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Transparency
Credential Engine develops its data standards through open, inclusive, and transparent processes
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December 18th, 2025

Welcome to Transparency, Credential Engine’s monthly newsletter. As the year comes to a close, we want to express our heartfelt gratitude to our partners, funders, and advocates. Your collaboration and commitment have made 2025 a year of growth, innovation, and progress in making credentials more transparent and navigable.

From all of us at Credential Engine, we wish you a joyful holiday season and a new year filled with opportunity, learning, and shared success.
Jump ahead:

> Spotlight (#Spotlight)
> U (#Policy) pdates (#Updates)
> Policy Corner (#Policy)
> Partnerships (#State)
> C (#Technology) TDL Solutions (#Technology)
> News (#News)


** Spotlight.
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1.85 Million Credentials: Understanding America's Credential Landscape

Our newly released Counting Credentials 2025 ([link removed]) [link removed] reveals that 1,850,034 unique credentials are available through more than 134,000 providers across the United States—the most accurate count ever completed. The report identifies seven major categories: badges (1,022,028), certificates (486,352), degrees (264,099), secondary school credentials (52,948), licenses (14,331), certifications (6,892), and micro-credentials (3,384). Together, these credentials represent an annual investment of $2.34 trillion across educational institutions, employers, and government programs.

The U.S. credential market has experienced a fundamental shift as validation of learning moves from paper to digital formats. Digital credentials are searchable, verifiable, and shareable. Due to the increased digital availability of all types of credentials, this report is able to account for credentials that existed but were previously unfindable.

Building on this, our Counting Credentials, In Context 2025 ([link removed]) report provides deeper insight into what these credentials represent and how they connect to learning, work, and economic mobility. Understanding not just the volume but the context of credentials helps stakeholders make informed decisions across the education and workforce ecosystem.

Understanding the scale of the credential landscape is the first step. The next step is making these credentials discoverable, comparable, and actionable through standardized data structures like the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL). When credentials exist as transparent, linked data, job seekers can understand which credentials employers value, employers can identify candidates with the exact skills they need, educators can design programs that respond to labor market demands, and policymakers can identify gaps in their regional credential ecosystems. The 1.85 million credentials counted in Counting Credentials 2025 ([link removed]) report, and contextualized in Counting Credentials, In Context 2025 ([link removed]) , signify the pathways to economic mobility, national competitiveness, and individual success available when credentials are transparent and
navigable.

Complementing these findings, the Badge Count 2025 ([link removed]) report from 1EdTech and Credential Engine, based on a survey of digital badge platform providers, offers a focused analysis of the badge ecosystem and practical guidance for badge issuers on improving data quality, transparency, and interoperability.


** Updates.
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Credential Engine Meets with Ukrainian Delegation on Education and Workforce Alignment: On December 9th in Washington, DC, Credential Engine met with a distinguished delegation from Ukraine to discuss aligning the Ukrainian educational system with labor market needs. The meeting brought together university leaders and representatives from several Ukrainian government agencies, fostering dialogue on education and workforce development.

Credential Engine Advances Micro-credential Transparency with the Open University of Japan: In December, Credential Engine participated in the Open University of Japan (OUJ) International Symposium on the Potential of Digital Badges (http:// [link removed]) , which explored how digital badges can support learner-centered education, enable stackable learning pathways, reduce inequities, and improve global portability. Credential Engine shared how credential transparency enabled by CTDL strengthens the value of digital badges and micro-credentials by making them trusted, comparable, and globally understandable, and how CTDL and the Credential Registry can support Japan’s digital credential ecosystem.
Credential Engine has been working with OUJ through its International Affairs office on a small micro-credential proof of concept, and the Tokyo visit provided an important opportunity to meet with OUJ leadership and their digital credential technology partner to plan for continuation of the project in 2026. OUJ will sponsor a follow-on phase to further develop a Japan-focused, CTDL-based micro-credential registry model that supports publishing in localized Japanese while remaining interoperable globally. The visit marked a memorable and important milestone in advancing international collaboration around CTDL and transparent, connected, and verifiable credential ecosystems.


Opportunity: Catalyze Challenge Round 5: Applications for Catalyze Challenge Round 5 open January 7, 2025, and the deadline to apply is February 27, 2025. The challenge invites early-stage ideas (created within the last three years) that expand access to high-quality career-connected learning. Semi-finalists receive a $10,000 incubation stipend, and finalists can receive up to $300,000 plus a year of technical assistance to develop and implement their solutions. A total of $4 million will be awarded to support ideas that help young people discover their purpose, build skills, and explore pathways to high-demand careers. You can learn more through their informational sessions here ([link removed]) .

