Students explore credits posted by elite schools worldwide. Find projects that match your interests and academic goals.
Produce authentic academic work guided by clear rubrics. Your teacher approves it, then independent experts evaluate for publication.
Earn verified credentials showcasing your actual thinking. Each credit links to your proof-of-work—no more transcript lottery.
Zero Setup Costs
Launch performance-based admissions—no infrastructure required.
Pre-Validated Work
Pre-vetted 10-minute work samples showing how students actually think.
Outsourced Evaluation
Subject experts evaluate applications, freeing admissions team resources.
Boost Equity
Elevate and diversify pipeline with curated youth media.
Annual Market for
college readiness assessment
Students — high school
juniors and seniors annually
Colleges with test-optional
admissions policies
International students seeking
US high school credentials
Who is HS Cred for?
The HS Cred platform is designed for 11th and 12th-grade students in the USA who want to distinguish themselves in post-secondary applications: - Students who opted out of testing in lower grades or do not do well on timed tests and want to show colleges what they are capable of. - Students in existing performance-based settings who seek third-party evaluation for transcript credibility. - Students engaged in intensive after-school activities like robotics, looking for credit for their out-of-school work. - Students who want something better than an AP Exam score but who don’t even have AP courses in their school. - Those who understand that they will face a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world that can't be simplified into an answer key. - Digital natives who can collaborate with AI to produce an academic documentary or an interview-style podcast to express themselves and share their learning journey. Our platform is designed for students who see themselves as creators rather than consumers of learning. It's meant for those who want to actively engage with the complex world around them instead of merely reading about others who do; students who aim to become thought leaders rather than being monetized as followers.
How do I log in to the app?
Beta testing with our initial users will begin this year (2025), aiming for a full public release in mid-2026. Register now to participate in the Fall 2025 beta testing program! Visit our homepage, click LOGIN and then register a new student account.
Do you charge students or schools to earn credits?
Yes. Each credit costs $100 which is used to pay three evaluators to validate student work and to maintain the platform technology. There is a 510(c)3 not-for-profit that is raising funding to offer fee waivers to students. If you want to apply for a fee waiver, email info@hscred.com and we will follow up with more details about that process.
Are you opposed to academic testing?
The hs cred design team is not opposed to all forms of academic testing. We believe testing is suitable for evaluating knowledge or informational learning. In fact, the STAKE phase of our three-stage credit model necessitates a test of student content knowledge to initiate a project. We see tests as beneficial at the start of the learning process. However, we don't advocate for using tests to assess the final stages of learning where students practice academic skills in real-world scenarios. To evaluate this effectively, it is crucial to assess the work a student produces after multiple cycles of feedback and revision. This approach is often referred to as performance-based assessment. Performance-based assessment is the only high stakes assessment worthy of consideration since standardized tests require an answer key and thus omit all learning that does not have a simple correct answer. The most important learning requires critical thinking exactly because there is no simple answer, demanding students make nuanced arguments an hold multiple perspectives. In fact, high stakes standardized testing, especially AP Exams, can be detrimental. They train students to depend on an authority to tell them how to think to get the “right answer.” A three-hour exam used to assess 12 years of learning in a given subject cannot produce a high resolution view of any student’s capabilities. As a data company, we agree with those who argue against just getting rid of standardized tests. Founded and advised by career public school administrators, we understand that schools need a meaningful way to measure outcomes.
How do you ensure the quality of student work?
Any student work published to a credit stream on hs cred has been evaluated first by the students’ teacher and then by three paid credit experts who do not know the student personally. That being said, not every credit will be created equal. We are a platform where elite schools come to publish their credit rubrics with training for their community of veteran graders. Students, school administrators and families need only look at a credit stream of previously approved student work to see the type of work that represents each institution’s expectations. Furthermore, anyone is free to review the rubric used by the credit experts to determine which work to publish for credit. Credit owners maintain the reputation of their credits by ensuring credit experts only approve work that meets expectations. Any universities or employer receiving a student transcript via hs cred can click on credits and view the quality of work for themselves.
