02/16/21 According to a new count from Credential Engine, students seeking education credentials in the United States have 967,734 options to choose from. In "Counting U.S. Postsecondary and Secondary Credentials," the national nonprofit identified degrees, certificates, certifications, licenses, apprenticeships, badges and more in an effort to promote transparency in the credential marketplace. The report counted unique credentials across four types of providers: Postsecondary education institutions (which offer 359,713 different degrees and certificates); Massive open online course providers (9,390 course completion certificates, micro-credentials and online degrees); Non-academic providers (549,712 badges, course completion certificates, licenses, certifications and apprenticeships); and Secondary schools (48,919 diplomas). "We need more stakeholders to be involved in creating credential transparency so that the one million credentials available in the U.S. can be better understood, aligned with other data systems, and used in decision making by all," the report emphasized. Some of the next steps it outlined include determining how credentialing practices overlap, how certificates can stack to further certificates and degrees, how badges are utilized to represent credentials, and what specific competencies credentials aim to convey.