Closing the Data Gap for Certifications
One topic continues to surface through Workcred activities and projects: the growing demand for data on the outcomes of certifications and the individuals who have earned them. This theme is not only emerging in research, but we are also hearing it increasingly from employers as well as policymakers who are pressing certification bodies to demonstrate the value of their credentials. They want to know whether certifications are valued by employers, and whether credential holders obtain employment, see increased wages, and advance along their career pathways. For certification bodies, the message is clear: demonstrating value is not a nice-to-have, it is a necessity in remaining relevant in the workforce policy environment that is increasingly tying funding and recognition to outcomes data.
Despite their prevalence in the workforce, there is no complete, centralized, third-party source of data on the outcomes or impact of certifications. What exists is often fragmented, ranging from self-reported data from certification bodies to individual state efforts, with only eight states currently reporting credential outcomes.[i] Rarely do these disparate efforts paint the full picture of the certification holder’s journey – from the time they become a candidate, sit for the exam, earn their certification, and all that occurs after. We can find out whether someone passed or failed, but we often do not have information about what happens after someone has earned a certification.
The certification community must become active contributors to this data ecosystem. The pressure to participate is coming from all sides. At the state level, we are seeing the rise of “credentials of value” frameworks that are being used to inform workforce initiatives and funding decisions. As of 2024, 44 states had generated their own list, and 34 of those states have a formal process for approving credentials.[ii] Texas moved full steam ahead after passing House Bill 8, tying community college funding in part to student attainment of credentials aligned with workforce outcomes.[iii] And Texas is not alone; 35 states incentivize credential attainment using state and federal funding, and 26 states have integrated their credentials of value lists into their state accountability systems.[iv] As efforts expand, states will rely on data sources readily available to identify credentials that demonstrate value. If certification bodies’ data is not part of those systems, their credentials risk being invisible to the very data systems that policymakers are using to make workforce decisions, and they miss opportunities to expand outreach and increase engagement with potential candidates.
Get More Involved
Partner with colleges. In cases where certifications can be embedded within academic programs, colleges and universities want to know whether their students passed the exam. By providing the data that colleges need, certification bodies make it easier for institutions to adopt and integrate certifications into their academic programs, opening doors for more engagement with candidates. Certification bodies like CompTIA offer a Voucher Verification Tool that allows institutions to purchase exam vouchers on behalf of their students to track pass/fail results – doing this enables the institution to see the exam results of their learners.[v] This is a big step forward to the kind of data visibility that could be used to improve programs and demonstrate outcomes.
Use the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL). Credential Engine’s CTDL offers shared language for designing credential information in a way that search engines and data systems can understand. Certification bodies can use the CTDL to describe their credentials, making that information searchable and comparable across systems, which is also a step toward having credentials that are visible to state and federal data infrastructures. Improving discoverability increases the likelihood of candidates encountering certifications in state or academic institutions’ databases, thereby expanding the reach and strengthening the candidate pipeline.
Engage with national data initiatives. As states build data systems to better understand credential outcomes, they rely on data that can be linked across education and workforce systems. Emerging efforts to establish national data trusts for non-degree credentials reflect this shift toward connecting credential data to wage and employment outcomes. Initiatives like what CredLens is doing represent one model for how this kind of infrastructure is being built at scale.[vi] By engaging in these national initiatives, certification bodies will be better positioned to be represented in analyses that inform workforce policy decisions and funding priorities, while also gaining access to outcomes data certification bodies could not otherwise collect on their own. The insights garnered could further be used to strengthen employer partnerships and improve marketing and recruiting strategies.
Data needs to become a real priority. Organizations need to allocate resources to develop and support robust data plans. For decades, certification bodies have avoided collecting and sharing data due to privacy concerns—which has led to a problem of restricted infrastructure, limited staffing capacity, and lack of data to fully engage in these efforts. But in order to remain competitive, this needs to change.
There is no doubt that certification bodies have built credibility over the years—through rigorous standards, accreditation, and consistent exam quality. That foundation matters, but it is no longer enough. States and policymakers are not asking if the credential was developed well, they are asking for the results: they are asking what happened to the people who attained the credential. With more than one million credentials on the market, data is no longer the differentiator; it is the price of admission.
[i] Association for Career and Technical Education (2025). State of CTE credentials: 2025 full report. https://careertech.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/StateofCTE_Credentials_2025_FullReport.pdf.
[ii] Association for Career and Technical Education (2025). State of CTE credentials: 2025 full report. https://careertech.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/StateofCTE_Credentials_2025_FullReport.pdf.
[iii] Texas Association of Community Colleges (2023). 88th Texas Legislature: House Bill 8. https://tacc.org/sites/default/files/2023-06/hb_8_one_pager_final.pdf.
[iv] Association for Career and Technical Education (2025). State of CTE credentials: 2025 full report. https://careertech.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/StateofCTE_Credentials_2025_FullReport.pdf.
[v] CompTIA (n.d.). “How can I access and use the voucher verification tool to check student exam results?” https://help.comptia.org/hc/en-us/articles/38074718746260-How-Can-I-Access-and-Use-the-Voucher-Verification-Tool-to-Check-Student-Exam-Results.
[vi] Tom Hilliard and Michelle Van Noy (April 17, 2025). “Opening the black box of nondegree credentials: The CredLens experiment.” Work Shift. https://workshift.org/opening-the-black-box-of-nondegree-credentials-the-credlens-experiment/.
