This chapter summarizes trends, themes, and lessons from this volume and key credentialing initiatives supported by Lumina Foundation.

Urban community colleges fulfill a critical role in metropolitan areas. These institutions are often large by design, with campuses in various communities and neighborhoods so that the institution may fulfill its open access mission across a metropolitan area. This article addresses three emerging initiatives that enable the urban community…

This chapter describes the role microcredentials can play within the context of guided pathways and degree completion, illustrated through three case studies of community colleges and systems.

This chapter proposes a glossary of terms related to the market for new credentials, based on established and emerging consensus definitions.

This chapter provides an overview of the issues that arise when trying to assess quality of credentials in the new credentialing market and discusses elements of an outcomes-based quality assurance that is evolving.

Student Success Centers (SSC) belong to a national network dedicated to increasing the number of students earning postsecondary credentials. SSCs use a variety of methods and strategies to help states within the network achieve these goals. This chapter focuses on practical ways for student success centers to help colleges navigate the…

This chapter focuses on the overall themes, priorities, and "calls to action" that emerged from a discussion and reflection among community college leaders on the chapters in this volume.

This chapter introduces the drivers for change in the credentialing market that has arisen in the new era of work and learning. It analyzes the factors that are driving interest in shorter competency-based credentials, and identifies emerging trends that community colleges might consider when structuring their credentials.

This article provides an overview of community colleges as an access point to higher education, specifically for individuals without a high school diploma. The article highlights how one community college system is addressing both postsecondary access and workforce demands through policy and practice change. The Louisiana Community and Technical…

The Student Success Center Network (SSCN) is dedicated to advancing racial justice and economic mobility by dramatically and equitably increasing the number of students earning postsecondary credentials with labor market value. Managed by Jobs for the Future, the SSCN has worked since 2012 to develop, implement, and scale student success…

This chapter explores the evolution of technology industry credentials in a rapidly changing digital skills landscape. The authors explore two interrelated case studies: the benefits of IBM's development of its own educational programs into digital badges, and the partnership between IBM and Northeastern University that articulates these industry…

The Obama administration and the Lumina Foundation have been the principal drivers focusing the nation on increasing the number of high-quality degrees and credentials. Tuning, a faculty-driven process for defining clear student learning outcomes--what a student should know, understand, and be able to do--is one of the ways to support this goal.

Community colleges have a storied history of successfully providing pathways and access to credentials and degrees through various models of delivery and in diverse programs of study. Until recently, the highest degree offered by community colleges was the associate degree. During the past decade, major changes have occurred in the landscape of…

For the past 45 years, New Jersey community colleges have helped thousands of students pursue higher education to gain skills, earn college credentials, and better their lives. Today, New Jersey's 19 community colleges enroll over 400,000 students across 70 campuses, fulfilling community colleges' traditional core mission: granting access to…

Shifting Gears was launched in 2007 by the Joyce Foundation, a Chicago-based organization focused on improving the quality of life of citizens residing in the Great Lakes region of the United States. The primary goal of Shifting Gears is to increase the number of low-skilled, low-income Midwestern adults who obtain college-level occupational…