Remaking Transcripts to Better Reflect Students’ Competencies

Despite decreasing rates of reading and mathematics proficiency among twelfth grade seniors, high school grade point averages (GPAs) have been rising steadily over the last decade.[1] Meanwhile, high school students increasingly say they are not prepared for life after high school, and employers are calling for a more skill-based workforce to fill entry-level jobs.[2] Although K-12 education and higher education leaders and employers largely agree on the skills students need to be successful,[3] they have not universally agreed on how to determine if a student has mastered a skill to an acceptable level and how best to communicate that mastery.

Traditional transcripts communicate a student’s high school course completions based on seat time and GPAs. It remains the most widely used tool for measuring college and career readiness. Students, families, college admissions counselors, institutions of higher education, and scholarship programs rely heavily on such transcripts to inform decisions on course placement, admissions, and scholarship eligibility. Yet a reliance on completed course credits and GPAs masks a fuller picture of what students know and are able to do, both for postsecondary admissions and employment purposes.

As state policymakers grapple with the disconnect between what transcripts say students have learned and what they actually need to be successful, the traditional transcript has come under scrutiny. States are increasingly encouraging high schools to find ways to make learning more meaningful and relevant to students by offering learning opportunities both inside and outside the classroom. This shift necessitates rethinking a crucial part of the infrastructure that allows schools to capture and communicate both academic content mastery and the higher-order knowledge and skills to students, parents, postsecondary institutions, and employers.

Transcript redesign is an admirable goal. However, there are some obstacles to navigate. People are generally familiar with traditional transcripts and may struggle with new ways of capturing student progress. Further, student learning outside the classroom can be difficult to capture in a way that is meaningful to college admissions counselors and employers. And even as employers call for a more skilled workforce, they do not generally all agree on an accurate measure of skill validation.

Yet as more state leaders adopt portraits of a graduate to signal their desire to move toward competency-based education approaches that advance durable skills alongside rigorous academic content, they are also asking how students can demonstrate mastery of the knowledge, skills, and dispositions named in their portraits.

Alternatives to the Traditional Transcript

While some local school districts and schools are exploring options for communicating students’ competencies besides course letter grades and GPAs, other states are beginning to consider how they might create more flexibility to allow districts to better align with their embrace of more competency-based education practices.

K-12 educators, higher education, and employers have long embraced performance assessments as one way to measure competency. K-12 performance assessments range from less time-intensive tests, such as open-ended responses on sit-down exams, to more time-intensive ones, such as capstone projects and portfolios.[4] Some of the most well-known sit-down performance exams are embedded in the nationally available Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs. Capstone projects and portfolios tend to be less standardized and occur at the state, district, or school level. Many states, such as New York, have adopted policies that either encourage districts to include performance assessments in their graduation requirements or have required capstones or portfolios in statewide graduation requirements.[5]

Other state education leaders are considering adopting a statewide transcript that reflects students’ content and skill mastery. The Mastery Transcript Consortium (MTC)’s Transcript and Learning Record products present a digital, interactive learner profile that visually depicts the competencies students have mastered alongside artifacts of their mastery. The Utah State Board of Education partnered with MTC, now an ETS subsidiary, to pilot a competency-based learner record in 2022.[6] Separately, the Washington legislature in 2025 charged the state board with developing recommendations for a statewide format for competency-based education high school transcripts.[7]

States have also considered other tools to help students communicate their knowledge and skills. North Dakota pioneered the first state-developed digital credential application that lets students present degrees, certifications, and skills to employers and postsecondary institutions in a digital wallet.[8] In another example, diploma seals are awarded to students who have met basic graduation requirements and demonstrated readiness for college, career, or military enlistment. Ohio developed twelve readiness seals and requires students to earn at least two seals by the time they graduate high school that are either awarded locally or by the state education agency. At least one of these seals, the Ohio Means Jobs Readiness Seal, directly references mastery of key competencies necessary to be workforce ready.[9] In Indiana, students graduating in 2029 and beyond who meet state board requirements may earn honors or honors-plus seals in higher education enrollment, employment, and military enlistment and service.[10]

Validation from institutes of higher education and employers is an important consideration before state leaders encourage widespread adoption of any of these tools. In Indiana, universities were initially hesitant to endorse the state’s effort to revise the high school diploma but now consider the final version a better approach to setting students up for success in college.[11] Indeed, students who earn the state’s postsecondary honors-plus seal can secure automatic admissions to participating institutions of higher education in the state. Indiana employers are also recognizing the value of the revised diploma. Students who have completed the employment honors-plus seal receive help connecting with major Indiana employers, including automatic interviews.

State Policy Considerations

There are several important policy considerations for state boards as they explore new ways of communicating student knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Significant questions must be addressed on how tools will be used, validated, managed, implemented, and aligned with other parts of the education system.

Clearly define the intended use for the tool. Will it be used at the classroom level? Or will it be used for district or maybe even statewide purposes, like school improvement or accountability? Does the state aspire to use the tool beyond the K-12 space, perhaps for admissions to colleges and universities or in public or private hiring processes? Indiana leaders are considering ways to incorporate skills-based assessments into the state accountability system and have expressed their intention to incorporate a skills-based component into that revised system.[12]

Establish trust in the validity and reliability of the tool by engaging key stakeholders. Validation means making sure the tool measures the skills and knowledge they are supposed to measure, whereas reliability measures whether or not an assessment tool communicates the same information, regardless of who takes the assessment or when they take it.

