Introduction

When a learner completes a program of study, they receive credentials. These credentials validate that the learner has demonstrated proficiency in all the recognized skills. The high school diploma and numerous industry certifications are credentials that often play a gatekeeping role for employment.   

Credentials are well-established in the Career and Technical Education (CTE) ecosystem of secondary education and within employment sectors requiring specific technical skills. The National Career Clusters Framework describes categories of CTE around which programs focus. Most CTE programs emphasize technical skills rather than core or transferable skills. Although transferable skills (such as communication, collaboration, leadership, and project management) are rarely evaluated, many recognize them as increasingly important for the workplace. Programs continue to evaluate core skills (like mathematics and literacy) through a list of courses and grades, and assess these via standards through national assessments. These measurements of core skills tend to be weak signals for long-term success. While over a million different credentials are available for learners from high school through employment, many are at a grain size that serves only as a proxy for skill assertion, rather than the assertion itself. 

During the 2019-20 school year, 49% of high schools students completed at least one CTE course while 19% were CTE concentrators (completing at least two courses in a single CTE pathway). Often embedded within CTE programs, pathways to credentialing include academy programs, internships, apprenticeship models, and whole-school models that incorporate some element of work-based learning—where students earn high school credit while embedded in the workplace.  

While there is a high level of interest around work-based learning, participation is low due to the complexity of implementation. Work-based learning is a particularly good way for students to develop a sense of purpose/career direction and authentically build both technical and transferable skills. Since work-based learning falls outside of traditional forms of measurement, it provides an opportunity for credentialing.

Additional work-based learning opportunities occur in postsecondary settings with certification programs in the community college system and internships in four-year degree programs. Throughout a career, certifications are available in some sectors for employees to continue learning and growing.

Despite the credentialing success of the CTE programs and the availability of credentials, the challenge remains around how to describe valuable (value-creating) capabilities around core, technical, and transferable competencies that are helpful to every learner and meaningful to higher education and the workforce.