See what's new with Credential Engine in "Transparency" our monthly newsletter. 

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Transparency
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December 15th, 2022
Welcome to the December 2022 edition of Transparency, Credential Engine’s monthly newsletter. As we wrap up another productive year, we at Credential Engine want to begin by thanking everyone that helped to advance this important work of credential transparency. Thank you to our funders, partners, collaborators, staff members, and advocates. To work, credential transparency must be a shared vision. We wish you all a joyous end to 2022, and a successful 2023. Happy Holidays!
Jump ahead:

> Spotlight (#Spotlight)
> Updates (#Updates)
> Policy Corner (#Policy)
> State Connections (#State)
> Technology & Support (#Technology)
> News (#News)
> E (#News) vents (#Events)


** Spotlight.
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On December 7th, Credential Enginehttps://credentialengine.org/counting-credentials-report-2022/ celebrated its five-year anniversary. We released the 2022 Counting U.S. Postsecondary and Secondary Credentials Report ([link removed]) and Expenditures Report ([link removed]) . Together these reports document the continuingly chaotic and confusing marketplace of education and occupational credentials in the country, with 1,076,358 credentials ([link removed]) offered by over 59,600 providers. And all told, over $2.133 trillion ([link removed]) is spent every year in the country in this marketplace.

During the celebration, we heard from partners, funders, and experts who provided insights on why Credential Transparency is valuable to them. The celebration featured discussions on state partnerships, institutional initiatives, student value, equity, pathways, learning and employment records, and upcoming policy work.

If you were unable to attend or would like to share the recordings and resources from the event you can view them on our5th-anniversary resource page ([link removed]) . From the entire Credential Engine team, we want to thank those who joined and spoke during the 5th Anniversary.


** Updates.
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[link removed]

Open Skills Network and Credential Engine Alignment: The Open Skills Network (OSN) and Credential Engine together support the development of rich, meaningful skills information publicly available and reusable on the web. The combination of data among connected skills, credentials, courses, and pathways from multiple sources is exponentially more powerful than information from any single source or system. And when all of this linked data is open, it can be used by everyone to support the needs of evolving learn and work ecosystems. Learn more here ([link removed]) about how OSN and Credential Engine’s work is aligned.

Guest Blog: Kathleen deLaski, Founder and Chair of Education Design Lab and newest Credential Engine Board member, wrote a blog titled ‘The Fast Train from Chaos. ([link removed]) ’ This blog was written in response to Credential Engine’s 5th-anniversary event. And while some think us “mad”, we agree with Kathleen’s assessment that “The founders of Credential Engine were not mad to think they could prototype, pilot, and scale this social good for the benefit of democratizing learning. More and more institutions are joining the Credential Registry and digitizing their courses, which over time will be a boon for visibility of quality… Let’s embrace the useful complexity and diversity of this market, and fill up the Credential Registry “filing system” with data that sets us up to celebrate rather than curse the chaos.”


** Policy Corner.
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SHEEO Policy [link removed]: Last week, the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) released a policy paper that discusses using credential transparency to advance student success and state outcomes with a spotlight on Indiana. This paper dives into a range of topics with Ken Sauer, Indiana Commission for Higher Education Senior Associate Commissioner and Chief Academic Officer, such as the value of credential transparency; how it is used specifically to advance access, equity, and other state goals; legislative support for this work; the conditions for implementing and developing a credential registry; and other partnerships, resources, and capacities needed to advance credential transparency. Read the full policy paper here ([link removed]) .

New State Policy Academy: Credential Engine is excited to announce that we are working with the Education Commission of the States, with support from the Lumina Foundation, and will be launching a State Policy Academy in 2023. This policy academy will work with a set of states to develop appropriate state policy structures and approaches to advance credential transparency, and ensure such policy aligns to and supports state identified priorities and goals. The first step in this partnership will be to produce a thought paper and then announce the process of selecting the states that will be a part of this policy academy. We will be releasing additional information about the policy academy in the new year, so stay tuned!


