In a new article published in ECNU Review of Education on March 19, 2026, professor and author G. Williamson McDiarmid argues that the model of teacher professional development that has dominated American schools for decades is failing educators. A shift toward competency-based micro-credentials offers a compelling and practical alternative. The article, titled "Educators Take Charge: The Potential of Micro-Credentials," appears at a moment when teacher dissatisfaction and attrition have reached alarming levels that compromise the quality of student learning opportunities.
The scale of the problem is stark. Teacher job satisfaction in the United States has plummeted from 62 percent in 2008 to just 12 percent in 2022, a decline that McDiarmid links, in part, to the professional learning environment that many educators experience. The 50 largest U.S. school districts spend more than $8 billion annually on professional development, yet research consistently shows that the dominant "sit-and-get" workshop model does little to improve teaching performance or student learning. Too often, educators are treated, McDiarmid writes, as passive recipients of information rather than as skilled professionals capable of directing their own growth.
"Micro-credentials offer a way for teachers to regain agency over their learning while providing the public with verified evidence of their classroom effectiveness," writes McDiarmid .
Micro-credentials are focused and competency-based, requiring educators to submit evidence of their learning to earn them. This can include lesson plans, audio or video recordings of classroom instruction, and demonstrated student learning outcomes. Unlike traditional professional development in which educators often earn credit for the hours they spent in a room, micro-credentials require a "verification of proficiency." They can be earned in sequence, building toward broader expertise, or pursued individually to address specific instructional needs. For teachers who have already mastered a skill or approach, they can attest to their expertise. Critically, they place the choice of what and when to learn in the hands of teachers themselves.
Enhanced autonomy, McDiarmid argues, is a retention strategy. In his analysis of the research literature, he finds that teacher control over professional learning and development is more strongly associated with job satisfaction than any other single factor. This finding reframes the retention problem. In addition to improving compensation and working conditions, school system authorities may need to reevaluate whether they are truly treating teachers as professionals with expertise and trustworthy judgment.
The momentum behind micro-credentials is already substantial. As of 2025, 30 U.S. states had established policies accepting micro-credentials for license renewal or salary advancement, representing a 23 percent increase since 2020. The movement is also international: similar frameworks are gaining ground in the European Union, Australia, Japan, Oceania, and southern Africa. McDiarmid's article situates U.S. developments within this broader global context, suggesting that the shift away from time-based credentialing is not a passing trend but a structural change in how the profession recognizes and rewards educator expertise.
For micro-credentials to fulfill their promise, however, McDiarmid identifies five "non-negotiable" requirements that any credible system must meet: professional credibility , so that credentials carry genuine meaning within the field; administrative feasibility , so districts can manage systems without prohibitive complexity; public acceptance , so that parents and communities trust the credentials as meaningful indicators of teacher skill and achievement; legal defensibility , so that systems can withstand scrutiny; and economic accessibility , so that the cost of earning credentials does not discourage participation of entry-level or lower-paid educators.
Acknowledging the challenges of making institutional and systemic changes, McDiarmid identifies the barriers standing between the promise of micro-credentials and their widespread adoption. He identifies time constraints and bureaucratic resistance and inflexibility as obdurate obstacles. Educators who want to pursue micro-credentials face the demands of the school day that leave little room for the kind of deliberate, sustained, and effortful learning the process requires. The research suggests that for micro-credential systems to succeed, districts must carve out dedicated time during school hours for learning and collaboration and provide meaningful technical support to help educators navigating the process.
McDiarmid also looks ahead to the emerging role of artificial intelligence in the micro-credential space. AI tools hold potential for providing more adaptive assessments and faster feedback cycles. These advantages could make the process less burdensome and more effective for both educators and assessors. At the same time, he questions what is lost when human judgment is supplanted by algorithmic evaluation, and whether AI-driven assessments can be trusted to capture the complexity of skilled teaching.
"Micro-credentials represent more than an incremental improvement; they offer a fundamental reimagining of how educators grow," McDiarmid concludes. "T o fulfill their promise, they must be embedded in systems that reward teacher agency and value results based on evidence rather than merely accumulating credit hours."
ECNU Review of Education
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Educators Take Charge: The Potential of Micro-Credentials
19-Mar-2026