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Postsecondary education and credentials are key to economic mobility for individuals and economic competitiveness for our nation. Although the economic return to credentials varies significantly by field of study, generally workers with higher levels of education have higher wages, work more hours, and suffer lower rates and shorter durations of unemployment. As routine jobs are giving way to work environments necessitating higher-order communication and analytical skills, employers are requiring existing workers to upgrade their skills to stay employed. They are also using educational and occupational credentials in the hiring process to find the most qualified workers and as a screen for adaptability and trainability. Driven by economic mobility and competitiveness concerns, policy leaders at all levels are setting goals for increasing postsecondary credential attainment. States are also actively engaged in or moving toward performance-based funding for higher education that rewards colleges for improving the rate at which students complete college and attain marketable credentials. Another driver of interest in stackable credentials is that policymakers are seeking ways to document the skills veterans learned during military service to help them reintegrate into the domestic workforce. The U.S. Department of Labor defines a stackable credential as one that is "part of a sequence of credentials that can be accumulated over time to build up an individual's qualifications and help them to move along a career pathway or up a career ladder to different and potentially higher-paying jobs." As discussed in this paper, states and colleges are achieving stackability in a variety of ways to optimize credential attainment and build multiple on and off ramps to postsecondary credentials for people as they prepare to enter the workforce, aim to upgrade their skills to keep a job, advance to a better job, or move from one field of work to another. The following are appended: (1) Credentials; (2) Figures; and (3) Acknowledgements.

A study examined state initiatives for industry-based skill standards and credentials. Officials in 19 states were interviewed, case studies of programs in 3 states (Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Texas) were conducted, and focus group discussions were held with 25 individuals. State skill standards were generally found to be tied to broader efforts to reform the education system in general and vocational education in particular. The forces driving the development of standards and credentials varied by state; however, business and industry involvement proved critical in all states studied. The methodologies used to develop skill standards have drawn heavily on the DACUM (Developing a Curriculum) process and the work of the Vocational-Technical Education Consortium of States. Many states have already undertaken major initiatives to develop assessment processes, and many states are planning to implement statewide processes that would involve the use of performance-based assessments (including portfolios) together with traditional written tests. No state has yet developed a statewide credentialing process, and development efforts across states and at the national level have been fragmented. (A 10-item bibliography is provided. State-by-state phone survey results and the three case studies are appended along with a list of focus group participants.) (MN)