Making a Market for Competency-Based
Credentials
NCWE Conference- Milwaukee
October 17, 2013
Dr. Keith Bird
Nancy Laprade
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Hot off the press…. today!
Making a Market for Competency-Based
Credentials
• Thanks to the Surdna Foundation for their support
of this important work
• Full report is available at www.skilledwork.org
Series of 3 webinars
Overview – Sept. 24th
Employer Engagement – Oct. 8th
What Can Colleges Do? – Nov. 5th
Webinar power points available at
www.skilledwork.org
What is a competency-based
credential?
 Accurately assures competencies, based on skills
and knowledge of the holder
 Awarded based on demonstration of those
competencies
“what students should know and be able to do”
 Aligns with specific industry standards and
founded on the skills/competencies needed by
employers
Context … the Big Picture
 Post-secondary credentials are crucial to employment
success
 Complex, fast-changing labor markets – workers need
to be able to adapt quickly
 Credentialing in the U.S. today is chaotic
• Hard to navigate
• Lacks common language
• Lacks quality assurance
 Lumina initiatives- DQP and current certificate work
Credentialing System in the United States
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Our Premise…
 The U.S. desperately needs a more coherent
competency based credentialing system to ensure
that both businesses and job seekers get the most
out of post-secondary training
 The System needs to recognize learning acquired
through educational institutions and other non
education and training providers (especially “noncredit”)
 Both formal and informal
 Other prior learning
Why is this work important?
 Replaces seat-time (as a proxy for learning) with
competency-based curriculum and credentials that
are based on learning outcomes
 Provides more precise information about job
requirements and worker skills (including
academic and employability/soft skills)
Why is this work important?
For employers…
 Better informs hiring, deployment and promotion decisions
 Ensures relevant educational programming to meet their
needs
 Provides ROI in hiring, retention and performance
For students/workers…
 Helps them better navigate career pathways and provides
proof of their skills and knowledge
For educators…
 Helps them align their curricula with industry requirements
What is the current state of play in
competency-based credentialing?
1. Varying levels of usage by various industries – along
a continuum
2. Widely used credentials have strong employer
backing
3. Inconsistent quality
What is the current state of play in
competency-based credentialing?
4. Portability and transparency -- key challenges
5. Promising models of stackable systems
6. Employers looking for “cross-functional” skills and
“systems-thinking”
What is the current state of play in
competency-based credentialing?
7. Barriers to bringing to scale
8. No comprehensive policy framework
Current State of Play…
What does this mean in a nutshell?
 Competency-based credentialing as a concept
resonates widely
 Large-scale adoption and use needs:
 Transparency (common language, registries)
 Interoperability (quality assurance, data infrastructure)
 Making the Return on Investment clear to employers,
job seekers, and educators
Building the Market: Five Key Elements
Ensuring Quality
Expanding use by
workers/students
Expanding use by
educators
Expanding use by
employers
Creating an
infrastructure to
help the credentials’
market flourish
Ensuring Quality
 Ensuring an on-going systematic interface with
stakeholders and the evolving body of
knowledge
 Maintaining Validity
 Creation and use of validated assessment
instruments to measure competencies
 Competency Based Education
 Certificates
 Informal Learning
 Certifications
A Quality Competency-Based Credentialing Process
Source: Making a Market for Competency-Based Credentials, CSW
Ensuring Quality
Current lack of oversight mechanisms in the
higher education system
 Accreditation focused primarily on the “degree”
 Need for more emphasis on “outcomes” rather
than process
 Education/Learning often occurs outside
traditional educational institutions
 Professional societies
 Work site – contextual learning – worker learner
Building the Market: Five Key Elements
Ensuring Quality
Expanding use by
workers/students
Expanding use by
educators
Expanding use by
employers
Creating an
infrastructure to
help the credentials’
market flourish
Expanding Use by Workers/Students
 Show the link between credentials and
employment
 Accelerate stackability and bundling to support
career pathways
 Integrate “employability skills” (foundational) into
credentials
 Workplace competencies
 Academic competencies
 Personal effectiveness competencies
NAM/DOL Advanced Manufacturing
Competency Model
Building the Market: Five Key Elements
Ensuring Quality
Expanding use by
workers/students
Expanding use by
educators
Expanding use by
employers
Creating an
infrastructure to
help the credentials’
market flourish
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McKinsey & Company
Only 35% of employers have regular interaction
with educators
Expanding Use by Employers
Goal: Employers must view credentials as
meaningful to their competiveness and
bottom line and use them for hiring
 Document ROI
 Involve all levels of employees within
participating firms
 Involve industry associations and consortia
 Use sector partnerships to expand efforts
Building the Market: Five Key Elements
Ensuring Quality
Expanding use by
workers/students
Expanding use by
educators
Expanding use by
employers
Creating an
infrastructure to
help the credentials’
market flourish
Expanding Use by Educators
 Engage employers as full partners
 Utilize methodologies to ensure that all key
competencies related to job tasks and
employability/ soft skills are identified
 Work with sector partnerships
 Meet students where they are
 Provide opportunities for applied learning
experiences
 Focus on credential related outcomes
Employers as Strategic Partners…
Beyond Business Advisory Committees
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Employers as Advisors
Employers as Strategic Partners
Attend Business Advisory
Committee meetings once or
twice a year to provide high
level curriculum input and
discuss labor market
opportunities
Are engaged in numerous ways:
• Identifying critical competencies
• Curriculum and assessment design
• Work- based learning
• Internships (students and faculty)
• Providing adjunct faculty and equipment
• Mapping Career Pathways
Respond to surveys and report
placement data
Help design surveys, use their connections
to increase the survey response rate, and
partner in designing the success metrics.