Ultimately, the most important factor is trust by all parties using the tool that it is a valid and reliable representation of student skills. The state should engage a broad range of partners to develop the measurement tool, focusing on those who are expected to use it. For example, if the intended use case is the K-12 sector, then students, teachers, school leaders, and parents, should be involved. If the goal is use in the postsecondary system or business and industry, representatives from those sectors should be involved so that they see the tool as valid and reliable.[13] States should also acknowledge that determining validation and reliability is complicated and potentially expensive and will require careful planning. There are also considerable technical considerations, such as how to ensure reliability in scoring and identifying appropriate use claims.[14] States will need a roadmap for how they will approach validation so that all stakeholders can trust that the tool reflects student skills.

Develop a strategy for tool management. State-developed tools require infrastructure to enable their effective, efficient use. Will the tool be developed in-house by a state agency, or will it be developed by an external actor? Once the tool is developed, how will it be maintained and adjusted? Will state agency staff do this, or will an external partner be secured? No state has cracked the code on this, though as we highlight here, some like Utah and Washington are starting to explore how they might develop and sustain a state-supported tool.

Commit to effective and sustained implementation. Measurement and validation tools, like those described, will only achieve their intended ends if users implement them with fidelity. For state-developed tools, developers will need to consider ease of use. K-12 students and families, for example, must understand how to use the tool and see its benefits. Educators cannot help students and families navigate the tool unless they too understand how to use it. If postsecondary or workforce partners are the intended users, they need to view it as a valid and reliable source of information.

Identify policy opportunities and challenges. Misaligned policy can stop even the best-designed tool in its tracks. State leaders should identify barriers standing in the way. For example, guaranteed college admissions programs or state-funded scholarships tied to GPAs can present challenges to the adoption of a statewide competency-based transcript that moves beyond a GPA. Conversely, state leaders can explore policies that will facilitate adoption. For example, how can they leverage policy to increase the number of businesses using skills-based hiring practices? As mentioned previously, Indiana linked the seals in its new diploma to automatic postsecondary admissions to create an incentive for students to attain them. And if state leaders want to promote a skills-based performance assessment for hiring school staff, they should examine whether their own hiring processes prioritize traditional transcripts and grades over competencies and skills.

Final Thoughts

As state boards explore alternative methods for communicating students’ mastery of desired competencies, they should keep a close eye on the rapid evolution of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and potential use cases in tool design. Since the advent of ChatGPT in 2022, K-12 education has been an early use case for this tool. AI tools have tremendous potential not only to personalize learning but also to power skills-based assessment. There is no guarantee that this potential will be realized. State boards and other state policymakers must weigh the pros and cons of using AI in various ways within the K-12 system. Yet public skepticism about the value of AI tools in education is growing,[15] and state agencies could face legal challenges to school accountability results because of how AI tools have scored assessments.[16] To better understand whether and how AI could power the future of education in this area, state leaders will need to consider the opportunities and the challenges to making this work possible, as well as addressing public perceptions.

Notes

[1] Edgar Sanchez and Raeal Moore, “Grade Inflation Continues to Grow in the Past Decade,” report (Iowa: ACT, May 2022).

[2] Gallup and Walton Family Foundation, “Voices of Gen Z Study: Youth Happiness,” report (2024).

[3] America Succeeds, “Durable by Design: An Update on the High Demand for Durable Skills,” report (July 2025).

[4] Roneeta Guha, Tony Wagner, Linda Darling-Hammond et al., “The Promise of Performance Assessments: Innovations in High School Learning and College Admission,” report (Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute, 2018).

[5] KnowledgeWorks, “Emerging Trends in K-12 Assessment Innovation,” report (2021).

[6] Chris Sturgis and Susan Bell, “People, Practice, and Policy: How Utah Turned the Portrait of a Graduate into a Powerful Lever for Systems Change,” report (Mastery Transcript Consortium, 2023).

[7] Washington, An Act Relating to Supporting the Implementation of Competency-based Education, Senate Bill No. 5189 (2025).

[8] North Dakota Information Technology, “ND First State to Launch Credential App,” press release, August 24, 2022.

[9] Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, “Demonstrating Readiness: Graduation Seals,” web page, revised November 20, 2024.

[10] Indiana Department of Education, “Current and Future Indiana Diploma: Comparison,” factsheet (December 2024).

[11] Aleksandra Appleton, “Indiana Scraps Unpopular Diploma Plan, Proposes New Option for College-Bound Students,” Chalkbeat Indiana, August 14, 2024; Kristen Adair, “Students Earning New Diploma Seals Can Get Automatic College Enrollment, Union Apprenticeships,” WBOI News, April 2, 2025.

[12] Indiana Department of Education, “Indiana’s Future Accountability Model,”  web page, revised June 2025.

[13] Chris Brandt, Carla Evans, and Chris Domaleski, “Assessing 21st Century Competencies: Guiding Principles for States and Districts,” report (New Hampshire: Center for Assessment, January 2025).

[14] Chris Brandt, Carla Evans, and Chris Domaleski, “Assessing 21st Century Competencies: Guiding Principles for States and Districts,” report (New Hampshire: Center for Assessment, January 2025).

[15] John Hendron, “The 57th Annual PDK Poll,” report (Arlington, VA: PDK International, 2025).

[16] Camille Phillips, “Travis County Judge Temporarily Blocks Texas Education Agency from Releasing Accountability Ratings,” Texas Public Radio, August 13, 2024.