ANSI Board of Directors Approves Creation of Workcred

New ANSI Affiliate Will Bolster Knowledge of Competency-Based, Industry-Endorsed Credentials

At its May 2014 meeting, the Board of Directors of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) voted to approve the creation of Workcred, a new ANSI affiliate organization tasked with increasing awareness of competency-based, industry-recognized workforce credentials and supporting efforts to improve the quality, transparency, portability, and market value of these important tools. Workcred will be a nonprofit corporation and tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) and will maintain separation from and respect the impartiality of ANSI's accreditation services.

As more and more jobs require applicants to have special training or experience beyond just a high school diploma, industry-based credentials have become a growing part of the credentialing world, providing new opportunities for job seekers and employers. But with less than 10% of the more than 4,000 personnel certification bodies active in the United States accredited or reviewed by a third-party accreditation body, there's a lot of essential work left to do. Workcred will be an important part of this effort, providing new knowledge, increasing the quality and ensuring the market value of credentials, and offering other support for the creation of a competency-driven workforce credentialing ecosystem.

As part of its work in this important area, Workcred will:

• coordinate research into workforce credentialing needs for different industries, examine factors that affect industry acceptance of different credentials, and delve into methods for determining the predictive value of different credentials;
• offer consulting and evaluative services for assessing credentialing needs and the development of credentials that meet relevant standards;
• establish stakeholder collaboratives to address issues with workforce credentials that require industry consensus; and
• organize workshops and panel discussions and carry out lectures on relevant topics to increase awareness and drive industry involvement in this important area.

Workcred will be led by Roy Swift, Ph.D., as the organization's executive director. Dr. Swift, retired U.S. Army colonel, previously served as ANSI's chief workforce development officer and senior director of personnel credentialing accreditation programs, executive director of the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT), and chief of the Army Medical Specialist Corps in the Army Surgeon General's Office, among other positions. Other elements of Workcred's governance structure will include a board of directors supported by several councils.

For more information about Workcred and its various initiatives and activities, follow Workcred on Twitter and Facebook.