Credential Engine Receives Grant from Walton Family Foundation Centered on K-12

WASHINGTON, July 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Walton Family Foundation has awarded Credential Engine a two-year, $400,000 grant to extend and enhance its work on credential transparency at the secondary school level. The focus of this work will be to publish essential information about secondary school credentials and competencies to the Credential Registry with the goal of both better describing rich pathways to and through postsecondary education, training and employment, and improving accountability systems and approaches. In the end, students, school administrators, local and state leaders, and employers will have better information available as linked, open and interoperable data to improve their ability to make informed decisions.

Credential Engine will identify and work with a select number of states under this grant, but anticipates expansion of its credential transparency work in the secondary education space quickly.

Scott Cheney, CEO of Credential Engine, believes "secondary education information is critical to achieving the promise of full credential transparency. To best understand and navigate education and employment pathways available to everyone, we need secondary school data to be transparent and in the Credential Registry, as they are the starting points of most pathways."

With this grant, Credential Engine will continue building awareness and partnerships across K-12. This includes coalition-building between states so they can leverage their secondary school credential data to advance transparent, rigorous pathways and accountability systems. This also facilitates the integration of K-12 data with other state and employer data systems to create a more holistic understanding of pathways from preschool to college and into the workforce—also known as P-20W.

"This grant allows us to build another avenue through which to advance credential transparency across state systems," says Jennifer Briones, Project Manager for Credential Engine. "As we grow our state partnerships across the country, opportunities like these help us bring more people to the table and create resources to guide them forward."

If you have any questions about this strand of work or want to get involved, please contact Jennifer Briones at [email protected].

About Credential Engine:
Credential Engine is a non-profit whose mission is to map the credential landscape with clear and consistent information, fueling the creation of resources that empower people to find the pathways that are best for them. To achieve its mission, Credential Engine has partnerships with over half of U.S. states focused on advancing credential transparency.

About the Walton Family Foundation:
The Walton Family Foundation is a family-led foundation that tackles tough social and environmental problems with urgency and a long-term approach to create access to opportunity for people and communities.

SOURCE Credential Engine