How micro-credentials, learning-employment records, and digital wallets are remaking what “credential” means.
The high school diploma and the bachelor’s degree have long stood as the unquestioned gold standards of American education. For generations they signified that an individual had followed a prescribed path, logged the required seat time, and emerged with an accredited document of accomplishment. But that academic social contract is faltering, prompting a fresh look at what an education credential truly represents.
Consider higher education. A New York Times profile highlights Katie Gallagher, a former sales and marketing director with a four-year degree who has been unemployed for nearly a year despite applying to more than 3,000 jobs. “I have checked all the boxes of ‘success’ my entire life: went to college, got a degree, worked toward a career,” she says.
Research backs her experience. A recent Annenberg Institute analysis shows that the traditional college pathway credential choice model falls short in matching students’ experiences. So conventional credentialing systems must be more accommodating to diverse entry points and flexible progression rather than a single, standardized route.
Together, these signals point to a broader public unease. Many Americans now question whether the traditional markers of a diploma and college degree still reflect the knowledge and skills needed for success.
A recent Gallup poll reveals that Americans’ confidence in K-12 education has reached a record low. Only 35% say they are satisfied with the quality of education that students receive, a decrease of eight points in a single year. Nearly three-quarters believe schools are headed in the wrong direction. Another Gallup survey shows just 35% now call a college degree “very important,” a stunning decline from 70% in 2013. And a 2023 Wall Street Journal/NORC poll reports that 56% of Americans think a college degree is “not worth the cost,” a reversal from 2013 when 53% thought it was.
These shifting attitudes raise an unsettling question. Do the diploma and the degree still serve as reliable signals of readiness for work and life? Patrick O’Donnell, a correspondent for The 74, writing on the growth of career certificates, says, “High school and college diplomas, long viewed as a catch-all verification of a student’s skills and aptitude, aren’t carrying the same weight as before.”
Meanwhile, the credential landscape is exploding. According to Credential Engine, the U.S. offers roughly 1.1 million distinct secondary and postsecondary credentials. More than 650,000 of them come from non-academic providers and include digital badges, industry certifications, professional licenses, apprenticeships, and other credentials. The rise of these new types of credentials, certifications, and verifiable digital records is no mere supplement to the old system. It is redefining how skills are documented, how opportunity flows, and who benefits.
K-12 And Beyond
School districts across the country are experimenting with micro-credentials for students and teachers. The most commonly awarded to students are tied to career and technical education (CTE). They include certificates, badges, and other credentials in various fields, ranging from cybersecurity to advanced manufacturing. K-12 educators can also earn credentials for professional development. The National Education Association now offers members over 175 micro-credentials that are “designed by educators for educators.”
Higher education is also expanding the use of these approaches. The Coursera Micro-Credentials Impact Report 2025 surveyed higher education leaders and other stakeholders. It reports that 51% of higher education institutions currently offer microcredentials, with 53% of these offering them for academic credit and 82% planning to do so within the next five years.
Parallel to these efforts is the development of learning-employment records, open credential registries, and digital wallets, which enable individual learners to maintain portable records of their credentials. Western Governors University Student Achievement Wallet exemplifies this trend. Nearly 600,000 students and graduates can now collect and share degrees, licenses, military training, and volunteer experience in a single, verified digital portfolio. Employers see not only a diploma but a skills map.
Third Sector and Education Strategy Group has issued a report on The Future Is Portable, which describes the essential ingredients for such an approach. It includes case studies on integrating these portable, digital approaches into workforce education and training systems.
Quality And Accountability Is The Next Frontier
The rapid growth of these credentials brings a predictable challenge: ensuring that they truly have value. The 74reports that while the number of career-focused credentials earned by U.S. high-schoolers has surged over the past five years, “many have little or no labor-market value.” Students proudly stack badges only to discover employers don’t recognize them. A Burning Glass and ExcelinED analysis found that only 18% of current CTE credentials are in demand by employers.
Higher education faces similar issues. A Chronicle of Higher Education investigation warns that a “wild west” of postsecondary noncredit certificates is expanding far faster than the guardrails to ensure value.
The lesson is clear. Volume is not value.
Credentials must be tied to labor-market demand and measurable outcomes. Otherwise, well-meaning programs will waste time and money while giving students false confidence. States and accreditors are only beginning to design standards for outcomes, assessment, and consumer protection. Without them, credential inflation—or the proliferation of outright junk credentials—could occur.
A recent white paper by the Burning Glass Institute and the American Enterprise Institute argues that every credential—whether a degree or a microcredential—should be judged by evidence of earnings, employment, and career progression. Their analysis calls for common data standards and public reporting so learners and employers can tell which credentials truly “pay off.” It concludes:
“The right credentials can be transformative. Compared to bottom-tier options, credentials in the top decile yield annual wage gains of nearly $5,000, increase career switching success sixfold, and boost the probability of promotion in the earner’s current field 17-fold. These outcomes serve as proof that well-designed programs can open doors to life-changing opportunities.”
States and national organizations are responding to this call for quality and accountability. Here are three examples.
- Advance CTE has produced a series of reports on Credentials of Value. They have identified the main elements of what a state data system would contain, including how credentials of value are selected, approved, re-evaluated, and aligned with workplace requirements. Currently, only eight states can track the jobs students secure and the earnings associated with a given credential.
- The New England Commission of Higher Education, which now accredits more than 200 two- and four-year postsecondary institutions, has begun a program to accredit eight of its members that offer noncredit certificates. This accreditation focuses on the institution rather than its individual programs. It will expand this effort in 2026 to any of its member institutions.
- Education Testing Service has created Futurenav Compass, an artificial intelligence-powered platform to help students set and navigate career goals. The tool combines skill assessment, career navigation, real-time labor market information, and connections to internships and jobs. ETS describes it as a “GPS for the skills economy,” offering students up-to-the-minute pathways from learning to employment. The California State University System is currently piloting the platform.
A Better Credential Future
Five foundational elements can help ensure that credentials of value expand responsibly and serve learners, employers, and communities alike:
- Shared language and quality control. Not all micro-credentials are created equal. Without standard definitions and rigorous assessments that provide credible evidence of knowledge and skills, the market will be overwhelmed by noise rather than quality.
- Portability. Credentials must be recognized across institutions, industries, and geographic boundaries. They have little meaning if colleges, training providers, and employers fail to honor them.
- Fair access. Residents of underserved communities should have easy access to education and training programs. That includes reliable broadband, career navigation, and wrap-around supports such as childcare and transportation.
- Learner ownership. Student privacy and agency are paramount. Learners should control their records, decide when and how to share them, and know exactly how their data is used.
- Employer engagement. Employers need to be partners from the outset, not an afterthought. Their involvement is essential to shifting hiring practices from pedigree to proof of competence.
Together, these principles are the foundation for building a transparent and trustworthy credential system.
Reframing Not Replacing
The diploma is not dead. It remains a powerful social signal and an essential gateway to opportunity. But its monopoly is over. As learners, employers, and other education-to-workforce stakeholders and institutions embrace portable and verifiable recognition of skills, the very definition of “credential” is changing.
If we build wisely—anchoring new credentials in labor-market value, enforcing transparency, and protecting access for all individuals—the result will be a more open and accurate talent marketplace. If we build carelessly, we risk a noisy landscape of meaningless credentials and deepened inequality.
The era of show me your diploma is giving way to show me what you can do—and prove it.