** State Connections.
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Partnership Announcement: The Stahttps://credentialengine.org/success-stories/texas/te of Texas has set a goal of ensuring that at least 60% of Texans ages 25-64 earn a degree, certificate, or other postsecondary credential of value by 2030. Building a Tale ([link removed]) nt Strong Texas ([link removed]) is the strategic plan that lays out the three measurable data-driven goals: Attainment of Postsecondary Credentials, Postsecondary Credentials of Value, and Research, Development, and Innovation. Credential Engine is working with the Texas Tri-Agencies and Texas2036 to develop a Texas Credential Library of all credentials offered across the state. As part of this work, Texas2036, with support from Google, has worked with Credential Engine and DataSmith to publish both Google’s career certificates along with other privately issued credentials to the Texas Credential Library, and by extension, to
the Credential Registry ([link removed]) . Learn more about Texas2036’s efforts on this front here ([link removed]) .

Kansas Puhttps://credentialengine.org/success-stories/kansas/blishing Update: We are excited to announce that the State of Kansas is the first to publish Transfer Value information at scale to the Credential Registry. Transfer Values describe how an individual credential, learning opportunity, or competency relates to and applies within other skill development and/or career advancement opportunities. The 2,657 transfer values published from Kansas are from their public 2-year and 4-year institutions. In addition, Kansas is working on a plan for publishing military transfer values to the Registry and publishing their Accelerating Opportunity in Kansas (A-OK) Credential Approval List. Learn more about our state partnerships here ([link removed]) .


** Technology & Support.
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Pathway Builder Tool: [link removed] strongly believe that all of us together can illuminate paths toward credential transparency and a better future. To support this vision, we provide a suite of tools built on the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) for publishing linked open data to the Credential Registry. To advance building clear and equitable learning and career pathways, we’ve been working on a new tool called the Pathway Builder. It combines the power of CTDL with Registry data about credentials, courses, competencies, jobs and more. To introduce the Pathway Builder watch our new video, Building Clear Pathways ([link removed]) . After watching the video, if you’re interested in learning more or joining the pilot, please contact us at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

EdTech Advisory Group and Badge Publishing: Credential Engine’s EdTech Advisory Group (EAG), whose goal is to advance credential transparency by focusing on how educational technology products can be used to publish data to the Credential Registry, has produced resources in its first targeted project. This first project focuses on creating and disseminating guidance for enriching Open Badges with credential transparency, by linking from the badges to CTDL data in the Registry. This guidance is working in conjunction with the new Open Badge Publisher application Credential Engine is launching in 2023. Badges are issued for many different types of achievements, and the meaning and value of these badges can be made more explicit by supplementing their description with Registry data. If you’d like more information about the EAG and/or our upcoming Open Badge Publisher, please reach out at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

Learning Economy Foundation and Credential Engine Joint Services: As mission-aligned non-profits, Learning Economy Foundation (LEF) and Credential Engine are excited to announce a partnership and joint services offering. For years, CE and LEF have been working in parallel to empower learners and accelerate the adoption of open tools and protocols that enable individual agency and organizational insights. Together, LEF and CE now bring a complementary package of technologies and best practices to states, post-secondary institutions, employers, and any organization looking to make ecosystem-level impact at scale. Learn more here ([link removed]) .


** News.
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1. Embracing Credential Transparency to Connect Education with Work | Fierce Education ([link removed])
2. A Nonprofit Spent 5 Years Counting a Million Credentials. What Does It All Add Up To? | EdSurge News ([link removed])
3. Credential Confusion: New Report Identifies More Than One Million Credentials Offered in the U.S. Across a Maze of Nearly 60,000 Providers (prnewswire.com) ([link removed])
4. New report finds over a million credentials offered in the U.S. (insidehighered.com) ([link removed])


** Events.
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Credential Engine's Council on Credential Transparency & Equitable Pathways, Transfer, and Recognition of Learning Upcoming Meeting Dates:
* January 17th: 2-4 pm ET
* February 14th: 2-4 pm ET
* March 21st: 2-4 pm ET

These meetings are open to the public. Registration information is forthcoming. Learn more here ([link removed]) .

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