their in and out of classroom learning, co-curricular engagements, skills, and competencies, while leveraging Parchment’s expertise in allowing learners to access, manage, and share their digital credentials. 

“Ideally, we wanted our CLR to tell a story that exemplifies our learners’ success, illuminates their interests, and fully reflects their cumulative college experience,” Bhavesh Bambhrolia, University Registrar at Temple University said.

Parchment Award – CLR Services was built to fit the diverse needs of academic institutions in a consistent way, by aligning institutional data into four types of standardized modules:  

• Co-curricular records which validate activities, programs, and learning experiences that compliment the learner curriculum
• Experiential records that certify experiences and accomplishments outside the classroom
• Competency records that translate courses and credits into market-relevant skills
• Program data which documents learners progress through their academic curriculum

Parchment CLR Services create beautiful visual transcripts which simplify and contextualize these kinds of data for learners, employers, graduate schools, and other stakeholders.

“Our CLR Services modules offer consistency across institutions so that a learner’s accomplishments can be easily interpreted by receiving employers, institutions, and state agencies,” said Jason Weaver, VP of Product at Parchment. “Our Charter Member program ensured that we were building a product that not only fit a broad set of institutions’ goals, but also would meet the needs of their learners and employers.”

As part of the Parchment Award platform, CLRs can be issued on the same easy-to-use interface as their transcripts, diplomas, digital badges, and other learner credentials. Additionally, Parchment Award lets learners store, view, and share their CLRs in their Parchment Learner Profile as well as order verified copies of their credentials for digital and paper delivery. 

“Working with Parchment on CLRs was a natural fit for us,” said Insiya Bream, Assistant Vice President, Data & Systems, University of Maryland Global Campus. “Our students can now see all of their transcripts, diplomas, and CLRs in one place and that student experience is important to us.”

“When students are asked about their academic and co-curricular experiences from a potential employer, CLRs allow them to relay the details of how those experiences transition into skill sets in the workforce,” Dr. Rodney Parks, University Registrar, Assistant Vice President and Assistant Professor, Elon University said. “It is fundamental to helping students tell their story in a way that employers can understand and that they have the ability to be successful. Parchment is helping us do that.”

Parchment and AACRAO are hosting a webinar on March 11, 2021 at 9am PT/11 am CT/12 pm ET that showcases how institutions are implementing CLRs through Parchment CLR Services today. For more information or to register for this event, visit the AACRAO Webinars page.

Parchment CLR Services is available today. For more information, please visit parchment.com/products/CLRServices.

About Parchment

Parchment believes credentials matter in the lifelong journey of a learner. Offering the most comprehensive academic credential management system, Parchment helps learners, academic institutions and employers request, verify and share transcripts, diplomas, and other credentials in simple and secure ways. Our platform has helped millions of learners, 2,490 districts, 1,690 university registrar offices, 10 state education agencies, and 7,325 receivers (including university admissions offices, background check companies, employers, college application services, OPMs, and certification and licensing boards) exchange more than 100 million transcripts, diplomas, certificates and other credentials globally. Founded in 2003, Parchment is headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ, with offices in California and Illinois. We help turn credentials into opportunities. Follow Parchment on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.