In 2017, the Tennessee Department of Education decided to pilot micro-credentials to gather feedback and explore avenues for providing more personalized learning for educators across the state. To ensure success, the department laid out a phased approach to implementing competency-based micro-credentials that aimed to:
- Improve opportunities for professional growth for educators
- Enable greater ownership of the teaching profession by its practitioners
- Increase retention of effective teachers
- Expand licensure pathways through micro-credentials
- Curate a set of rigorous micro-credentials
“If we are asking educators to provide differentiated and personalized learning experiences for students, it only makes sense that we help districts provide teachers with that same level of personalization in their professional learning.”
– Machel Mills, Director of Professional Learning Systems,
Tennessee Department of Education
