Posts Tagged ‘microcredentials’

Research Round-up: Micro-credentials as a Lever for Social Mobility in Rural Postsecondary Communities

Monday, August 28th, 2023

Advance CTE’s “Research Round-Up” blog series features summaries of relevant research reports and studies to elevate evidence-backed Career Technical Educational (CTE) policies and practices and topics related to college and career readiness. This month’s blog highlights the impact that micro-credentials have had on different populations of learners in rural postsecondary institutions. Ensuring that each learner’s skills are counted, valued, and portable supports Advance CTE’s vision for the future of CTE where each learner has access to the means to succeed in the career of their choice.

In their 2022 report, Micro-Credentials for Social Mobility in Rural Postsecondary Communities: A Landscape Report, Digital Promise explored the impact of earning micro-credential attainment on individuals’ transitions into the workforce, promotions, and economic outcomes (e.g., salary increase, prioritizing learners impacted by poverty). Micro-credentials are digital certifications that verify an individual’s competence with a skill or set of skills. They can be earned asynchronously and stacked together to demonstrate readiness for in-demand jobs. Micro-credentialing is growing in popularity as state CTE leaders consider expanding their credential spectrum to include micro-credentials as a cost-effective option to connect learners with certifications for their skills. 

While common themes emerged across the four rural micro-credentialing initiatives evaluated in the report, overall impressions were that micro-credentials can — and in some cases, do — lead to job promotions, higher wages, and an increase in self-confidence for rural learners.

Research Objectives

To better understand their impact, researchers selected four rural micro-credentialing initiatives that are being used to create career pathways for rural learners. The report focused specifically on outcomes for Black, Latinx, and indigenous populations, as well as women. 

A primary objective of this project was to identify existing and emerging instances of micro-credentials in rural industry, education, and training initiatives to inform the field about the value and use of micro-credentials as a tool for equitable economic recovery. Additionally, this research sought to understand how micro-credentials are being leveraged to reduce systemic biases, signal worker readiness to employers and promote social mobility in rural communities.

The four communities featured in this work include:

This report features both qualitative and quantitative data collected through focus groups and individual interviews, program enrollment, retention, credential attainment, and salary outcomes.

Learner Perceptions of Micro-credentials

 

Overall, micro-credential earners interviewed for this study perceived their experiences favorably and believed that efforts to earn such credentials would result in economic mobility through higher education and income levels. Earners indicated that micro-credentials allowed for more timely feedback and that each credential motivated earners to continue their progression. While stakeholders remain optimistic about the value of micro-credentials, many earners are still unsure of how earning micro-credentials may or may not impact their long-term employment trajectories.

 

Program Design Considerations

As a result of their analysis, five themes emerged across the micro-credential sites:

  1. Partnerships
    • All initiatives emphasize a need for developing regional, sustainable partnerships across sectors and increasing efforts to engage communities of color. Successful initiatives included universities, adult education, prison education, and reentry programs and employers. 
    • State-level example: In Tennessee, several organizations and networks are working to promote online learning and micro-credentialing for early childhood education professionals across the state.
  2. Employer Recognition
    • Program administrators and learners want to ensure that prospective employers recognize and value skills demonstrated through micro-credentials. 
    • State-level example: In Georgia, the way that program leaders build relationships with employers ensures a quick transition into the workforce for those completing the 8-week program to earn their micro-credentials.
  3. Program Sustainability
    • As the three university-based pilots are in the process of scaling up into more robust statewide programs, efforts to maintain programming were thought to depend on several factors:
      • A desire for more robust data collection methods and data interoperability across multiple institutions. 
      • Administrators also recognized the need to improve messaging to potential learners, employers, and funders about the value of micro-credentials.
  4. Program Appeal/ Feasibility
    • Across all initiatives, program appeal was influenced by affiliations with the respective educational institutions. Perceived use and value of micro-credentials were the most important reasons for motivation for program developers and earners. 
    • State-level example: In Kentucky, some teachers earning micro-credentials were able to increase their rank and wages.
  5. Potential for Learner/ Higher Education Attainment
    • An ability to earn new skills, obtain credit for prior knowledge, and access varied content were significant factors of the perceived value of micro-credentials among rural learners. Earners perceive micro-credentials as beneficial to include on resumes given that they may set them apart from other candidates. 
    • State-level example: In Maine, earners, which included women in state correctional facilities, sought to ensure that micro-credentials were readily transferable to college credit.

Additional Resources

To learn more about stackable credentials, visit the Learning that Works Resource Center.

Amy Hodge, Policy Associate 

By Layla Alagic in Research
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Advance CTE Fall Meeting Sponsor Blog: Gold Sponsor, NOCTI – Navigating Uncertain Times

Friday, September 23rd, 2022

This post is written by NOCTI, a Gold Level sponsor of the 2022 Advance CTE Fall Meeting.

