The Badge Summit @ CU Boulder

8 of the top 10 skills employers demand aren't technical 😳 They're durable: communication, critical thinking, collaboration, leadership. And right now, most schools don't have a shared language or structure to develop them intentionally. That's what we're building at America Succeeds. Over the past two years, we've worked with subject matter experts, researchers, and educators nationwide to develop a PK-16 Durable Skills Framework: a research-backed, developmental structure designed to make these skills explicit, teachable, and measurable from early childhood through college graduation. We're now refining the next public version, and we need more voices at the table. If you're an educator, school/college leader, parent, researcher, or anyone who cares about preparing young people for what's next... your feedback is critical 🙏 It takes just a few minutes. You'll get to preview updated framework clusters, share your perspective, get early access to new resources, and enter to win one of several $100 Visa gift cards. --> https://lnkd.in/gYs6usMn Know someone who should see this? Tag them or share this post. Every voice makes the framework stronger, and helps learners get what they need 💪 #DurableSkills #K12Education #FutureOfWork #EdLeadership

If your certification were challenged tomorrow, would the credential speak for itself? For high-stakes programs, issuance isn’t the end of the story. 👉 On March 3, I’m speaking at the Association of Test Publishers (ATP) #InnovationsinTesting on: Beyond Issuance: Making Digital Credentials Work in the Real World 🌟 This isn’t a session about issuing more badges. It’s about what happens after the exam is passed: - Does the credential clearly communicate what was assessed? - Can employers interpret and trust it without extra explanation? -Does the signal survive into hiring and regulatory workflows? -Or does it disappear after issuance? We’ll walk through the five traits that determine whether a credential performs and what high-stakes programs are doing differently. Also, come by and say hi! 📍 Booth 119 — happy to talk about how credential structure fits into your broader assessment ecosystem. 🍷 Tuesday evening — small, invite-only gathering for certification leaders navigating trust, fraud prevention, and scale. No presentations. Just peer conversation. Message me if you’d like an invite. See you in New Orleans. #ATPConf

🚨Conference Alert🚨 Call for proposals for the 2026 Convergence conference are now open! This credential innovation convening presented by UPCEA and AACRAO is returning for its 4th year, and takes place Oct 13-15 in Washington DC. https://lnkd.in/gpF_UivE

We’re excited to share that the Pathsmith Durable Skills Framework is now publicly available in the Credential Engine Credential Registry. As new credentials, taxonomies, and skills frameworks continue to multiply, transparency and shared reference points matter more than ever. Read more about the Credential Registry and its impact here: https://lnkd.in/e2XV2X6C #DurableSkills #Pathsmith #AmericaSucceeds #CredentialEngine #WorkforceReadiness #FutureofWork #FutureofEducation #SkillsBasedHiring

Skilled in assessment, credentialling, and curriculum development? 🤔 ✅ Do you thrive with fast-paced, detail-oriented, and process-driven work?👟✅ Are you looking for a positive, uplifting, and caring work culture? 🙋♀️✅ We have a new role at the R1 University of North Carolina at Charlotte that ties these things together and YOU get to be the first one to fill it. Blaze a new trail in establishing credit for prior learning infrastructure. Apply today for this in-person role on our beautiful campus in Charlotte, NC. Application review begins February 23. #alllearningcounts #CPL #PLA https://lnkd.in/egMUXFyb

Il futuro non è collezionare badge. È trasformarli in opportunità.

Valentina Amendola shares that opening or own credentials sets the stage for a shift “from a static profile to a living, digital identity.” Valentina and her colleague Damian Molyneux are centering an important conversation that often gets lost in discussions about the features of digital credentials: the benefits of credential wallets. Adoption of credential wallets are not exciting because of convenient storage! Rather, it’s about the opportunities to power human potential based on what wallets can help users do with our wallets! Wallets will have different purposes. Some will focus on next generation skills profiles and resumes, others on self-discovery and pathway navigation. So other wallets will serve relationships within institutions such as professional development, intentional job advancement, student success and advising. We will likely all have multiple wallets. The key is that we’ll be motivated not by the badges and other credentials wallets contain but by what they can do for us by operationalizing those things!

“We don’t understand your military skills” comes across as, “You’re not good enough to work here.” According to Sytease Geib and Lauren Runco Bevilacqua, there are 400,000 manufacturing positions in the U.S. that go UNFILLED each year. And with reshoring efforts, the gap will grow to 1.9M by 2033. These are good jobs and many military veterans have the skills and competencies to enter the field and accelerate access to success. “We’ve learned that 1 in 3 have the skills to already fit,” yet less than 5% of those veterans get recruited into manufacturing. The Manufacturing Institute and SOLID are partnering with Smart Resume on Learning & Employment Records to recognize, validate, and acknowledge the skills in our military community. #DCsummit26

🏅Winning!!!!🏅 Pipetting may be among basic lab skills, however Cynthia LaBrake shares that they are essential skills to access employment in laboratory settings. Nobody wants to hire someone who then needs to acquire pipetting skills on their clock. In just a few short years, UT Austin has awarded nearly 30,000 such credentials. And students are not only using university recognition of their assets to access opportunities, at least one graduate is already reaching out to identify and hire students who have followed in their credential footsteps. This is what winning can look like! Learn more in the chapter she co-authored in the brand new book edited by Rob Moore, Ph.D. and Kent Crippen, Mapping the STEM Microcredential Landscape, Volume II https://lnkd.in/gx8kdkiZ #DCsummit26