The Currency of Credentials
A national study of quality, relevance, and emerging practice in online certification programs.
The first two-sided, cross-sector look at how online credential programs actually perform — from the organizations that build them and the people who earn them. We map where provider intent and learner experience align, and where they quietly diverge.
Principal Investigator — Dr. Elisa Janson Jones, CITI-Certified Researcher
until data collection opens
Why this study
1.8 million credentials. No shared standard for what they’re worth.
By one 2025 national count, more than 1.8 million credentials circulate across 134,000+ providers — certifications, certificates, microcredentials, badges, and internal programs, often indistinguishable from the outside. Quality is largely self-reported, cross-program benchmarks are scarce, and no one has captured both sides at once: what providers believe they deliver, and what learners actually experience. This study closes that gap.
The design
Two sides of the same credential.
An explanatory sequential mixed-methods study with two respondent tracks. Phase 1 is a structured survey; Phase 2 is a short open-ended follow-up with a selected subsample. Both are completed online, and the two sides are brought together at the point of interpretation.
How programs are built
How organizations design, deliver, assess, and govern their credential programs — and what they believe makes them work.
How they’re experienced
How the people who earn credentials experienced the preparation, the assessment, and the real-world value of what they earned.
Where the two diverge
Where provider intent and learner experience align — and where they pull apart. That divergence is the study’s primary finding.
What we measure
Four domains, asked of both sides.
Does it match the work?
Whether the credential reflects what the field actually needs — and whether the market recognizes it.
Competence or completion?
Whether the program measures demonstrated competence or simply documents finishing — the distinction the market keeps blurring.
Governed or improvised?
How providers govern AI in content and assessment — and how learners are using it to prepare.
What it’s worth
What the credential does for the organization that issues it and the person who earns it.
At a glance
What to expect.
Who it’s for
If you build or steward a credential program — or you’ve earned one — your perspective is the study.
Participation is voluntary and confidential. Responses are reported in aggregate only; no person or organization is identified without explicit permission.
Participate
Add your perspective.
Data collection opens July 1, 2026. Get on the list and we’ll send the participation link the day it opens — providers and learners both — along with first access to the findings.
Check back on launch day, or get notified below.
Want a read on your own program? Sovereign+ can run a matched provider–learner study for your organization — propose a custom study. Or see the research overview.