A $15 million U.S. Department of Education grant is accelerating state-led talent marketplaces built to verify skills—shifting evidence of learning from course lists to what learners can do. A core component is the Learning and Employment Record (LER), which organizes records around skills rather than completed courses and credentials. Competency-Based Education Network executive vice president Amber Garrison Duncan described how the approach pushes institutions to document performance through evidence like simulations and to align quality assurance with demonstrated competencies—an idea already familiar in nursing accreditation. The expanded state employer ecosystem, discussed alongside the National Governors Association’s Skills in the States convening, also aims to reduce barriers for workers whose education pathways do not map neatly to traditional reputational rankings. For higher education, the development raises immediate questions about assessment design, data interoperability, and how colleges translate student learning into labor-market-recognizable evidence.