Key Points
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States like Georgia and South Carolina are using the Competencies and Academic Standards Exchange (CASE) standard to align K–12 and higher education programs with real-world workforce skills, ensuring students graduate career-ready.
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By standardizing how competencies and course codes are described, CASE enables clearer, transferable records of learning, helping students move more easily between schools, states, and into the workforce without losing credit or recognition.
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Integrating CASE into state data systems allows education agencies and employers to communicate in a shared digital language, reducing redundancies, speeding up hiring processes, and paving the way for a national framework for skills-based education.
As industries evolve and labor markets tighten, states are rethinking how education systems prepare students for careers. Increasingly, that work comes down to interoperable data standards that help align what students learn with what employers need. One of the most powerful tools enabling this alignment is the Competencies and Academic Standards Exchange® (CASE®) standard from 1EdTech.
CASE creates a common, machine-readable way to describe competencies, academic standards, and skills. That means states, institutions, and employers can communicate in the same digital “language,” reducing errors, improving efficiency, and creating clearer pathways from the classroom to the workplace.
Georgia’s Journey: From Classrooms to Career Pathways
In Georgia, the Department of Education is using CASE to create stronger connections between education and workforce opportunities by reducing manual errors and enabling real-time alignment between instruction, assessments, and career pathways. By mapping state course codes to Standard Occupation Codes (SOC) and Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) codes, Georgia is helping students understand how their courses connect to future careers.
Looking ahead, Georgia is expanding into higher education. The Technical College System of Georgia’s Nursing Credentials Framework is an early example of how CASE supports the validation of student competencies in ways that align directly with employer needs.
“We’re seeing a tightening labor market in Georgia,” said Keith Osburn, Chief Information Officer and Deputy Superintendent for Technology Services for Georgia’s Department of Education. “The challenge industries are facing is the need for specialized, adaptable skills. Diplomas, degrees and those types of things are of value, but the workforce is actually looking for skills and CASE helps us communicate those skills.”
South Carolina’s Approach: Streamlining Career Readiness
South Carolina’s Department of Education is leveraging CASE to build integrated systems that connect education directly to workforce outcomes. One initiative is piloting competency pathways that link high school course codes with workforce-aligned skills, creating a more transparent map for learners as they move from education into employment. This work, developed through Education Technology Collaboratories, is building bridges not just within South Carolina but across state lines.
“This moves the transcript to a new level,” said Dan Ralyea, Chief Information Officer for the South Carolina Department of Education. “Knowing the course name and the grade the student received is good, but knowing how that translates into a set of skills and standards is better.”
Why CASE Matters for Workforce Readiness
Both Georgia and South Carolina are proving that data standards aren’t just a technical solution; they’re a workforce strategy. By standardizing how skills and competencies are described, CASE helps:
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Reduce duplication and confusion: A skill documented once in CASE can be recognized across institutions and employers.
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Support learner mobility: Students can carry their skills record across schools, states, and even into the gig economy.
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Accelerate hiring: Employers can trust that verified competencies map directly to job requirements.
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Future-proof education: Schools and colleges can adapt programs more quickly to meet emerging workforce needs.
Building the Future Together
The stories from Georgia and South Carolina highlight what’s possible when states use interoperability standards like CASE. By connecting course codes, competencies, and career pathways, they ensure students graduate not just with credits but with portable evidence of their skills.
This work also underscores a larger truth: education and workforce cannot thrive in silos. Through open, flexible standards, states are laying the foundation for a learner-centered ecosystem where students are prepared for careers that may not even exist yet.
As more states adopt CASE, the potential grows for a national framework that supports local innovation while ensuring global interoperability. In this future, learners, educators, and employers all speak the same digital language.
To learn more about CASE, and how it can be used to support student success, 1EdTech members are encouraged to attend the 2025 Member Assembly in North Charleston, Nov. 18-20. To view the agenda and register, click here.
About the Author
As the Vice President of K12 Programs at 1EdTech, Dr. Tim Clark assists schools and districts in the adoption of 1EdTech standards and practices to enable interoperable and secure digital learning ecosystems. He also provides strategic leadership for K12 in 1EdTech in collaboration with K-12 institutional and state department of education members of the consortium.
