Hi, my name is Meghan Raftery. This is my now page - a running snapshot of what matters to me right now and projects I'm proud of sharing.
Last updated June 2026.
What I’m Up To
I’m spending most of my time at the intersection of skills, credentials, and community — helping educators, workforce programs, and grantees build the structures that make learning visible and transferable. A lot of my work right now involves leading communities of practice, designing tools that help people name and validate what they know, and making sure the systems we build actually work for the humans at the center of them — whether that’s a worker navigating a new credential, a teacher bringing project-based learning into a classroom, or a kid discovering what they’re capable of in a culinary kitchen.
Projects I’m Excited About
- Education Design Lab: designing a credential diagnostic tool that helps funders, policymakers, and workforce intermediaries evaluate whether a skills validation method actually works -- for employers, workers, and the broader ecosystem - before it’s launched or funded.
- CROP Foundation: building a curriculum and badging system for Versability that opens culinary career pathways for adults and kids with special needs.
- The Fuse Pathway: working with Allison Zmuda to design student-centered learning experiences that help kids connect their passions to real skills through project-based exploration and the tools to see themselves as capable, creative people.
- Edjacent: Helping educators and caregivers become co-designers of AI solutions, so the tools shaping learning actually reflect the people closest to it.
What I’m Reading
I’m working my way through the New York Times 100 Best Books of the 21st Century — 31 down, 69 to go. I just finished The Sellout by Paul Beatty and I’m diving into Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc next.
Follow me on Storygraph for more book reviews.
On Screen
Stay tuned for a podcast episode I’m working on with my colleague Javier from https://www.learningmechanics.co/ about student-issued badges for faculty who demonstrate allyship for neurodivergent learners!
In Person
This July, I’ll be presenting at the Badge Summit in Boulder, Colo., alongside four Education Design Lab colleagues, exploring one central question from multiple angles: how do we make skills visible, trusted, and portable for learners? Our six sessions span credential mobility, skills visibility across learning pathways, K–12 experience recognition, and measuring what actually moves the needle for opportunity seekers.
Something Fun
The summer is the best time of year for the Rafterys. We spend our evenings at the beach or waterpark and our oldest, Jude, started working part-time at Yorkies with his Dad!