#AskExcelinEd: How do credentials meet the market in Florida, Indiana and Kentucky?

Florida, Indiana, Kentucky

There is limited research on education and labor market outcomes associated with earning an industry credential in high school, but a new report from ExcelinEd and Burning Glass Technologies addresses that gap.

Innovation

States can—and should—graduate students from high school prepared for the challenges of college and careers. Many states are working toward this goal by improving the quality of career and technical education (CTE) programs and have looked to industry-recognized credentials as one component of this improvement. However, there is limited research on education and labor market outcomes associated with earning an industry credential in high school.

A new report from ExcelinEd and Burning Glass Technologies, Where Credentials Meet the Market: State Case Studies on the Effect of High School Industry Credentials on Educational and Labor Market Outcomes, addresses that gap.

Read the Report

Where Credentials Meet the Market builds on the foundation laid in Credentials Matter: A National Landscape to examine the impact of credential attainment on long-term student outcomes. This second report analyzes the credentials students earn in high school and their impact on students’ secondary completion, postsecondary enrollment and completion as well as wage earnings. It provides insights into the return on investment of earning a credential in Florida, Indiana and Kentucky—three states that collect rich, student-level data that includes credential attainment at the student level.

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Findings

Overall, the report finds that earning a credential is associated with positive outcomes related to high school completion, community college enrollment and completion, and wages.

Secondary Educational Outcomes

Postsecondary Educational Outcomes*

Labor Market Outcomes

*Postsecondary outcomes need additional research to determine if rigor of study or cost of higher education for credential earners has an impact on bachelor’s degree attainment.

Recommendations

Based on these findings, Where Credentials Meet the Market has identified five specific recommendations for states to consider as they design education-to-career pathways for students.

  1. Collaborate across education, business and industry, and workforce systems to develop clear definitions for industry credentials of value that are appropriate to CTE programs and pathways.
  2. Collect and report data on industry credential attainment throughout secondary and postsecondary.
  3. Connect industry credential attainment data to longitudinal datasets that include secondary, postsecondary and labor market outcomes. Publish periodic user-friendly reports to all relevant stakeholders, including parents and students.
  4. Assess the return on investment of industry credentials over time to guide decision making related to policy and CTE program offerings, alignment and quality. States can assess the value of individual credentials internally by adapting the methodology used in this report.
  5. Once these credentials are identified, provide incentives through financial incentives and accountability metrics for the attainment of industry credentials associated with positive long-term education and labor market outcomes.

Read “Where Credentials Meet the Market”


View CredentialsMatter.org

Visit CredentialsMatter.org to explore interactive maps and data tables and to learn more.

Read Report 1

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View the Credentials Matter report to examine the analysis’s approach, findings and recommendations.


Credentials Matter is an ongoing research partnership between ExcelinEd and Burning Glass Technologies designed to shed light on the landscape of industry credential data collection and alignment across the country. The project provides insight into how industry credentials earned by high school students align with workforce demand in each state to inform education system improvements and state data collection practices. Visit ExcelinEd.org/CredentialsMatter for more information.


Credentials Matter was made possible by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York. The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the authors.

Solution Areas:

College & Career Pathways

About the Author

Quentin Suffren is the Senior Advisor of Innovation Policy for ExcelinEd.

Solution Areas:

College & Career Pathways