Twin enrollment is surging, providing highschool college students a method to earn faculty credit score and cut back schooling prices at a time when the worth of faculty is below debate. However variations in requirements and credit score switch practices imply some credit don’t depend, leaving college students with incomplete pathways to levels or careers.
As participation rises, the problem is not only entry, however alignment. With out shared requirements and interoperable credentialing methods, college students can face roadblocks when shifting between excessive colleges, faculties or into the workforce. Rising approaches in digital requirements and verifiable credentials intention to create clearer pathways and assist make sure that each credit score has worth.
Promise of Twin Enrollment Packages
Twin enrollment has grown quickly, permitting college students to earn faculty credit score as early as their sophomore yr. A current report from Jobs for the Future and the Faculty in Excessive Faculty Alliance discovered that twin enrollment, notably in profession and technical teaching programs, helps college students alter to college-level work and real-world expectations in a supportive setting.
College students who earn substantial faculty credit score earlier than commencement are inclined to have higher educational outcomes, larger persistence and higher commencement charges than their friends. However a serious impediment stays: Not all credit switch or depend towards levels, leaving many college students in need of their targets.
The Credit score Switch Problem
Twin enrollment is just as precious because the credit college students can really use. If a university or college doesn’t acknowledge or settle for credit earned in highschool, college students can face disappointment and added prices.
A 2025 Public Agenda survey discovered that almost 40 % of respondents had tried to switch faculty credit score. Of these, 58 % misplaced some credit alongside the best way, 24 % mentioned just a few or none of their credit transferred, and one in 5 needed to retake courses they’d already handed. In all, 65 % reported a minimum of one destructive expertise, highlighting simply how frequent and expensive these switch limitations may be.
Why does this occur? The content material and rigor of programs can differ between excessive colleges and faculties, and even throughout larger schooling establishments. With out shared requirements or methods to confirm competencies, it’s laborious for faculties to evaluate which credit actually depend.
Rising instruments that outline and confirm educational requirements will help bridge these gaps. By clarifying what college students are anticipated to know and be capable of do, such frameworks make it simpler for faculties to acknowledge credit and for college students to believe that their work will depend. Approaches just like the TrustEd Credential Framework use digital requirements and verifiable credentials to create extra predictable pathways from highschool to school and, in the end, into the workforce.
Georgia Leveraging Requirements For Readability
Georgia gives an instance of how shared requirements can enhance readability and credit score switch. The Georgia Division of Training (GaDOE) developed SuitCASE, the state’s digital platform for managing and distributing Ok-12 studying requirements. SuitCASE makes use of the Competencies and Educational Requirements Trade (CASE) technical customary to make their educational requirements machine-readable and shareable throughout studying platforms and methods. As a result of CASE is extensible, the state may also align Ok-12 requirements with larger schooling and workforce expectations, serving to college students navigate smoother pathways from college to school and profession.
“Finally, this course of goals to reveal that curricula may be verified digitally, making the switch of credit towards diploma completion extra dependable,” mentioned Dr. Keith Osburn, chief data officer and deputy superintendent for know-how companies at GaDOE. “Moreover, it’s important to establish and tackle any gaps within the curriculum, guaranteeing it turns into extra complete and aligned with the required abilities and diploma necessities that result in higher-paying jobs and extra fulfilling careers.”
CASE is already broadly adopted: 19 states host their very own CASE servers, and all 50 states have core requirements out there in CASE format. The subsequent breakthrough will come when larger schooling curricula are additionally printed in CASE. This step will allow data-informed twin enrollment, sooner progress to diploma and higher pupil mobility.
Verifiable Competencies
The College of Georgia (UGA) now gives each pupil with a Complete Learner File (CLR), a digital credential that integrates coursework with co-curricular actions. This document showcases validated competencies and achievements in a customizable, visible format, serving to college students talk their strengths to high schools, employers and graduate applications. The method follows the CLR Normal, which gives a framework for capturing and sharing pupil studying achievements.
“On the College of Georgia, we all know our graduates are already creating important abilities like crucial pondering, management, and communication,” mentioned Marisa Anne Pagnattaro, UGA’s vice chairman for instruction and senior vice provost for educational planning. “The Complete Learner File will give college students a method to mirror on and clearly talk these competencies. By capturing the abilities gained inside and outdoors the classroom, this progressive digital credential will make it simpler to convey their worth to future employers.”
By structuring pupil achievements in a verifiable, standardized format, the college is laying a basis for aligning with broader requirements frameworks
Making Each Credit score Depend
Twin enrollment ought to supply greater than only a head begin; it ought to present actual progress towards a university diploma or profession. When credit are transportable and credentials are clear, college students don’t have to fret about retaking courses or beginning over at a brand new establishment.
Rising improvements make it attainable to construct clear, skill-based education-to-career pathways that empower learners and strengthen the workforce. As extra states and universities undertake data-informed, standards-aligned methods, college students usually tend to have each credit score depend, each talent acknowledged and a clearer path to success.
Constructing pathways that work for each learner takes collaboration. Study extra about digital credentials, pupil mobility and digital curriculum verification levers within the 1EdTech group. Be part of us on the 1EdTech Digital Credentials Summit in Philadelphia, February 18-20, 2026.