A “black swan” event is an unpredictable occurrence beyond what is normally expected of a situation, often with severe consequences. While the entire educational environment was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, Career Technical Education (CTE), which focuses on hands-on learning, was heavily impacted by this black swan event.  In addition to navigating the perils of COVID-19, CTE experienced instructor shortages and concerns about the limited related work experience of those available for these positions. Though many states have relevant, standardized, industry-identified competencies, the associated curriculum must be delivered by individuals with a solid understanding of the field, which is generally based on work experience. In some cases, these concerns can result in a reduction of content depth delivered in a CTE classroom. 

How does the CTE community respond to these kinds of events? What can states, teacher preparation systems, schools, and administrators do to increase equity and access to CTE programs as well as maintain high-quality program content and delivery? To address these variables would take more space than this blog offers, but we can describe three tools offered by NOCTI and Nocti Business Solutions (NBS). 

Let’s start with a focus on a teacher candidate’s technical skill competence. NBS offers assessments that are used in the hiring process. These assessments can be used to verify a candidate’s experience, determine a candidate’s fit to a position, and establish an employee’s professional development plan upon hire. Using these assessments longitudinally can provide additional information to those hiring CTE teachers.

The second tool is a credentialing assessment developed by NOCTI and several other associations, entitled “Principles of CTE Teaching”. The credential offers two levels and establishes an individual’s understanding of CTE pedagogy and covers student management techniques, facility management and safety, teaching, and both formative and summative assessment strategies. 

The final tool developed by NOCTI, micro-credentials, gathers the collective knowledge of seasoned CTE instructors and subject matter experts. NOCTI utilized longitudinal data across a variety of industries to identify areas in which CTE learners were having difficulty. NOCTI then worked with instructors to design short video segments to address these specific areas. The resulting content segments are available 24/7 and can be viewed repeatedly in both synchronous and asynchronous settings. Micro-credentials can be used in a variety of situations and can be an effective tool to reinforce an instructor’s content knowledge. 

Acting without deliberate planning can exacerbate problems and pondering an issue without action rarely helps anyone progress. NOCTI’s tools were designed to assist in the expansion of the CTE community and represent thoughtful actions to inspire state CTE leaders to address instructor pipeline challenges and empower new instructors to be successful in CTE.  Please reach out to us to find out more at [email protected].

Dr. John C. Foster, President and CEO, NOCTI & NBS 

 

By Stacy Whitehouse in Advance CTE Fall Meeting
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Colleges Play Important Role in Creating Alternative Credentialing Pathways

Tuesday, September 12th, 2017

A new report commissioned by The Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences examines the landscape of non-degree postsecondary training. The report focused on five categories: certificate programs, work-based training, skills-based short programs, massive open online courses and other online microcredentials, and competency-based education programs, and provides in-depth analyses of each. While these types of trainings vary widely across sectors and states, the authors found that they all tended to be shorter, more flexible, and more directly aligned with employer-defined skills than traditional postsecondary degree programs.

However, data on learner enrollment and outcomes for these programs is limited, so it is difficult to tell how effective an option they ultimately are for learners. With that in mind, the report also found that more traditional degree programs, which have clearer data on outcomes, are increasingly incorporating elements of alternative pathways into their programs to create programs that provide academic and non-academic instruction.

Survey Measures Student Interest and Readiness for Postsecondary

A recent online survey of over 55,000 high school students revealed some interesting findings related to the enthusiasm and readiness for postsecondary education. 84 percent of students indicated a desire to go to college, with only five percent definitely saying no to college. 68 percent of students had plans to attend a 2- or 4-year college immediately after high school.

Interestingly, only 50 percent of 12th grade students feel that their school has helped them develop the skills and knowledge they will need for college-level classes. Students are aware of the various support services offered, and they generally agree those services are helpful. However, not many students are actually choosing to take advantage of them. This could be for a number of reasons, but advertising these services and reducing the stigma of using them might help.

Odds and Ends

The Education Commission of the States launched a 50-state scan highlighting how states issue and analyze postsecondary feedback reports. An interesting finding is that 39 states publicly report high school feedback reports with data on postsecondary enrollment and/or performance.

A new report finds that English language learners are proportionally under-enrolled in New York City’s CTE programs, and that they are less likely to successfully complete the programs once enrolled. The report’s authors feel that this is a major opportunity to enroll more English language learners in CTE programs, as those who do complete their CTE programs graduate at a rate that is 30 percent higher than other English language learners in the city.

Ashleigh McFadden, State Policy Manager

By admin in Research
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