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Federal Leadership

There has been strong leadership in support of credential transparency at the federal level, including by the U.S. Departments of Labor, Education, Commerce and the Navy. Grants issued by several of these agencies include credential transparency elements.

Federal Funding & Credential Transparency

The U.S. Departments of Labor, Education, and Commerce have included language supportive of credential transparency in many of their competitive grant programs focused on education or workforce training. To date, these 30+ grants to hundreds of recipients have totaled over $1.2b in funding. Specifically, they encourage that information about all credentials and competencies developed through the use of these federal grant funds be made publicly accessible in linked open data formats that support full transparency and interoperability. Credential Engine has worked with states and other grant recipients to support making credentials offered under these grants available as linked open data. 

Department of Labor

The United States Department of Labor’s Registered Apprenticeship Grants include credential transparency requirements for all credentials and competencies developed or delivered as part of the grant.  Specifically, the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for the Apprenticeship Building America, Round 2, states:

“The Department wishes to ensure that individuals, employers, educators and training providers have access to the most complete, current and beneficial information about providers, programs credentials, and competencies supported with these public, federal funds. To this end, the Department requires that information about all credentials (including but not limited to diplomas, badges, certificates, certifications, apprenticeships, licenses, and degrees of all levels and types) and competencies (knowledge, skills and abilities) developed or delivered through the use of these public federal funds be made publicly accessible through the use of linked open data formats that support full transparency and interoperability, such as through the use of credential transparency description language specifications. ETA will provide specific guidance and technical assistance on data elements to include in the published open data, such as information about the credential provider, the credential and its associated competencies, delivery mode, geographic coverage, the industry sector(s) and occupation(s) for which the credential was developed, related assessments, related accreditations or other quality assurances where appropriate, costs, and available outcomes.” 

DOL’s Strengthening Community College grants (totaling $135M to 49 awardees over three rounds) aim to address the skill development needs of employers in development of credentialed training programs to support workers in gaining skills.  If you’d like to make your credentials and skills transparent, Credential Engine’s technologies – including publishing competencies and pathways associated with credentials – serve as powerful tools to support both employers and learners with data to enhance training alignment to in-demand sectors in state and regional economies.  

Department of Commerce

Recent guidance for CHIPS Incentives from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (U.S. Department of Commerce) calls out the need for credential transparency. The CHIPS Incentives Program aims to strengthen U.S. economic and national security, including economic resilience and competitiveness, through long-term growth and economic sustainability in the domestic semiconductor industry. The Department guidance encourages applicants to consider …”highly effective workforce investments [that] lead to stackable, industry-recognized credentials and ensure that information about credentials is publicly accessible through the use of linked open data formats that support full transparency and interoperability” when planning CHIPS workforce investments.

Specifically, the CHIPS Workforce Development Planning Guide calls for credential transparency as a requirement of CHIPS Workforce Grants. Page 8 of the Guide includes the following requirement: “Lead to stackable, industry-recognized credentials and ensure that information about credentials is publicly accessible through the use of linked open data formats that support full transparency and interoperability.”

If you are a recipient of one of the grants mentioned above, you can use the decision tree below to see if you are already making your credentials and skills transparent and, if not, how to ensure information about relevant credentials are made publicly available through linked open data formats.

This is intended to ensure that information about the credentials delivered through federally funded initiatives is transparent, accessible, and in a format that allows for comparability. Credential Engine’s technologies – which include the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) and Credential Registry – format and make available credential and competency information as linked, open, interoperable data. For more information about credential transparency broadly, please see our fact sheet here.

For questions about using Credential Engine technologies to address the credential transparency aspects of your grant, email “info@credentialengine.org.”

Federal Grantees Decision Tree & Resources:
  1. What information about credentials and skills can be made transparent under this grant?
    • Credentials include diplomas, badges, certificates, certifications, apprenticeships, licenses, degrees, and related offerings from education and training providers.
    • See here for the minimum data policy for the Credential Registry as a guide for what to publish.
  2. Do the covered credentials and competencies already published in the Credential Registry have the necessary information?
    1. Credential Engine works with individual institutions/providers, systems, and states to publish credential data to the Credential Registry.  It’s possible the credentials under your grant have already been published;
    2. Search the Registry using the Credential Finder.
      1. You can search by your Organization or by the name of the Credential.
      2. If the specific Credential is in the Credential Registry, it will most likely meet the minimum data policy. 
    3. If all credentials are published with sufficient detail, your credentials and skills are already in a linked open data format, making them transparent!
    4. If not all information about credentials and skills have been published:
      1. Your state may be actively publishing data.  Is my state a Credential Transparency Partner? (Resource: State Map)
        1. If yes, contact info@credentialengine.org to be connected to your state’s partnership lead.
        2. If no, publish information about your credentials:

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