South Carolina Built a Statewide Credential Roadmap -- Here Is What Health Science Students Stand to Gain

The metric that opened South Carolina's June 2025 credential announcement is striking on its own: the number of students earning a nationally or state-recognized credential statewide grew from roughly 19,000 in the 2018-19 school year to more than 48,000 by 2023-24. That 150 percent increase in five years represents a system that has learned to produce verifiable, employer-recognized outcomes at scale. The question the new Stackable Credential Framework tries to answer is whether those credentials are leading to anything meaningful in the labor market.

The framework, released by the South Carolina Department of Education in collaboration with the Southern Regional Education Board, the Education Oversight Committee, the SC Department of Employment and Workforce, and the SC Council on Competitiveness, organizes credentials into a logical sequence: entry-level certifications students can earn early in a pathway, followed by progressively more valuable credentials that signal growing expertise to employers. Health science serves as the clearest illustration. A student might earn CPR certification in tenth grade, exit high school with a Certified Nursing Assistant credential, and move directly into a practical nursing program or a medical apprenticeship.

For students in South Carolina's Health Science Education pathway, the framework maps onto a labor market that is unambiguously demanding. Registered nurses in South Carolina earn a median of $79,900 -- below the national median of $93,600, which means there is real room for wage growth as employers compete for credentialed workers. The occupation is projected to grow 7.3% nationally, adding roughly 5,400 annual openings. Certified Nursing Assistants, the most accessible entry point from the pathway, earn a median of $33,300 in the state with 3,500 annual openings at the national level.

The stackable design also changes how districts should think about credential sequencing. A student who earns only a CPR certification leaves high school with limited market signal. The same student who adds a CNA credential before graduation, and who then completes a practical nursing program through dual enrollment or a technical college apprenticeship, demonstrates a clear, intentional arc of skill development. That arc is what employers in South Carolina's healthcare sector -- facing a projected shortage of more than 13,000 registered nurses by 2036 -- will increasingly require.

The framework applies to all 14 career clusters in South Carolina's modernized CTE system. State Superintendent Ellen Weaver framed its purpose as ensuring that students "aren't just earning more credentials; they are earning the right ones -- credentials that lead directly to high-demand careers where skilled workers are needed most." The credential list will be updated regularly in consultation with the SC Council on Competitiveness and industry stakeholders, so the framework remains aligned with workforce demand rather than becoming an obsolete checklist.