Does HS Cred offer any curricula?
The hs cred platform is dedicated to assessing student work products. We entrust pedagogues to collaborate with students, without imposing any specific curriculum or requiring that educators share their curricular resources, which are a form of the teacher’s intellectual property. To understand how this works, consider our three-phase credit award framework: STAKE, PITCH, MINT: 1. In the STAKE phase, the student chooses a credit, acquires some content, and invites an educator to collaborate on a project. 2. During the PITCH phase, the student uploads a task as a pdf, which defines the final product they will create. An educator helps align this task to the chosen credit rubric. 3. The most critical phase on hs.credit is the MINT phase, where a credit is minted. The student uploads their work, and if the educator approves, it is sent to be validated by three credit experts. These experts use the publicly available rubric to determine credit award. In summary, educators who accept a student's invitation to earn a credit on hs cred will first evaluate the student's STAKE, define the task in the PITCH phase, and serve as the initial validator for the MINT phase.
Who are the credit experts?
Each elite school which has been approved a s a “credit partner” on hs credit can post credits (rubrics) and maintain full control over the credit experts assigned to grade incoming work. As demand for the credit grows and additional credit experts are needed, the hs.credit platform recommends teachers who have successfully worked with students to earn the credit in question.
What is 'gold standard' academic data?
We believe that performance-based assessments generate higher quality data than high-stakes, timed, standardized tests. These assessments involve student work that undergoes multiple cycles of feedback and revision before receiving approval from a teacher and three paid credit experts. We consider a transcript of such credits as the "gold standard" of academic data. Our three-stage STAKE, PITCH, MINT credit approval process is key to maintaining this gold standard across all credits on the platform. As discussed in relation to the quality of work approved for publication, we rely on the inter-rater reliability practices of each individual credit. Hence, specific expectations will vary from credit to credit, shaping the reputation of each one. However, even the most straightforward credit on the hs cred platform represents a gold standard in ways that no AP Exam ever could. We anticipate that hs cred will encourage more student-centered classrooms, which we consider the gold standard. We also believe that the methods we use to measure learning have significant societal implications and can serve as a lever for change. Since "what gets measured, gets done," modifying how we assess classrooms can influence how we educate our young people. Specifically, changing how we measure the culminating years of 11th and 12th grade affects the entire K-12 journey leading up to that point.
I'm a high school student. How do I get involved?
You have a tremendous opportunity to help us launch this platform. Your work can become known as having started a revolution that transformed society. We are counting on you and all the value of our platform is built on your shoulders. If you do excellent work, the platform will be one of excellence. If you focus your attention to produce meaningful, nuanced stories, helping explain how academic skills can be used, you will benefit as a creator while leading the way for all those that earn credit on our platform after you. Join us! Set the academic standard for others to follow. Colleges and Universities will recognize your leadership by viewing the work you publish on the hs cred plaform.
I'm an in-service teacher. How do I benefit?
Our platform is designed to free your practice from “teaching to the test.” It is time students inspire you rather than you being asked to inspire students who are bored and disengaged. The students must take the first step. That is the purpose of the STAKE phase of our three phase credit model. Students must demonstrate to you that they have used their attention to study a topic. They cram content to initiate a credit. Once you have successfully coached students who earn a credit, you enter the pipeline of educators invited to grade student work on the platform for up to $150/hr. Not a bad side hustle to enjoy down the road as a veteran in a credit community.
I work for an educational institution. How do I benefit?
Our platform aims to be decentralized, starting with the students before proceeding to teachers and beyond. It is not designed for top-down implementation and we discourage any school or district from mandating use of hs cred. However, if you're interested in publishing your own credit on our platform, please apply for a credit partner account by logging into the platform directly. With this account, we can assist you to post credits and set up reliability practices among your credit experts. We bear the cost of the credit experts ($75 per credit paid to them directly)—you select and train them to represent your brand and manage the reputation of your credit stream(s) by selecting which student work is published for credit.