South Carolina Employability Credential Work-Based Learning Hours and Career Portfolio

What the Employability Credential Requires

The South Carolina High School Employability Credential is a uniform, state-recognized credential for students with disabilities whose IEP teams determine that completing the standard 24-credit diploma pathway is not appropriate. It is not a lesser version of the diploma — it is a different pathway with its own rigorous requirements, designed specifically to prepare students for competitive integrated employment.

To earn the Employability Credential, a student must complete four requirements:

24 units of coursework aligned with South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Standards, including four units of Employability Education. These courses replace some of the standard diploma's academic requirements with career-focused instruction.

A minimum of 360 hours of documented work-based learning. These hours can be accumulated through school-based enterprises, community-based volunteer work, paid employment, unpaid internships, or job-shadowing experiences. The hours must be formally documented by the school. Ask the IEP team how each proposed experience will be structured and counted.

A career portfolio that includes a multimedia presentation demonstrating the student's work-readiness skills, career exploration activities, and work-based learning experiences.

A work-readiness assessment demonstrating that the student is ready for competitive employment.

How the 360 Hours Break Down

The 360-hour requirement spans the student's high school career — it does not need to be completed in a single year. Most students accumulate hours across three to four years, starting with lower-intensity experiences like job shadowing and school-based tasks and progressing to community-based internships and paid employment.

The IEP team tracks the hours as part of the student's transition services. Each work-based learning experience should be documented with the type of work, location, dates, total hours, and a description of the skills practiced. Some districts use a standard tracking form; others record the information in the IEP's transition services section.

Parents should request a running total of documented hours at every annual IEP review. If your child is in 11th grade with only 80 hours logged, the team needs a plan to accelerate — waiting until the final year to cram 280 hours creates scheduling conflicts with other coursework and services.

For students who also receive Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) through SCVRD, some Pre-ETS activities — particularly work-based learning experiences arranged by the VR counselor — may count toward the 360-hour requirement. Coordinate with both the school and the VR counselor to avoid duplication of effort and ensure all hours are captured.

The Career Portfolio

The portfolio is more than a folder of completed worksheets. It should demonstrate the student's growth across their work-based learning experiences and include:

A multimedia presentation — which can be a slide deck, a video, or another format accessible to the student — that showcases their career interests, skills they've developed, and work samples.

Documentation of career exploration activities, such as career interest inventories, workplace tours, and informational interviews.

Evidence from work-based learning — photos (with permission), supervisor evaluations, time logs, and self-reflections on what the student learned.

The portfolio serves two purposes: it's a graduation requirement for the credential, and it's a practical tool the student can share with future employers or vocational rehabilitation counselors. A well-assembled portfolio demonstrates workplace competence more effectively than a transcript alone.

The Work-Readiness Assessment

The student must pass a work-readiness assessment demonstrating competitive employment readiness. The specific instrument varies by district, but it evaluates skills like following workplace instructions, maintaining attendance and punctuality, interacting appropriately with coworkers and supervisors, and performing job tasks independently or with minimal support.

If the student does not yet demonstrate readiness, ask the IEP team what additional transition services and assessment opportunities are available before the credential is finalized.

How This Differs From the Diploma and Certificate of Attendance

The three exit pathways serve different populations and carry different legal consequences:

The state high school diploma requires 24 standard academic credits and terminates FAPE eligibility. Once a student graduates with a diploma, the school district's obligation to provide special education services ends completely.

The Employability Credential requires 24 career-aligned units, 360 work-based learning hours, a career portfolio, and a work-readiness assessment — but it does not terminate FAPE. The student can continue receiving transition services through the applicable age-21 cutoff: if the student turns 21 after September 1, the LEA must permit completion of that school year; if the birthday is on or before September 1, the LEA is not required to permit enrollment.

The Certificate of Attendance is locally defined by the IEP team for students with significant cognitive disabilities. It also does not terminate FAPE.

The distinction between FAPE-terminating and non-terminating is the single most important difference. A student who earns the Employability Credential at age 18 still has access to school-based transition services, job coaching, and related services for the remaining period of school eligibility, subject to the age-21 September 1 cutoff. A student who accepts a diploma at 18 does not.

Questions to Ask the IEP Team

If your child is on the Employability Credential pathway, bring these to the next IEP meeting:

How many work-based learning hours has my child documented so far, and what's the plan to reach 360 before the exit date?

Are any Pre-ETS activities through SCVRD being counted toward the 360 hours? If not, can they be?

What does the career portfolio need to include at our district, and when should we start assembling it?

Which work-readiness assessment will be used, and what skills does it evaluate?

The South Carolina IEP Transition to Adulthood Guide includes a work-based learning hour tracker, a career portfolio assembly checklist, and a side-by-side comparison of all three exit pathways with their implications for adult services and benefits eligibility.

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