Our Work

Improved career outcomes for students―including higher salaries, improved rates of hire, and faster promotion tracks―are the ultimate goal of this initiative developed by Workcred, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities, and the University Professional and Continuing Education Association to explore how to align degrees and certifications.

As part of a three-year grant from the ECMC Foundation, Workcred, the League for Innovation in the Community College, and the National Student Clearinghouse are teaming up with the Higher Learning Commission to offer community colleges an affordable, scalable approach to align degrees with industry needs through Certification+Degree (C+D) Pathways.

Funded by Greater Texas Foundation, Workcred is partnering with Houston Community College and Texas Southmost College to examine and align education and workforce stakeholders’ processes and policies in order to better support low-income and first-generation learners to complete industry certification + certificate/degree pathways, earn postsecondary credentials of value, and enter the workforce.

Workcred, Dallas College, and Bufflehead Strategies, LLC are working together to support the development of high-quality apprenticeship programs in the United States.

Along with partners Corporation for a Skilled Workforce and George Washington Institute of Public Policy, Workcred focused on the current and potential roles for industry and professional certifications as a vehicle for increasing labor-market mobility to explore where certifications present the risk of being dead-end credentials that can limit access to opportunity, and how to instead ensure certifications serve as part of lifelong pathways for advancement.

Workcred is working with certification bodies to explore the potential for data-linking efforts to improve understanding of the value of certifications, the labor market outcomes of individuals who hold them, and insights into successful career pathways into the workforce.

Workcred, George Washington Institute of Public Policy, and NIST’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership are conducting a research study to uncover the return on investment of manufacturing credentials. Expected to be published in 2022, this study has the potential to significantly increase the efficiency of hiring in the manufacturing sector.