Roy Swift, Ph.D., executive director of Workcred, an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) affiliate which serves to strengthen workforce quality by improving the credentialing system, was a recent panelist at the Council of College and Military Educators (CMME) annual professional development symposium titled "Connecting the Dots on Occupational Credentialing: Civilian and Military Initiatives." The event featured sessions on technology innovative solutions for enhancing both active duty military and veterans' success in their education and post-military careers, in addition to a job and education fair.
Dr. Swift, a retired United States Army colonel, spoke on behalf of the recently launched Workcred affiliate Credential Transparency Initiative (CTI), which serves to create greater clarity in the U.S. credentialing marketplace. CTI is a Lumina-Foundation-funded initiative led by George Washington University's Institute of Public Policy, ANSI-affiliate Workcred, and Southern Illinois University's Center for Workforce Development. The pioneering initiative aims to improve the often confusing credentialing system through a multi-tiered approach: CTI will develop common language for describing the key features of credentials; create a voluntary, web-based Credential Registry for sharing the resulting information; and build practical software applications that facilitate access to this information and serve the needs of employers, educators, students, counselors, and others.
The registry will allow users to compare the quality and value of credentials using a web-based system with information provided directly by the institutions issuing the credentials. All kinds of credentials will be included, from educational degrees and certificates to industry certifications, occupational licenses, and micro-credentials.
Credentialing organizations have much to gain if students, prospective applicants, employers, and others can easily recognize and understand the distinct features, quality, value, and effectiveness of the credentials they award. At the CMME conference, Dr. Swift encouraged colleges to participate in the CTI as pilot-site partners. CTI's pilot-site partners play an essential role in the initiative by making information about their credentials available to the registry for the pilot test. CTI is currently seeking up to 100 credentialing organizations to participate; for the pilot, the initiative has a particular focus on credentials in the healthcare, manufacturing, and information technology sectors.
For more information about CTI, including opportunities to become involved, visit www.credentialtransparencyinitiative.org, or contact a member of the CTI project team at [email protected].
The CTI is led by an executive committee of senior representatives from the American Association of Community Colleges, American Council on Education, Business Roundtable, Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board, National Association of Manufacturers' Manufacturing Institute, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, and University Professional and Continuing Education Association.
For more information on the CMME event, see recent coverage on its website.