Degrees alone are no longer enough to prepare students for today’s workforce. With 92% of U.S. jobs requiring mastery of digital skills—including Adobe Suite, Microsoft Office, Google Docs, cybersecurity, web development, and coding—it’s essential to equip students with tools that ensure their success and give them a competitive edge. Alarmingly, over one-third of college graduates enter the job market without these critical competencies. Join this session to explore how stackable, industry-recognized, and proficiency-based certifications can bridge this critical skills gap. Learn actionable strategies to empower learners to validate and demonstrate their expertise in essential digital competencies, setting them up for success in higher education and their careers. During the session, you will learn the role of digital skills in today’s workforce, discover the benefits of proficiency-based certifications and how they validate skill sets, and gain insights into implementing stackable, industry-recognized certifications in your educational program. You’ll walk away with practical tips for integrating certifications into your curriculum, plus resources and examples to help revolutionize college and career readiness in your classrooms. Don’t miss this opportunity to transform how you prepare students for the demands of the digital age! This will be of interest to K-12 teachers, school leaders, district leaders, education technology leaders, and career and technical education staff.
