In a recent blog post, National Skills Coalition (NSC) expresses the need for Americans to have access to reliable, quality information about their educational options. Good data on credential quality that is transparent, accessible, and actionable can better help people select a path that leads to equitable economic and career success.
This is why Credential Engine—in partnership with National Skills Coalition (NSC) and 10 other influential organizations—has released a new policy brief, Making Information about Credentials More Actionable through Increased Transparency and Quality Assurance. The brief explores how governors, legislators, and agency leaders can work to advance credential transparency. It also examines how increased quality and transparency help meet their postsecondary completion, equity, and workforce goals.
As NSC’s blog post states it, everyone benefits from quality information because:
- A single quality framework helps adult learners better understand the skills and competencies required for in-demand jobs in their state. It becomes easier to identify programs with proven outcomes that provide in-demand credentials and offer long–term career growth.
- Employers can describe the competencies, skills, and knowledge they are seeking in job applicants more efficiently. This reduces the risks of hiring unqualified candidates.
- Education and training providers can meet the changing needs of the workplace using data that helps them align their programs to local labor markets.
- Policymakers can ensure that public dollars are being spent on skills training programs with quality credentials. This clarity can create a path to an inclusive economic recovery.
To further help make credential information as impactful as possible, NSC alongside Education Strategy Group (ESG) and the Education Quality Outcomes Standards Board (EQOS) have now mapped their quality assurance frameworks to the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL)—an open-source common language that lets states and providers catalog, organize, and compare credentials with uniformity. This helps ensure their frameworks are transparent, easily accessible, and useful for people to better identify high-value, high-quality credentials. States and institutions that are working with one of these organizations can now publish the outcomes of their assessments against these quality frameworks to the Credential Registry.
To learn more about our policy partnership, quality assurance efforts, or credential transparency please contact Scott Cheney, CEO of Credential Engine, at scheney@credentialengine.org.