⬇️ Inside this issue:

• Thania shares her spicy thoughts on schools not acknowledging skills outside the classroom

• The small business cheat sheet for skills-first hiring in 90 days

• Which mug deserves to live in your hand (and on our merch table)?

INTERESTING READS

👩🏽‍🎓 Building campus coalitions is becoming the secret sauce behind LER momentum in higher ed.

📱 iOS 26 is getting serious about credentials. Support for digital identity could be a game-changer for interoperability.

🛠️ SkillSync just rewired the way skills-based hiring works, and SmartResume is leading the charge.

🧠 Inclusive leadership isn’t what you think. Here’s why most leaders miss the mark.

EDUCATION

Sorry kiddo, your school doesn’t value your talents

I recently saw this mom post on Facebook about a young boy who built a working computer using Minecraft-based coding and sensors. He used a kid-friendly Piper Computer Kit to assemble a wooden case, hook up circuits, and program basic functions.

My heart swelled. This was a kid learning by doing—following his curiosity, not a curriculum. And honestly, it hit close to home.

When I was 12, I built my first newsletter. It was a hand-coded HTML zine that I manually emailed via AOL (and that I selflessly hope never sees the light of the day again).

I stayed up late tweaking hex codes, teaching myself Photoshop, and designing layouts. By 8th grade, I was basically a graphic designer, writer, and editor.

And yet, none of it showed up on my report card.

There was no checkbox for “newsletter publishing” or “basic HTML.” I was an honor roll student who struggled with algebra, was often absent from school (thanks, undiagnosed ADHD), and constantly felt like I was dumber than my peers.

The things I was actually good at—nobody at school recognized. Nobody celebrated.

Because unless his teacher specifically asks, his school probably won’t acknowledge the very real, very valuable skills he just demonstrated. He’ll go back to class, maybe take a quiz on long division, and no one will know he’s halfway to becoming a junior engineer.

Skills are being learned, but not counted

Kids today are learning everywhere. They're coding games in Roblox, running Etsy shops, editing YouTube videos, and learning new languages on Duolingo. They're building marketable, transferable skills on their own time, but those skills rarely get documented. Let alone recognized.

If you’re part of the Learning and Employment Records (LER) world, you already know this. But if this space is new to you, here's the truth: we’re wildly underestimating the value of informal learning—and missing a major opportunity to credit it.

A Brookings Institution report put it plainly: when schools overlook learning that occurs outside traditional classrooms, we undervalue talent and limit access to opportunities.

Translation? When kids realize their out-of-school skills “don’t count,” they start to believe they don’t count either.

Rethinking how we give credit

So, how do we start giving credit where credit is due? By rethinking credentials.

Micro-credentials and digital badges are short, assessed, industry or standards-aligned pieces of recognition that signal a person has mastered a specific skill, whether it was acquired online, in a workshop, or through life experience.

Instead of recognizing a full course, a micro-credential might validate something more granular and observable, like “HTML & CSS Basics” or “Minecraft Engineering Level 1” and stack those individual skills and competencies as a learner learns and demonstrates their skills, competencies, and abilities. Each award, often shown as digital badges, is immediately verifiable and shareable, indicating who issued them, what they mean, and what evidence supports them.

Taking it a step further, digital badges often stack individual skills and competency awards along intentionally scaffolded learning pathways that demonstrate a broader skill set, such as "Digital Design Basics" or "Intro to Python." These individual awards accumulate into larger credentials and learning pathway progression, and some innovative schools are even granting course credit and recognizing prior learning so learners never have to start from scratch.

And most importantly, digital badges also help individuals more effectively showcase and communicate their unique traditional and nontraditional skills, competencies, and experiences to employers, while helping them orient, navigate, and discover their individual lifelong learning and employment pathway.

Now, imagine if our hero, who built a Minecraft computer, earned a badge for one or more of their demonstrated and assessed skills and competencies? Suddenly, that young learner has a verifiable credential they could share with teachers, future schools, and even employers down the line.

Competency aside, think of the confidence he would gain. 😍

He’s not just the “nerdy kid who builds computers” on the weekend. He is now credentialed for it; his passions are validated, and his accomplishments are celebrated.

So what can we do today?

We have the tools. Now we need buy-in from across the board:

• Parents & Caregivers: If your kid builds a game or starts a business, celebrate it like you would an A+. Talk to their teachers. Inquire about community service, elective credit, or dual enrollment opportunities. Research programs that offer digital badges or micro-credentials for out-of-school learning.

• Educators & Schools: Find ways to acknowledge students’ independent learning. Could the Minecraft build count as a STEM club project? Can a student use a summer coding camp toward tech credit? Highlight these accomplishments—even if just in a newsletter or assembly.

