EEQ CERT Featured by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

We’re pleased to see QA Commons’ Essential Employability Qualities Certification included in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences’ Thriving After High School: Community, School, Service, and Work publication, an initiative of the Commission on Opportunities After High School.

The Commission brings together perspectives from across education, workforce, philanthropy, and other sectors to consider what young people need to thrive after high school. Its national collection highlights more than 100 programs, policies, and partnerships that are putting those ideas into practice. EEQ Certification is included as an established and evaluated approach to developing durable skills and helping students recognize, articulate, and demonstrate the qualities employers value.

A few themes in the report especially resonated with us. As AI changes work, durable human capabilities become more important, not less, while digital and AI literacy become essential complements. And developing those capabilities is only part of the challenge. Students also need ways to recognize, demonstrate, and communicate what they can do through evidence and credentials that employers understand and trust. The Commission also elevates social capital as part of preparation for work: helping learners build professional relationships and networks, rather than assuming they will arrive with those connections already in place.

We’re especially pleased to see EEQ Certification included alongside such a wide range of promising work—from Rhode Island’s efforts to expand registered apprenticeships, to Tennessee’s direct admissions initiative, to Ivy Tech Community College partnerships that help students connect high school coursework with college, credentials, and careers. The approaches are very different, but together they reflect a broader view of what it takes to thrive after high school: not simply technical preparation or career services at the end of a program, but durable capabilities, credible evidence of learning, stronger connections to the world of work, and the ability to keep adapting as work changes.

Explore QA Commons’ EEQ Certification in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences’ collection

The Commission brings together perspectives from across education, workforce, philanthropy, and other sectors to consider what young people need to thrive after high school. Its national collection of promising practices highlights more than 100 programs, policies, and partnerships that are putting those ideas into practice. EEQ Certification is included as an established and evaluated approach to developing durable skills and helping students recognize, articulate, and demonstrate the qualities employers value.

We were especially interested to see EEQ CERT alongside approaches such as Bunker Hill Community College’s Skill Badges, Hawai‘i Community Colleges’ Non-Credit and Credit Alignment Lab, and ElevateU at the University of Montana. The approaches are different, but they share an important idea: preparing learners for what comes after school requires more than technical knowledge alone. It means helping learners build durable skills, navigate pathways, connect learning to work, and make what they know and can do visible.