Can Connections Between Data Systems Propel Economic Recovery? Three States Say Yes.

With good reason, there has been a heightened focus on a strong economic recovery coming through and out of the global pandemic. Economies have been shocked, industries have been shaken and most notably, individuals’ lives have been disrupted. To support rebuilding and ensure a strong economic recovery for communities, states and the nation, there is a solution that lies in data. Using data – that already largely exists – to create clear pathways between education and training programs, workforce development initiatives, and jobs is one way to ensure individuals get connected – or reconnected – to opportunities.

To accomplish this, the silos that exist between education, workforce, and jobs data systems must be dismantled. Over the last year, policymakers in Alabama, Florida, and Connecticut have coordinated their efforts across both policymaking bodies and key government agencies to help individuals in their states make sense of the myriad of credentials that are available.

In fact, according to national non-profit Credential Engine, there are nearly 1 million unique credentials in the U.S alone, which contributes to the ongoing confusion and ultimately consequential decision-making, particularly among learners.

It is vital that all stakeholders — from learners and workers to educators, employers, and policymakers — better understand the education and training programs designed to meet labor market needs. Almost half of states are using or building data systems that make information about credentials searchable, comparable, and actionable. Ultimately, credential transparency allows policymakers to describe the universe of credentials available in their state, increases access to information about credentials, helps states reach postsecondary attainment goals, and promotes equity among learners, academic programs and learning pathways.

I talked with three state policy leaders about the momentum around credential transparency, the connection between education and employment, and how an integrated and interoperable data strategy can be the foundation for both immediate economic recovery and long-term learner success.

“I am committed to increasing our rate of postsecondary education attainment and our labor participation rate,” said Governor of Alabama Kay Ivey. “I want to ensure the state of Alabama has 500,000 qualified workers by 2025. But in order to accomplish this, we must connect education and the economy. I created the Alabama Committee on Credentialing and Career Pathways, codified in legislation. This Committee examines what kind of wage premium a postsecondary credential provides over that of a high school diploma.”  

In Alabama, essential information about credentials, competencies, providers, quality indicators, outcomes, pathways, and more will be housed in the state’s Credential Registry. “We’re going to make sure that we get all the credentials and articulation values into the Registry. That’s important for transparency,” said Governor Ivey.

Similarly, in Connecticut and Florida, leadership for credential transparency originated out of the executive branch. “The original vision of the legislation came out of the Governor’s Workforce Council and the Governor’s office, while the ongoing lead for the project is based in the Office of Higher Education. The main impetus for this work started when Connecticut revamped our state workforce board to be the Governor’s Workforce Council,“ said Niall Dammondo, Chief of Staff in the Connecticut Office of Workforce Strategy. 

“One of the initiatives elevated from [the Council’s] strategic plan was the credential registry project, which would ultimately support both Connecticut students and job seekers by providing them as much information as possible about academic and training programs. Our students and job seekers can make well-informed decisions about the education or training program that is right for them.”

Henry Mack, Chancellor for the Division of Workforce Education with the Florida Department of Education, said that “the origins of our work were initiated with the Governor’s Executive Order upon his inauguration in 2019. The Executive Order inspired conversations about how to achieve a more interoperable system, which resulted in a major piece of legislation that established guidelines around this type of data integration.”

“[Florida] needed a simple, transparent process to help all stakeholders understand the credentialing programs being offered. In order to help meet our economic aims, industry leaders and employers told us that it would be important to capture these data and visualize them in a user-friendly format. But, before we could create data visualization to support all Floridians, including policymakers, we knew we needed a better, more transparent public data infrastructure to accurately capture and assess the quality of our credentialing programs,” said Mack.

And as is the case in Alabama, Connecticut and dozens of other states, Florida understands that “credentials can be better understood, pursued, and more easily transferred or transmitted to other educational institutions or employers if they are captured in a verifiable and interoperable data format,” said Mack. “This easy-to-use format to better understand credentials and pathways not only matters for student success, but also supports our principal aim, which is to achieve economic mobility and self-sufficiency for all Floridians.”

Not only is executive level commitment important to breaking down silos across education and workforce data systems, but policymakers agree that collaboration across agencies is imperative to ensure buy-in to a strategic commitment and to make available any necessary budget resources to make these data systems truly interoperable.

“Our work [in Connecticut] has been a very collaborative effort across state agencies,” said Dammondo. “The Workforce Council has involved at least ten state agencies, and while the Office of Higher Education is the point agency, there is multi-agency commitment and participation. In fact, the Department of Labor has significant alignment with the credential registry. Similarly, we are having conversations with our colleagues in K-12 education.”

Ultimately, a state’s commitment both in policy and practice to credential transparency connects back to its completion agenda. Under the leadership of both the Lumina Foundation and the Obama Administration over a decade ago, many states set completion goals, signaling full-scale policy alignment to ensure that learners were not only able to access, but complete a postsecondary education credential. Leading policymakers assert that one of the ways in which states can be successful in meeting their completion goal is to ensure alignment of data systems, ultimately providing learners with the transparency needed to understand how education and training credentials align with work.

“Building the Credential Registry in Connecticut provides the critical information and foundation to expedite and support the work of postsecondary education completion. The Credential Registry initiative provides a very intuitive, customized, easy-to-use navigational system to guide learners who want to come back or are guided by a mentor or professional to return to the education system,” said Dammondo. “In fact, one of the things that the Credential Registry initiative can do is help us think about the kinds of information we need to collect about credentials to make the information more meaningful for the end user.”

Data is important, but use of a uniform language is even more essential to better connect data to each other, and across systems. Credential Engine has championed – and many states have adopted – a uniform language across all credential providers, known as the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL). This uniform language ultimately helps a learner explore the entire system, understand how much they might earn with a particular credential, understand what type of educational program they may want to pursue, and what the licensing requirements may be for their field of interest.

“If individuals can make more informed decisions about their careers and what education is needed to get there, we believe it will help them be more successful in their educational and workforce pathway,” concluded Dammondo.

Florida’s efforts track with this same understanding.

“Advancing the number of adults or residents in the state of Florida who are increasing their education attainment levels by making informed decisions is tremendously valuable for the state,” says Mack. “Building out a cloud-based interoperable data system allows for the registration of the credentialing programs the state offers, but also helps individuals understand what opportunities those credentialing programs lead to, and then grants the individual access to their credential upon earning it and finally, transmits that credential to employers: it’s revolutionary.”

“What this will do for individuals,” said Governor Ivey, “is to show how work will pay off over time and lead to self-sufficiency. It shows the pathway from the entry level job to the middle skill job. We want to make sure that all learning counts for Alabamians.”