What is competency based credentialing and why is it important?
What is the current state of play in competency based credentialing?
How do we define "quality" credentials?
What can educators, employers, and public policy makers do to make a market for competency based credentials?
Making a Market for Competency-based Credentials: An Overview
1. Making a Market for Competency-Based
Credentials: An Overview
1
First in a series of three webinars:
Webinar 2: Effective Employer Engagement
Oct. 8th
Webinar 3: What Can Colleges Do?
Nov. 5th
2. 2
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4. Upcoming Report
Making a Market for Competency-Based
Credentials
Thanks to the Surdna Foundation for their support
of this important work
5. Poll question
What kind of organization do you represent?
1. Educational institution
2. Public policy
3. Business/ professional organization
4. CBO
5. Business and Industry
6. Government
7. Other
6. What is a competency-based
credential?
Accurately assures competencies, based on skills
and knowledge of the holder
Awarded based on demonstration of those
competencies
“what students should know and be able to do”
Aligns with specific industry standards and
founded on the skills/competencies needed by
employers
7. Context … the Big Picture
Post-secondary credentials are crucial to
employment success
Complex, fast-changing labor markets – workers
need to be able to adapt quickly
Credentialing in the U.S. today is chaotic
Hard to navigate
Lacks common language
Lacks quality assurance
8. Our Premise…
The U.S. desperately needs a more coherent
competency based credentialing system to ensure
that both businesses and job seekers get the most
out of post-secondary training
The System needs to recognize learning acquired
through educational institutions and other non
education and training providers (especially “non-
credit”)
Both formal and informal
Other prior learning
9. Why is this work important?
Replaces seat-time (as a proxy for learning) with
competency-based curriculum and credentials that
are based on learning outcomes
Provides more precise information about job
requirements and worker skills (including
academic and employability/soft skills)
10. Why is this work important?
For employers…
Better informs hiring, deployment and promotion decisions
Ensures relevant educational programming to meet their
needs
Provides ROI in hiring, retention and performance
For students/workers…
Helps them better navigate career pathways and provides
proof of their skills and knowledge
For educators…
Helps them align their curricula with industry requirements
11. What is the current state of play in
competency-based credentialing?
1. Varying levels of usage by various industries – along
a continuum
2. Widely used credentials have strong employer
backing
3. Inconsistent quality
12. What is the current state of play in
competency-based credentialing?
4. Portability and transparency -- key challenges
5. Promising models of stackable systems
6. Employers looking for “cross-functional” skills and
“systems-thinking”
13. What is the current state of play in
competency-based credentialing?
7. Barriers to bringing to scale
8. No comprehensive policy framework
14. Current State of Play…
What does this mean in a nutshell?
Competency-based credentialing as a concept
resonates widely
Large-scale adoption and use needs:
Transparency (common language, registries)
Interoperability (quality assurance, data infrastructure)
Making the Return on Investment clear to employers,
job seekers, and educators
15. Building the Market: Five Key Elements
Ensuring Quality
Expanding use by
workers/students
Expanding use by
employers
Expanding use by
educators
Creating an
infrastructure to
help the credentials’
market flourish
17. Ensuring Quality
Ensuring an on-going systematic interface with
stakeholders and the evolving body of
knowledge
Maintaining Validity
Creation and use of validated assessment
instruments to measure competencies
Competency Based Education
Certificates
Informal Learning
Certifications
18. Ensuring Quality
Current lack of oversight mechanisms in the
higher education system
Accreditation focused primarily on the “degree”
Need for more emphasis on “outcomes” rather
than process
Education/Learning is often occurs outside
traditional educational institutions
Professional societies
Work site – contextual learning – worker learner
19. Building the Market: Five Key Elements
Ensuring Quality
Expanding use by
workers/students
Expanding use by
employers
Expanding use by
educators
Creating an
infrastructure to
help the credentials’
market flourish
20. Expanding Use by Workers/Students
Show the link between credentials and
employment
Accelerate stackability and bundling to support
career pathways
Integrate “employability skills” (foundational) into
credentials
Workplace competencies
Academic competencies
Personal effectiveness competencies
22. Building the Market: Five Key Elements
Ensuring Quality
Expanding use by
workers/students
Expanding use by
employers
Expanding use by
educators
Creating an
infrastructure to
help the credentials’
market flourish
23. Expanding Use by Employers
Goal: Employers must view credentials as
meaningful to their competiveness and
bottom line and use them for hiring
Document ROI
Involve all levels of employees within
participating firms
Involve industry associations and consortia
Use sector partnerships to expand efforts
24. Building the Market: Five Key Elements
Ensuring Quality
Expanding use by
workers/students
Expanding use by
employers
Expanding use by
educators
Creating an
infrastructure to
help the credentials’
market flourish
25. Expanding Use by Educators
Engage employers as full partners
Utilize methodologies to ensure that all key
competencies related to job tasks and
employability/ soft skills are identified
Work with sector partnerships
Meet students where they are
Provide opportunities for applied learning
experiences
Focus on credential related outcomes
26. Building the Market: Five Key Elements
Ensuring Quality
Expanding use by
workers/students
Expanding use by
employers
Expanding use by
educators
Creating an
infrastructure to
help the credentials’
market flourish
27. Creating an infrastructure to help the
credentials market flourish
Shared language
Quality assurance
Consumer information
28. Creating an infrastructure to help the
credentials market flourish
Policy changes (institutional, state, accreditors,
Federal)
Alignment of efforts
Bottom-up and top-down strategies
Maximize the use of technology
29. Poll: What area of this work is most
important/relevant to you and your work?
Ensuring the quality of credentials
The role of employer engagement
How do educators need to change the way they
develop curriculum and credentials?
How do we determine ROI?
Enhancing stackability and portability
The role of credentials in career navigation/ career
pathways
Policy framework including use of data/metrics
30. Closing Thoughts
Competency-based credentials can be a game
changer
Reduce duration of job transitions for workers
Increase productivity of employers
Strengthen U.S. competitiveness
What’s needed? A collaborative effort of many
to build the needed infrastructure and to grow
the market to scale
Build on what already is working
32. Next Webinar
Making a Market for Competency-Based
Credentials: Effective Employer Engagement
October 8- 1:00 – 2:15 ET
Presenters:
Brent Weil, Senior Vice President, Manufacturing
Institute, NAM
Troy Nutter, Manager, Operational Training, Puget
Sound Energy
Keith Bird, CSW
Notes de l'éditeur
1.Market-relevant competency-based credentials are used for specific jobs in a number of fields, such as healthcare and IT2. Widely used credentials have strong employer backing3. Credential quality is inconsistent
4. Portability and transparency are key challenges5. There are promising models of tiered/stackable/bundled credentialing systems 6. Employers are often looking for “cross-functional” skills, like problem-solving and innovation, in addition to job-specific competenciesNeed talking points here
7. There are barriers to bringing high-quality competency-based industry-recognized credentialing to scale8. There is no comprehensive policy framework for the expansion and replication of promising competency-based credentialing policies and practices Need talking points here
Roy Swift
Involve all levels of employees within participating firms– SMEs,Management and senior leadershipMore details and discussion to come in second webinar on October 8th