Creating Equitable Futures for All Learners Through Credential Transparency

This Policy Brief explores how access to better credential information can be a useful tool for equity.

This Policy Brief explores how access to better credential information can be a useful tool for equity. States, policymakers, and leaders should actively work to eliminate barriers that hinder the ability for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) to take advantage of their options, and this brief offers various tips and state examples to inform policy and practice.

Many states have set forth their own goals for postsecondary attainment, often focusing on increasing attainment for BIPOC. But those state attainment goals will only become a reality if states have the data needed to explore and fix the policies and practices that have contributed to inequitable outcomes. Credential transparency can help uncover: Who lacks access to opportunity and why? Which populations have and are being underserved by education and training systems? How have state policies served to limit access? Which populations have been tracked into differential credentials and why? How can the credential attainment, employment, and earning prospects be improved for BIPOC?

Credential Transparency and better credential data can help state leaders more efficiently and effectively work toward their educational attainment and workforce goals while also informing how to dismantle systems that have created the inequities we see today.

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