The following is an excerpt from a joint blog with Education Design Lab. We encourage you to read the full blog post.
Education Design Lab (the Lab) and Credential Engine announce a partnership to support community college systems and related state agencies in their efforts to prepare for the heightened expansion of skills-based learning and hiring. This partnership will help multiple stakeholders — but especially learners and workers — navigate the growing credential landscape and embark on paths with strong workforce outcomes.
The Lab is working with 24 community colleges across the country to launch “micro-pathways” that are designed to make learners’ skills digitally visible to employers who may want to hire them. Co-designed with learners and employers, micro-pathways are defined as two or more stackable credentials, including a 21st century skill micro-credential, that are flexibly delivered to be achieved within less than a year and result in a job at or above the local median wage. By combining this work with the principles of credential transparency, we can create more impactful pathways for learners and earners.
This is why the Lab and Credential Engine are working together to build community college pathways that are connected using a shared data structure for credential and skill transparency.
This partnership advances the work of the Community College Growth Engine Fund (CCGEF, or the Fund for short), which is designed to meet the urgent demand from community college leadership for support to deliver skills-focused, market-driven education as regions struggle to mitigate the growing skills gap.
The Lab and Credential Engine have shared determination to proactively respond to equity issues by closing opportunity gaps and elevating learner-earners through voice, visibility, and supportive open data infrastructure.