The American Association of Community Colleges and 14 other national postsecondary education organizations have agreed to use a new credential registry as well as common language to describe credential information in an effort to make credential data easier to understand for students, employers and other stakeholders. The organizations — led by the American Council on Education (ACE), the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, Credential Engine and EDUCAUSE — announced Monday that they have signed a joint statement supporting credential data transparency. The goal is to “dismantle long-held data silos and unlock the power of open data to better serve students,” according to a press release from Credential Engine.
“These organizations will encourage their members to describe their credential offerings with a common language and house the data in an open, cloud-based registry in order to empower students, workers, employers and policymakers to make more informed decisions about credentials and their value,” it said.
There are more than 730,000 unique credentials offered in the U.S., according to new research from Credential Engine. Deciphering what those credentials mean can be confusing for students, companies, policymakers and others.