A credential is a documented award by a responsible and authorized body that has determined that an individual has achieved specific learning outcomes relative to a given standard. Credential in this context is an umbrella term that includes degrees, diplomas, licenses, certificates, badges, and professional/industry certifications.
In the 21st Century, learners are utilizing a mix of credentials to showcase their skills and knowledge to employers and educators alike. Some credentials are connected, others are stackable but all hold value in the economy for learners, institutions, and workforce. With an increasingly diverse learner population, learning organizations, policymakers, and the workforce must be able to understand and support and verify a wide variety of credentials in order to fill the demands for hiring and continuing education.
Alternative credentials are educational credentials other than full degrees that have labor market value. Examples include industry certification, licensures, and certificates. More recent innovations such as microcredentials or digital badges also fall within this category.

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Additional Resources
- Advocate for Competency-Based Credentials - Corporation for Skilled Workforce
- Clarifying Competency Based Education Terms - American Council for Education and Blackboard
- Competency-Based Education and Extended Transcripts - IMS Global Learning Consortium
- Connecting Credentials - Lumina Foundation
- Connected Credentials and Competencies: New Insights - American Council on Education
- Education Micro-Credentials 101: Why Do We Need Badges? - Forbes
- Education Design Lab's Tee up the Skills
- Degree Qualifications Profile
- How Credential Transparency Can Drive Lifelong Learning Access and Impact - The evoLLLution
- How the Value of Educational Credentials Is and Isn't Changing - Harvard Business Review
- The Right Signals Initiative - American Association of Community Colleges
- Skills and Labor Market Institutional Case Studies - Burning Glass
- The Skills Currency and Higher Education's Call to Action - The evoLLLution
- What You Need to Know About Micro-credentials Open Badges - Digital Promise