• EdTech Companies: If you make tools like Piper or host learning communities, build credentials into the user experience. Issue badges for completed work, align them with open standards, and partner with schools to help them recognize the achievements of their learners.

• Policymakers & Leaders: Create policies that support Learning and Employment Records and credential recognition. Fund pilot programs. Encourage schools to recognize learning from boot camps, badges, online platforms, and other non-traditional forms of learning. Push for equity in credential access.

Asking better questions

I want a world where no little Thania or 10-year-old hardware engineer goes unseen, where the badges we earn show what we actually know, not just what we sat through in class. Where every skill counts and every skill is counted.

When we formally value learning in all its forms (ie: school, self-taught, or side-hustle) we give students agency. We show them their passions matter. And we build a workforce that’s not just credentialed, but truly skilled.

Let’s stop asking, “How do we make kids learn more?” and start asking, “How do we recognize what they already know?”

GIVE US YOUR OPINION

Which mug design do you like best?

We’re gearing up to attend Badge Summit in Boulder, CO, next month and working on bringing some swag to the conference! But we’re not sure which mug design we like best, so we thought we’d ask you for your opinion!

HIRING

The 90 day skill-first hiring plan for small business owners

Hiring is challenging right now, especially for small and mid-sized businesses without deep pockets or significant brand recognition. The good news? There’s a better, fairer, and more precise way to find top talent: skills-based hiring backed by verifiable digital credentials.

This approach skips the pedigree and goes straight to performance—what someone can actually do.

Thanks to platforms like Credly, Canvas Credentials, POK, VerifyEd, and Accredible, digital badges now come equipped with metadata that indicates who issued them, what they represent, and how it was earned. One click. Total clarity.

And the stats? 🔥

• 90% of companies say they make better hires based on skills over degrees, and 94% say skills-based hires outperform their degreed peers (Forbes).

• 83% of employers prefer verifying skills through digital badges (VerifyEd).

• Over 74 million Open Badges have been issued—a 73% jump since 2020 (1EdTech).

Try This: A 30-60-90 Day Game Plan

So, how can your business ride this wave? Break it down into three phases using our roadmap.

At the end of the day, shifting to skills-based hiring isn’t about overhauling everything overnight—it’s about opening new doors. Start small, stay curious, and let skills lead the way.

TRAVEL TOOL

Business travel that’s actually easy to manage, for everrrr’body

With all the local, state, and national conferences and gatherings focused on the exciting and ever-changing learning and employment record space, there’s nothing more frustrating than booking travel for your company and having it turn into a huge time drain. Switching between tabs, forwarding confirmations, chasing receipts... it shouldn’t be this complicated.

Navan makes it easy for you, your team, and your bottom line.

It’s an all-in-one platform where employees can book flights, hotels, and rental cars (yes, with their loyalty perks), while you stay in control of spend and policy.

Here’s why teams love it:

• Bookings stay within policy automatically—no need to micromanage

• Built-in rewards encourage employees to save the company money

• Group travel? Guest bookings? Executive assistants? Covered.

• You get full visibility into spend, plus real-time insights

• And when something goes sideways, 24/7 VIP support is just a call or chat away

If you’re still booking travel the hard way, there’s a better option.

✈️ Try Navan and make travel easier for everyone. 

BY THE NUMBERS

By 2030, 39% of workers’ skills will be outdated or transformed.

_{Source: World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2025}

LER VOCABULARY

Skills Library

noun

A centralized and structured compilation of skills data, qualifications, and attributes that helps create a unified understanding of skills across employment needs, curriculum development, job architecture, and competency frameworks.

☕ Thania’s translation: “This one is pretty straightforward. It’s kind of like Spotify for skills. Like a well-tagged playlist where employers, educators, and platforms can all hit "play" on the same tune—no more remixing job titles and guessing what a “digital ninja” actually does.”

🧠 Robert’s take: “Skills libraries make sure everyone’s speaking the same language when they say, ‘we need someone with critical thinking skills.’ Skills libraries are the backbone of a skills-first ecosystem, powering everything from job matching to LERs by creating a common reference point. Without them, skills-based hiring is just best guesses.”

Improve your skill-based hiring vocabulary at Learn & Work Ecosystem Library. Search by topic | glossary.

FOR FUN’SIES

💌 Have more feedback? Reply to this email and tell us. We read each one.

🗣️ Want to be featured as a contributor? We’re looking for industry people to write editorials. 

✊🏼 Want to sponsor or partner? Connect with us about advertising opportunities.