Stylus Publishing (VA) Credentials: Understand the problems. Identify the opportunities. Create the solutions.

The credentials environment grows more complicated by the day. This book enables readers to grasp the key issues and take informed action. For ease of reference, each chapter opens with a summary of its content and closes with a list of key takeaways for readers to consider. The plan of the book reflects the authors' practical aim. In the first of three parts, they offer a broad view of the topic―how credentials work, how a proliferation in credentials has created an unprecedented array of educational choices, and the implications of this abundance in considering the models to use. In the second part, they focus on categories of credentials, from the associate degree, to doctoral degrees, and to non-degree credentials. The book concludes with two chapters that consider the implications of the information the authors provide for leadership in volatile times, such as considerations of equity; and offer twelve propositions for action. Review A future-focused analysis of credentials and credentialism doesn't get any more timely than this. This is a must read for higher education leaders today, but it may prove even more important for future leaders interested in an equitable and sustainable future of work and learning.--Parminder K. Jassal "CEO, Unmudl Skills-to-Jobs Marketplace"Credentials are fundamental to employment and opportunity, but also to personal identity. They are of interest to educators, employers, and policy makers. Yet despite their ubiquity and significance they are poorly understood; even more so every day as the number and type of credentials have exploded in the last two decades. Gaston and Van Noy provide an excellent framework to help navigate this proliferation. They plot an insightful way forward for college and university administrators, faculty members, academic advisors and others as they design academic programs (and associated credentials) and help guide students to use credentials to achieve their goals.--Thomas Bailey "President, Teachers College, Columbia University"Credentials does a wonderful job of laying the framework of why credentials are important to an advanced society focusing on educating the workforce and building the economy. By looking back as a way to look forward, Paul Gaston and Michele Van Noydocument the importance of well-defined credentials while suggesting what the competency-based credentials of the future will look like. What I like the most is how they advocate for quality and equity both within each credential and in the transitions made among credentials.--Aaron Thompson "President, Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education"Given the accelerating rate of change in the workplace, credentials have become an even more essential tool to ensure the relevance of skills. The authors' overview of the credentials landscape should help readers understand more fully the complex factors at work in how they are used by employers and educators.--Van Ton-Quinlivan "CEO, Futuro Health; Former Executive Vice Chancellor, California Community Colleges"Paul Gaston and Michelle Van Noy tour the burgeoning credentials landscape from traditional degrees to emerging and unfamiliar new credentials and through non-degree credentials to apprenticeships, describing their characteristics and considering their applicability and quality. In doing so, they provide a very helpful introduction and analysis of an increasingly complex field.--Peter Ewell "President Emeritus, National Center for Higher Education Management Systems"The importance of this book is reflected in continuing calls for attention to quality and equity in education at all levels within postsecondary education. With government at both the state and national level as well as other stake-holders seeking increased accountability through accreditation, this readable book could not be more timely.--Leah Matthews "Executive Director, Distance Education Accrediting Commission"When trying to understand, let a