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

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Transparency
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March 15th, 2023
Welcome to Transparency, Credential Engine’s monthly newsletter. If you have been following Credential Engine for a while, then you are familiar with our annual national reports (“Counting U.S. Postsecondary and Secondary Credentials ([link removed]) ”) that have become the authoritative accounts of the credentialing landscape in the United States. But what you might not know is that we, along with the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC), also offer customized, state-specific reports ([link removed]) that bring greater insights into the credential landscape within states. These reports can be designed to meet the specific goals and interests of each state. Most recently, Alabama released its Credential Attainment ([link removed]) and Special
Population ([link removed]) reports for 2018-2021. These reports will be crucial for better understanding credentials across various education and training systems in Alabama. If you are interested in creating one of these reports for your state, please contact us at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .
Jump ahead:

> Spotlight (#Spotlight)
> U (#Spotlight) pdates (#Updates)
> Policy Corner (#Policy)
> State Connections (#State)
> Technology & Support (#Technology)
> Events (#Events)


** Spotlight.
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Credential Engine continues to work on getting national and international credential data in the Credential Registry to support credential transparency. There are many layers that go into making sure the data in the Registry are open and accessible. The goal of this spotlight section is to provide an overview of the distinctions between the open-source Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL), open data, and the Credential Registry’s function as a common repository of open data.

With over one million credentials in the United States, being able to find, understand, compare and navigate the maze of credentials is critical to the efficient and equitable operations of our education and training systems. The Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) was designed to assist with just that. CTDL is an open-sourced, creative-commons licensed, data language that allows credential providers to richly describe the credentials they own and offer, and the essential aspects of those credentials of interest to users, such as competencies, cost, quality, outcomes, pathways, and links to job skills. And by being open-source, anyone can use it to make public their credential data. You can think of the CTDL as a large dictionary of terms that is at your fingertips for describing credentials. And, in fact, CTDL has become the de facto standard for describing the full ecosystem of credentials and other resources available as data for search and discovery, and cross-system
interoperability.

Now, the result and benefit of using CTDL is that the resulting descriptions about credentials, providers, competencies, etc., are all available as linked, open, interoperable data on the web. This means that search tools, guidance and navigation tools, pathways, and Learning and Employment Record (LER) services, can all find, understand, and make rich connections between these data and other data, such as job openings, available financial aid, wrap-around supports, and more to best serve individuals, employers, educators, and policymakers. Credential Engine firmly believes that this information about providers, credentials, competencies, and the rich ecosystem (but not any personally identifiable information) can and should be openly available on the web. The beauty of using CTDL and embracing open data is that once credential and skill data are mapped to the CTDL and published, that information is then openly available for anyone, anytime, anywhere.

And finally, Credential Engine hosts what is known as the Credential Registry. The Registry is simply a common repository of data published using CTDL in order to make it easier for everyone to see, and for developers of products and services to be able to access those data easily from one source. It is not a “walled garden”. While Credential Engine maintains this tool, the data in the Registry is not “owned” by Credential Engine and is open for anyone to use.

By adding data to the Registry, stakeholders fuel the creation of services and tools that allow students, employers, and workers to choose the best path forward. Together, the CTDL, open data, and the Credential Registry make credential and skill information accessible, discoverable, comparable, and actionable—enabling the vision of credential transparency to become a reality.
We encourage you to attend our Get to Know CTDL Webinar ([link removed]) on March 21st (discussed below) to learn more about CTDL, open data, and how it works with the Credential Registry.


** Updates.
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[link removed] of New Advisory Group: Credential Engine is excited to announce the launch of its newest Advisory Group. The Data Currency for Quality Advisory Group ([link removed]) (DCAG) is open to everyone and the purpose is to understand what CTDL elements are critical for stakeholders to assess the quality of — and feel confident consuming — Registry data and to build better and more streamlined use cases for maintaining accuracy of resources (e.g., credentials, learning opportunities, assessments, organizations, transfer value, pathways, competencies, and competency frameworks) in the Registry. If you are interested in learning more, please view the Advisory Group Charter ([link removed]) . If you’d like to get involved in this work, you can sign up here
([link removed]) .

