Micro-credentials at the Friday Institute
Micro-credentials at the Friday Institute are designed to recognize what educators can do, not just what they know.
Our micro-credentials are:
- Competency-based — focused on specific, observable skills
- Job-embedded — grounded in real classroom or leadership practice
- Evidence-driven — requiring artifacts that demonstrate impact
- Flexible and stackable — supporting personalized pathways for growth
They are used by teachers, instructional coaches, school leaders and higher education partners to build and demonstrate meaningful professional expertise.
What Makes Our Micro-credentials Different
Our work is grounded in over a decade of research and design through massive open online courses for educators and statewide initiatives.
Research from the Friday Institute shows that micro-credentials:
- Increase application of learning into practice
- Support deeper engagement and rigor
- Allow educators to demonstrate competency in multiple ways
We design micro-credentials to:
- Align to authentic instructional challenges
- Include clear, transparent rubrics
- Provide actionable feedback
- Support reflection and iteration
This ensures each micro-credential is not just a badge but a meaningful signal of practice.
Explore Our Micro-credentials
The Friday Institute has developed a growing collection of micro-credentials available through Digital Promise.
These micro-credentials focus on high-impact areas such as:
- Digital learning and instructional design
- Learner variability and inclusive practices
- Coaching and leadership
- Data-informed instruction
- AI and emerging technologies (newer work)
Online Professional Learning
Partners
Selected Resources
White Paper – Supporting Learner Variability in the Classroom through Micro-Credentials
Educators welcome an incredibly varied set of students into their classrooms daily. Every student brings a unique background, set of experiences, interests, strengths, and challenges. The role of the educator is to understand this variability and account for it while teaching complex curriculum in a way that each student feels supported and successful in school. Accomplishing this is not easy. This is why understanding learner variability is key for educators—it empowers them to make intentional choices designed for each learner.