Workcred is working with certification bodies to explore the potential for data-linking efforts to improve understanding of the value of certifications, the aggregate labor market outcomes of certifications, and insights into successful career pathways into the workforce. Workcred and partner certification bodies work with the National Student Clearinghouse to match data from certification bodies, educational attainment and enrollment data from universities, and aggregate wage data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Understanding Successful Career Pathways with Certification and Education Data
Despite their prevalence in the workforce, there is no complete, centralized source of data on the outcomes or impact of certifications. While there have been isolated efforts to collect this data by states, as well as self-reported data from certification bodies, outcomes data are fragmented and incomplete. In order to help provide the much-needed transparency for certifications, Workcred is working with certification bodies to explore linking data so that individuals, employers, and policymakers can make more informed choices about the return on investment of certifications.
Central to the success of increased data access is understanding the resource, staff, and technological capacity of certification bodies to link data as well as an understanding of the minimum administrative data that is required to accurately link different data sets. Linking this data allows certification bodies to better understand and serve their clients, as well as significantly deepen the understanding of the role of certifications in credentialing pathways and their impact on wages.
Find out more about this exciting work through our series of blogs:
Industry Credentials
Through their pilot initiative, the Clearinghouse is linking together academic and industry credential information for the first time, including related aggregate labor market outcomes.
This provides a better understanding of the pathways between education and certification attainment, and helps in identifying quality industry credentials. In this white paper, learn how the Clearinghouse is working to provide
better data that empowers education and workforce organizations by adding industry credential information to other administrative data,
and highlighting a segment of workforce education and learning that has previously not been well understood.
