This section of the larger The State of Career Technical Education: Credentials of Value report shares findings from Advance CTE’s national research on how states approach the identification and approval of industry-recognized credentials (IRCs) and provides recommendations for states, including setting criteria and evidence for credential assessments; connecting industry demand and wages to credential approval; collaborating with state partners and employers, and navigating policymaking barriers.
Built on a 2024 national scan, a 50-state survey, and interviews with state leaders, Advance CTE’s State of Career Technical Education: Credentials of Value report takes a deep dive into the ongoing, iterative cycle of state credentialing systems: how credentials are selected, approved, re-evaluated, and aligned to real value.
This document is an excerpt from the full report; page numbers reflect the full document.
Resource Organization
Additional briefs in this report include:
- Introduction
- Revalidating Previously Approved Credentials
- Incentivizing Credentials of Value
- Collecting Data for Informed Credential Decisions
Additional Resources
The full report and individual briefs can be found on the report webpage along with the following supplemental tools:
- A Tableau dashboard to explore and compare state approaches to credentialing with access to state responses to a national survey and credential attainment data of CTE concentrators by year, state, and subgroup
- A PowerBI dashboard of commonly requested credentials by employers (using real-time labor market information from 2024) organized by Career Cluster
- An Executive Summary of the report
This serves as Advance CTE’s tenth State of Career Technical Education (CTE) report, which provides a timely deep dive into key components of CTE policy and practice informed by state CTE leaders. This report and supplemental resources are generously supported by the Joyce Foundation and Lumina Foundation.
View the accessible PDF version