Updated Credential Engine Resources: Explore our refreshed resources to learn how the CTDL helps connect education and employment data, supports emerging uses of AI, and advances transparency across the credential landscape. You can also dive deeper into Recognition of Prior Learning and our full set of resources on Learning and Employment Records (LERs).
* Connecting Learning and Jobs with CTDL Data: One-Pager ([link removed])
* The Value of CTDL for AI ([link removed])
* Recognition of Prior Learning: Helping People Move Forward ([link removed])
* Learning and Employment Records (LERs) ([link removed])


** Policy Corner.
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Credential Engine Advocates for Learning and Employment Records (LERs) at Congressional Hearing: Scott Cheney, Credential Engine’s CEO, testified before the U.S. House Education and the Workforce’s Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development on December 10th on “Building a Talent Marketplace: How LERs Empower Workers and Expand Opportunity”. This was the first-ever Congressional Hearing on LERs.

The hearing LERs can improve transparency, portability, and trust in credentials—helping learners better communicate their skills and enabling employers to make more informed hiring decisions. Scott underscored the importance of open and interoperable data standards and credential transparency as foundational infrastructure for a more connected and equitable talent marketplace.

He also highlighted four areas in which the federal government must play a role:
* First, ensure that digital credentials, skills and LERs reach everyone.
* Second, require the use of open and interoperable data standards across the full credential and skills ecosystem. In fact, no federal funding should be used for LERs that do not meet standards for open and interoperable data.
* Third, extend existing data privacy and security laws and protections to cover LERs as well.
* Fourth, provide support to improve validation of skills attainment so it’s more efficient, accurate, and scalable.

See here ([link removed]) for a Credential Engine resource on LERs.


** Partnerships.
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Tennessee Board of Regents Launches TBR CRED: Tennessee has launched TBR CRED, an innovative online tool that leverages CTDL data to showcase learning outcomes and co-curricular achievements, helping students, educators, and employers make more informed decisions about education and career pathways. Credential Engine is supporting this effort by advancing standardized credential data to strengthen transparency and better align credentials with workforce needs. Learn more about TBR CRED in their Solution Spotlight webinar ([link removed]) .

Land of Sky P20 Council Project Improves Credential Transparency: The Land of Sky P20 Council completed a project to improve the accessibility of workforce credentials across western North Carolina by publishing NC Workforce Credentials data from six regional institutions to the Credential Registry. The data included program details such as duration, costs, financial aid, credit, time to completion, and employment outcomes. This initiative increased transparency, helping learners better understand credential options and connect with industry-recognized certifications, with a focus on equity for underserved populations. To learn more, check out ([link removed]) the ongoing video series from Land of Sky, with the final installment releasing in January.


** CTDL Solutions.
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New Blog: Connecting Learning and Work Worldwide — 2025 CTDL Recap: 2025 marked a major step forward for CTDL, driven by deep collaboration with partners around the world. In our latest blog, Connecting Learning and Work Worldwide: 2025 CTDL Recap ([link removed]) , we reflect on a year of significant progress shaped by global task groups, advisory groups, strategic partnerships, and real-world pilots across multiple regions.

From expanding CTDL to support qualifications frameworks, credential types, and prior learning recognition, to advancing AI-enabled publishing and multilingual micro-credential pilots in Japan and South Africa, this work demonstrates how shared standards become real infrastructure through collective action. If you want to see how global collaboration is translating into practical, interoperable solutions for learning and work ecosystems worldwide, this recap tells that story.

HLC to Publish Accreditation Status on Credential Engine in January 2026: The Higher Learning Commission (HLC), in collaboration with Credential Engine, will increase transparency of institutional accreditation by publishing links to each institution’s Statement of Accreditation Status and current accreditation actions directly in the Credential Registry. Institutions with accredited status, including those on notice, probation, show-cause, administrative probation, withdrawal under appeal, or change of control, will have a “Related Action” displayed on their listing. Making this information widely accessible ensures greater transparency and supports trust in credential data.


** News.
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1. Over 1 Million Digital Badges on Offer in the U.S. ([link removed])
2. Micro-credentials as shape-shifters: From learning to recognition ([link removed])
3. Making LERs work for all Americans - Community College Daily ([link removed])

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