Illinois Math Badging Initiative

In partnership with the XQ Institute and Student Achievement Partners, EdSystems launched an initiative in 2022 to create an Illinois high school math badging system as an alternative credentialing mechanism, allowing students to certify learning gained through a broad range of sources, including coursework, independent study, summer school, and work-based learning. Badging can support stronger alignment to the math needed for secondary, postsecondary, and career success and ensure that students demonstrate knowledge in a way that course grades cannot. Badging can promote opportunities to develop and reinforce math knowledge and skills, as well as validate learning outside of the classroom through integration into work-based learning and other applied learning experiences. Furthermore, the customization available through badging can engage and motivate students to explore and demonstrate math skills directly related to their college and career interests.

Our Role

From 2022–2025, EdSystems supported Illinois’s pilot sites for math badges. Badges are stackable and designed to be combined to translate into credit in a transitional math course, other high school math courses, and early college credit.

In spring 2024, the team engaged high school students in a micro-internship to identify non-traditional avenues for math learning and opportunities to earn math badges.