Merit + Credential Engine: An Ecosystem of Nationwide Credentialing

In order to give states the digital credentialing tools to build a system for standards-based workforce reciprocity between states, Merit and Credential Engine have partnered to ensure that transparent, verified, digital credentials lead to jobs.

Merit works with public and private sector organizations, including state government agencies, to standardize and centralize digital records for professional licenses and qualifications. Now, Merit’s partners have the opportunity to seamlessly incorporate Credential Engine’s Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) that captures, links, updates, and shares up-to-date information about credentials for easy organization and searchability.

Credential Engine provides a suite of technologies that support credential and competency transparency and interoperability. The organization also operates the Credential Registry, a cloud-based library that collects, maintains, and connects information on all types of credentials, and lets individuals explore competencies, learning outcomes, up-to-date market values, and career pathways. By utilizing Credential Engine’s CTDL, a common language to describe credential information, Credential Engine and Merit enable universal credential comparability for individuals and give them autonomy to make the most of their life’s achievements.

“Nationwide reciprocity is critical, but it only achieves its purpose if the systems we rely on work properly,” said Scott Cheney, Executive Director of Credential Engine. “Integrating these technologies will help clarify a path toward new opportunities for credentialed workers and students, and improve state and nationwide processes moving forward.”

Credential Engine and Merit have also worked closely in recent months on the formation of the ASPIRE (Alliance for States Providing Interoperable Reciprocity) coalition, which seeks to advance a solution for interstate occupational license reciprocity for military servicemembers and their spouses. The pair of companies likewise collaborated to digitize The Washington Technology Industry Association’s (WTIA) Apprenti journeyman card to modernize and streamline the apprenticeship program through rapid credential verification.

Ultimately, the credential interoperability advanced by Merit and Credential Engine will help clear pathways for qualified individuals to identify and pursue career opportunities based on their verified skills and abilities. While digital credentialing creates many efficiencies for licensing organizations and citizens, the 50-state patchwork of requirements can create confusion and missed opportunities for both state agencies and individuals who must navigate discrepancies across state lines. By issuing merits with Credential Engine’s standard language, such discrepancies can be seamlessly overcome. This is particularly important as states build more and more reciprocity agreements, which ensure that workers with certain credentials in one state are able to transfer them to an equivalent certification in another.

Learn more about Credential Engine at credentialengine.org.