Recommendations Acknowledgements

Real value for learners and employers requires secondary, postsecondary and workforce development institutions to adopt aligned frameworks, standards and tools. Below we provide recommendations for each of these stakeholder groups with examples of progress.

K-12 Recommendations and Examples

Build a learner profile with a portrait of a graduate.

This portrait with associated competencies and proficiency criteria provides direction for credentialing. Build statewide coalitions to assess priority durable skills consistently. 

Implement a competency-based approach.

Augment or replace courses as graduation requirement with mastery credits, skill and experience credentials.

Create an experience ecosystem.

Embed experiences into graduation requirements and link competencies into experiences. Build a robust experience validation system. Create systems to assess experiences based on submitted evidence and other means of verification.

Adopt an experience validation system.

Build/adopt an experience validation system that credentials learning in and out of school. Build industry and higher education partnerships that validate and value credentials. 

Create/adopt a competency transcript.

Develop a transcript describes acquired knowledge, experience, and skills (core, technical, durable).

For more…

For K-12 schools, Digital Promise published a useful report on credentials and LERs that further explores many of the themes shared in this publication.

Higher Education Recommendations and Examples

Unpack courses into outcomes.

Building outcomes associated with portable data standards increases connections between k-12, higher ed and the workplace.

Expand credit for prior learning.

Use military experience, on the job learning and credentials to expand credit for prior learning.

Value competency-based system for admissions and transfer.

Collaborate with NCAA and Federal Government Pell Grant departments to accommodate and value competency-based systems that award credentials.

Create an experience ecosystem.

Incorporate work-based learning in every pathway. 

Award stackable credentials.

Award credentials for sets of competencies earned through several units/courses to recognize value particularly for those who do not complete a degree.

Fund LER technology.

Provide digital wallets to hold lifetime Learning and Employment Records for students.

Look to online examples.

Global online schools are leading the way in recognition of credentials and transferable credits.

States Recommendations and Examples

Value competency-based systems.

Collaborate with NCAA and Federal Government Pell Grant departments to accommodate and value competency-based systems that award credentials.

Implement Learning and Employment Records.

Invest in state- sponsored initiatives to create verified digital credential solutions for K-12 education.

Employer Recommendations and Examples

Identify common skills language.

Build agreements on common transferable competencies and skills credentials shared by higher ed and employers.

Use validated experience and competency credentials in hiring.

Implement skills-based hiring in Learning and Employment Record ecosystems.

Make experience validation and skills credentialing lightweight and portable.

Support technology platforms that allow employers to easily validate experiences and credential and recognize competencies earned by employees during work experience. Make these credentials portable.

Create work-based college credit experiences.

Expand work-based partnerships with higher education and K-12 to provide multiple opportunities for real-world experience, dual-enrollment and credentialing while enrolled in school.

Acknowledgements

To conduct this landscape analysis, we spoke with a number of experts in this field. 

  • Diego Ambrula, Carnegie Foundation
  • Brooke Stafford-Brizzard, Carnegie Foundation
  • Laura Slover, ETS Skills for the Future 
  • Mike Flanagan, MTC
  • Scott Bess, Indiana Charter Innovation Center
  • Bill Nicely, Kauffman Foundation
  • Jim May, New Tech Network
  • Tim Taylor, America Succeeds
  • Nathan Rankin, Alabama Governor’s Office Of Education & Workforce Transformation
  • David Kidd, Harvard Project Zero
  • Lisa Gevelber, Google
  • Shalu Umapathy, Designing Impact
  • Christina Luke Luna, Digital Promise
  • Zohal Shah, Digital Promise
  • Ryan Lufkin, Instructure
  • Peter Tragos, New Trier School District
  • Jason Tyszko, US Chamber of Commerce Foundation 
  • Sarah Castro, US Chamber of Commerce Foundation
  • Naomi Boyer, EDL
  • Lydia Logan, IBM SkillsBuild
  • Corey Mohn, CAPS Network
  • Lisa Dughi, NAF
  • Katy Lash, Ivy Tech
  • Chris Purifoy, Learning Economy
  • Taylor Kendall, Learning Economy
  • Deanna Parker, SOLID
  • Joe Green, Territorium
  • Peter Janzow, Credly
  • Meena Naik, JFF
  • Chris Unger, Northeastern University
  • Allison Ruda, Northeastern University
  • Geeta Verma, LivedX
  • JD LaRock, NFTE 
  • Eric Shepherd, Talent Transformation
  • Ian Zhu, SchoolJoy
  • Sasha Barab, LifeLab Studios

For More on Credentialing