Work one-on-one with the
workforce units in colleges to
get their individual (customized)
training needs met.
Work with colleges (both
technical/academic and workforce
units)and their partners over time to
address workforce development needs,
especially in sector/cluster approaches
among groups of employers in industries
important to the regional economy.
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Employers as Advisors
Employers as Strategic Partners
Hire graduates as needed from
existing programs.
Work with colleges to identify and map
career pathway opportunities for
students/workers, fill program gaps as
necessary, and establish an adequate
pipeline of qualified workers.
Talk about the importance of
higher skills and advise on
curriculum.
Work with colleges and provide subject
matter experts (SMEs) to identify the
competencies and skill standards needed;
design relevant curriculum and
assessments; and develop and use market
relevant credentials.
Participate sporadically on an
“as needed” basis when asked
by college or program staff.
Are engaged on an ongoing basis in program
design and refinement, and hire the
graduates of the program on a regular basis
because they have confidence in their skills
preparation.
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The Evolution of the Business-Education
Partnerships
“Off the shelf” course offerings
Needs assessment/customized training
Organizational development approach
(“Trusted Partner” – often one on one)
Deep engagement in an industry- shared ownership of standards,
curriculum and assessments
(Provide solutions through cross industry and regional sector
partnerships)
Pacific Northwest Center of Excellence for Clean
Energy: A Centralia College (WA) Partnership
cleanenergyexcellence.org
 Formed in 2004 as the Center of
Excellence for Energy Technology with
Centralia College as convener– now
serves five states
 Deep industry engagement: Involves
major power generation plants (coal,
hydro, and wind), plus major public
utilities around the state
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Pacific Northwest Center of Excellence for Clean
Energy: A Centralia College (WA) Partnership
cleanenergyexcellence.org
 Key partners are Labor, community
colleges, workforce boards, and
industry experts
 Products include articulated “skills
standards” for key occupations,
shared purchase of key curriculum, a
revised apprenticeship program, and
the creation of a hands-on training
facility at an un-used nuclear power
plant
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PNCECE’s Skill Standards Identification Process
(modified DACUM):
 Compile and research existing standards in related jobs
and careers. This ensures they don’t re-invent the wheel.
 Conduct focus groups to identify critical work functions
and key activities, define key activity performance
indicators and identify technical knowledge, foundation
skills, and personal qualities.
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PNCECE’s Skill Standards Identification Process
(modified DACUM):
 Conduct a widely distributed survey of current workers to
determine level of SCANS skills required for each job.
 Develop work-related scenarios to place the skill
standards in context of the work environment.
 Verify the data gathered from focus groups.
 Disseminate skill standards information to involved
parties from industry, education and labor for review and
editing.
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Building the Market: Five Key Elements
Ensuring Quality
Expanding use by
workers/students
Expanding use by
educators
Expanding use by
employers
Creating an
infrastructure to
help the credentials’
market flourish
Creating an infrastructure to help the
credentials market flourish
 Shared language
 Quality assurance
 Consumer information
Creating an infrastructure to help the
credentials market flourish
 Policy changes (institutional, state, accreditors,
Federal)
 Alignment of efforts
 Bottom-up and top-down strategies
 Maximize the use of technology
Closing Thoughts
 Competency-based credentials can be a game
changer
 Reduce duration of job transitions for workers
 Increase productivity of employers
 Strengthen U.S. competitiveness
 What’s needed? A collaborative effort of many
to build the needed infrastructure and to grow
the market to scale
 Build on what already is working
Questions and Peer Learning
What are your institutions doing in this
competency based credentialing arena?
Next Webinar
Making a Market for Competency-Based
Credentials: What Can Colleges Do?
 November 5- 1:00 – 2:15 ET
 Presenters:
 Maria Coons, Harper College, IL
 Barbara Hins-Turner, Pacific NW Center of Excellence for
Clean Energy, Centralia College, WA
 Becky Nickoli, Ivy Tech, IN
 Jeannine La Prad and Keith Bird, CSW
• NCWE Conference Session- Oct.17- Milwaukee
Contact Info
• Dr. Keith Bird, Senior Policy Fellow, CSW
kbird@skilledwork.org
• Nancy Laprade, Senior Policy Associate, CSW
nlaprade@skilledwork.org