New Business Partnership: Credential Engine is excited to announce its newest business partnership with Merit ([link removed]) to ensure that transparent, verified, digital credentials lead to jobs. Merit’s partners now have the opportunity to seamlessly incorporate Credential Engine’s Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL), a common language to describe credential information, that captures, links, updates, and shares up-to-date information about credentials for easy organization and searchability. By utilizing the CTDL, Credential Engine and Merit enable universal credential comparability for individuals ([link removed]) and give them autonomy to make the most of their life’s achievements. Ultimately, the credential interoperability advanced by Merit and Credential Engine ([link removed]) will help clear pathways for qualified individuals to identify and pursue career opportunities based on their verified skills and abilities. To
learn more, click here ([link removed]) .


** Policy Corner.
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Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants Continue Credential Transparency Support: Credential Engine is happy to confirm that the third round of Strengthening Community College grants from the U.S. Department of Labor will continue to require transparency of the credentials and competencies developed, issued, or offered as part of those grants. As a reminder, the Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grant program's goal is to build the capacity of community colleges to collaborate with employers and the public workforce development system to meet local and regional labor market demand for a skilled workforce. If you’d like to learn more, please reach out to us at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .


** State Connections.
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Spotlight of Kansas and its Work Towards Credential Transparency: The Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) is the governing and coordinating body of 32 public post-secondary institutions in the state. Even prior to their work with Credential Engine, they have had robust data collection systems that allow for their institutions to submit program and course inventory and student-level data to connect their courses to programs, ultimately helping to support multiple collections and state funding. Maintaining these systems ensures that their data is current, valid, normalized, sustainable, and transparent. The benefit of maintaining these systems allows for the Board's goals of improving access, keeping education affordable, and helping Kansans' success to be achievable. And you may ask, if they already have systems in place to keep their data organized and already helping Kansas residents, then why work with Credential Engine? Well, publishing to the Registry allows them to identify strengths and
challenges in their current data system, sets an example for other organizations, connects their data to third-party agencies, and allows for another avenue of information dissemination for even more transparency. The data KBOR publishes to the Registry is robust, covering credentials from their public postsecondary program inventory, program level student cost and financing, wage data by program, program accreditation, Accelerating Opportunities: KS (AO-K) Program list ([link removed]) , and systemwide transfer courses. Most recently, KBOR has published ([link removed]) over 2,800 transfer value profiles to the Registry. The state's next step is to move towards publishing military credit for prior learning data. We are excited to keep supporting Kansas and its work toward transparency. If you’d like to learn more about what Kansas is up to, click here
([link removed]) .


** Technology & Support.
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[link removed] to Know the CTDL Webinar - You’re Invited to Credential Engine’s CTDL Webinar: As a follow up to the first Credential Transparency Description Language Advisory Group (CAG) ([link removed]) , a CTDL Webinar has been scheduled for March 21, 2023 at 11 AM ET, and will go deeper into the design of the CTDL and how anyone can use it. This webinar is open to all and will cover: introduction to the CTDL handbook, important background information, examples of using CTDL, and questions and answers. To join the webinar, please register. ([link removed]) If you cannot make the webinar, the webinar will be recorded and made available as public information.


** Events.
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Credential Engine’s Equity Advisory Council March Open Meeting
We invite you to join the Equity Advisory Council and the Credential Engine team on Tuesday, March 21st at 2 pm ET to participate in the next open meeting for the Council on Credential Transparency & Equitable Pathways, Transfer, and Recognition of Learning. The focus of this meeting is to continue to work on the Council's recommendations for equity and transparency. If you are unable to attend this meeting, we’re happy to accept any other input into this work. Interested in participating? Register today! ([link removed])

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