Join the Texas 2036 Credentials Initiative

Background

There are ongoing efforts in Texas to align the state’s education efforts with existing and future workforce needs, including establishing the state’s first credential library where all available credentials delivered, issued, funded, or governed by the state will be housed and made transparently available to all Texans.

There are credentials available to Texans which may not be under the state’s purview, such as those offered by private employers, that can provide value to both Texans and employers. To broaden visibility over the universe of credentials and to ensure that state higher education and workforce development goals are being met, Texas 2036 is undertaking a project focused on gathering and creating greater access to data and information about private providers’ credentials.

Texas 2036 - together with DataSmith Solutions and Credential Engine - will support the publishing of rich, essential data from private credential issuers. These data will be published to Credential Engine’s Credential Registry, its national repository of credentials offered throughout the country (and around the world). 

What's the value of publishing to the Credential Registry?

• Inclusion in the largest Registry of linked, open and interoperable data about providers, credentials, competencies, and related essential data anywhere.
• By publishing once, your information will be available to all states, countries, and providers so more people will find the education, training, and credentials you offer.
• Credential Engine does not harvest information about credentials, so you’d have “ownership” of the publicly available and essential data about the credentials you offer in the marketplace.
• More tools are being developed that will consume and utilize these data, including which in-demand credentials meet the current workforce needs of employers, and your information needs to be accurate and well reflected in those tools.
• With your credentials in the Library, you’ll have the ability to publish your own pathways across the credentials you offer, as well as with credentials from other providers and credentials that precede and succeed yours.
• Your credentials will also be more easily included in the emerging number of “Learning and Employment Records” (LERs) around the country, and around the world.
• The technology behind the Library ensures that you can publish and preserve each version of your credentials as they evolve and change.
• The technology also supports durable historic records of your credentials over time so that they are always available for inclusion in and association with learner records.
• Your use of APIs to publish to the Library will ensure that your data always remain updated, complete, and current.
• In sum, including your – and all – credentials as public, linked, open data empowers everyone looking for education and training options with the data they need to make well-informed decisions.