Why Every State Needs a Learning and Employment Records Officer

Jason Tyszko – US Chamber of Commerce

Jim Campbell – AEM Corporation

A new role for a new era of public data

The United States is at a pivotal moment. Across the country, states are being asked to connect education, employment, licensing, and service data in ways that make opportunity more transparent, portable, and verifiable for residents. Learning and Employment Records (LERs), which are secure and interoperable records documenting skills, credentials, and experiences, represent one of the most promising tools in this transformation. But to realize their full potential, states need leadership. Just as many states created Chief Data Officer roles a decade ago to unify enterprise data strategy, it is now time to establish State LER Officers who ensure that learning and work data truly works for people.

Why States Need a Dedicated LER Officer

Today, information about people’s skills, credentials, and experiences exists across a maze of systems, not just in education and workforce agencies, but also in professional licensing boards, human services programs, unemployment systems, apprenticeships, public safety training academies, veterans services, and economic development agencies. This fragmentation leads to friction for residents, employers, and state agencies:

• Residents struggle to verify credentials and licenses across systems and states
• Employers must chase down siloed records to confirm qualifications
• Agencies duplicate modernization efforts that don’t scale
• No leader owns interoperability, privacy, or alignment across the full ecosystem

States are already experimenting with LER pilots and standards. What’s missing is the connective tissue – a leader who ensures these efforts are coordinated, ethical, interoperable, and aligned with statewide priorities.

A Model That Works: Learning from Chief Data Officers

A decade ago, states created Chief Data Officers (CDOs) to fix similar challenges. The result was better governance, stronger privacy practices, and cross-agency collaboration that once seemed impossible.

A State LER Officer builds on this playbook but with a more human-centered mission: ensuring residents can seamlessly use, share, and benefit from verified records across education, workforce, licensing, military service, public programs, and career pathways.

What Would a State LER Officer Do?

1. Lead a Cross-Agency LER Coalition

Bringing together:

• K–12 and higher education
• Workforce and labor
• Licensing boards
• Corrections and public safety
• Human services
• Veterans credentialing
• Economic development

This coalition aligns on standards like Common Education Data Standards (CEDS) and the Jobs and Employment Data Exchange (JEDx), shared definitions, privacy expectations, and consent frameworks so residents’ records follow them smoothly throughout their lives.

2. Build and Implement the Statewide LER Strategy

The LER Officer sets the vision, identifies use cases, coordinates pilots, and ensures successful models scale. Early applications include verifying licensed professionals, improving reemployment efforts, supporting justice-involved individuals, streamlining human services eligibility, and translating military experience into civilian credentials.

3. Engage Employers and Residents

LERs gain value only when used. The LER Officer helps employers incorporate verified records into hiring and training while ensuring residents can easily access and share their learning and employment histories.

4. Sustain and Govern the Ecosystem

A durable LER system requires trust registries, oversight, privacy controls, and alignment with national efforts such as CEDS, JEDx, the T3 Innovation Network, and the Community of Innovation. The LER Officer ensures continuity across election cycles and organizational changes.

Why This Role Matters Right Now

For residents: portable, verifiable records and fewer administrative barriers
For employers: quicker credential validation and clearer skill insights
For states: reduced duplication, more efficient service delivery, and alignment with national interoperability initiatives

How to Get Started Today

States can take action right away by launching a cross-agency LER working group, designating a LER Officer pilot within an existing agency, engaging national initiatives such as JEDx, CEDS, the T3 Innovation Network and the New Data Paradigm, and the Community of Innovation, and building a business case tied to economic mobility, efficiency, and modernization. These early steps lay the groundwork for a fully established LER leadership function.

The Opportunity Ahead

LER’s are quickly becoming a new layer of public data infrastructure, one that extends well beyond education and workforce systems. States that delay risk fragmented efforts, inconsistent adoption, and missed opportunities for their residents.

A State LER Officer helps ensure that LERs deliver on their promise: empowering people, strengthening cross-agency systems, and driving economic mobility. States that move now will not only keep pace with the future, they will help define it.

The tools are ready, the momentum is here, and the opportunity is wide open. Now is the time to lead.

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