Twin enrollment is surging, providing highschool college students a solution to earn faculty credit score and cut back training prices at a time when the worth of school is underneath 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 programs, college students can face roadblocks when transferring between excessive faculties, schools or into the workforce. Rising approaches in digital requirements and verifiable credentials purpose 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 12 months. A current report from Jobs for the Future and the Faculty in Excessive College Alliance discovered that twin enrollment, notably in profession and technical education schemes, helps college students regulate 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 tutorial outcomes, increased persistence and larger commencement charges than their friends. However a significant impediment stays: Not all credit switch or depend towards levels, leaving many college students in need of their objectives.
The Credit score Switch Problem
Twin enrollment is just as helpful 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 way in which, 24 % mentioned only some or none of their credit transferred, and one in 5 needed to retake courses they’d already handed. In all, 65 % reported not less than one destructive expertise, highlighting simply how frequent and expensive these switch boundaries might be.
Why does this occur? The content material and rigor of programs can range between excessive faculties and schools, and even throughout increased training establishments. With out shared requirements or methods to confirm competencies, it’s laborious for schools to evaluate which credit actually depend.
Rising instruments that outline and confirm tutorial requirements can assist bridge these gaps. By clarifying what college students are anticipated to know and be capable to do, such frameworks make it simpler for schools to acknowledge credit and for college students to trust 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 varsity and, finally, into the workforce.
Georgia Leveraging Requirements For Readability
Georgia offers an instance of how shared requirements can enhance readability and credit score switch. The Georgia Division of Schooling (GaDOE) developed SuitCASE, the state’s digital platform for managing and distributing Okay-12 studying requirements. SuitCASE makes use of the Competencies and Educational Requirements Change (CASE) technical normal to make their tutorial requirements machine-readable and shareable throughout studying platforms and programs. As a result of CASE is extensible, the state also can align Okay-12 requirements with increased training and workforce expectations, serving to college students navigate smoother pathways from faculty to varsity and profession.
“In the end, this course of goals to exhibit that curricula might be verified digitally, making the switch of credit towards diploma completion extra dependable,” mentioned Dr. Keith Osburn, chief info officer and deputy superintendent for expertise companies at GaDOE. “Moreover, it’s important to determine and handle any gaps within the curriculum, making certain it turns into extra complete and aligned with the mandatory expertise 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 accessible in CASE format. The subsequent breakthrough will come when increased training curricula are additionally revealed in CASE. This step will allow data-informed twin enrollment, sooner progress to diploma and larger pupil mobility.
Verifiable Competencies
The College of Georgia (UGA) now offers 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 strategy follows the CLR Customary, which offers a framework for capturing and sharing pupil studying achievements.
“On the College of Georgia, we all know our graduates are already creating important expertise like vital considering, management, and communication,” mentioned Marisa Anne Pagnattaro, UGA’s vice chairman for instruction and senior vice provost for tutorial planning. “The Complete Learner File will give college students a solution to replicate on and clearly talk these competencies. By capturing the talents gained inside and outdoors the classroom, this revolutionary 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 provide 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 potential 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 programs, college students usually tend to have each credit score depend, each ability acknowledged and a clearer path to success.
Constructing pathways that work for each learner takes collaboration. Be taught extra about digital credentials, pupil mobility and digital curriculum verification levers within the 1EdTech neighborhood. Be a part of us on the 1EdTech Digital Credentials Summit in Philadelphia, February 18-20, 2026.
