New America Releases National Landscape for Micro-Credentials as Part of NC Partnership for Micro-Credentials

As part of its work with the digiLEARN-led NC Partnership for Micro-credentials, New America analyzed the national landscape of educator micro-credentials to determine how to best harness their potential to more successfully attract, develop, and retain great teachers. The final report, Harnessing Micro-Credentials for Teacher Growth, was release in December. Read the report. 

New America found micro-credentials to be a promising alternative to more traditional (and largely ineffective), compliance-focused teacher professional development, as well as an effective vehicle for defining and determining eligibility for some teacher roles. Whether micro-credentials will fulfill their promise will depend largely on the ability of education leaders to set an appropriately and consistently rigorous bar for quality in micro-credential offerings, as well as to ensure sufficient and appropriate implementation processes and supports outside of the micro-credential offerings themselves.

To aid in these efforts, North America summarize early best practices for ensuring quality micro-credential offerings as well as lessons learned about the necessary conditions for teachers to succeed with micro-credentials. As an added resource, New America has built a companion State Policy Guide with recommendations for policymakers looking to integrate micro-credentials into their educator professional development, license renewal, and advancement systems.