CBExchange 2022: Credential As You Go

As CBExchange 2022 continues with Thursday afternoon sessions, Ashley Frank (Project Coordinator from Empire State College) and Melissa Goldberg (Director of Competencies and Credentials at Corporation for a Skilled Workforce) presented their work at Credential As You Go.

Credential As You Go (CAYG) started in 2019 with a grant from Lumina Foundation and are continuing the work through a three-phase process. CAYG seeks to inform and facilitate the development of a nationally adopted incremental credentialing ecosystem that improves education and employment outcomes for all learners. Frank shared:

“Through our work, we envision an ecosystem in which all learners are recognized for what they know and can do and facilitate an environment where learning from multiple sources all counts.”

Incremental credentials capture learning as it is acquired along the learning pathway and formally recognize and connect that learning to a larger context of work and education. Goldberg shared the imperative for incremental credentials:

“So many people have pursued education — almost 40 million Americans — but have left with no credential. Incremental credentialing can address this large-scale issue.”

In the initial phase of CAYG’s work, they found that credentialing is happening across the US, but common language continues to be a barrier. To communicate this learning across the ecosystem, they found that competencies are the universal translator.

Competencies provide a common language among educators, employers, learners, and jobseekers. They provide clear statements about what learns know and can do and informs the connections between and among different credentials. These competencies ease the path to educational advancement. Goldberg shared:

“Competencies are the key to this work; they provide a common language that helps educators determine students’ learning.”

A large part of CAYG’s work is professional development and technical assistance, including online training. They help institutions understand how credentials can be built, and they grapple with the disconnect in credentialing language. They are also developing playbooks on building incremental credentials, addressing the equity issues in incremental credentialing, and the communications needed to share and scale this work.

To learn more, visit https://credentialasyougo.org/ or email info@credentialasyougo.org.

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