For more than 125 years, the Carnegie Unit has served as the bedrock of how high schools quantify learning. But in today’s rapidly evolving world, it’s become increasingly clear that this time-based measure of education is holding students back and it’s time for a systems approach to high school redesign.
The unit was created for a different age—an industrial age—when uniformity and standardization were the educational priorities. Yet, as we face the demands of a modern workforce, society, and democracy, the rigidity of the Carnegie Unit is proving to be a barrier to truly personalized, competency-based education.
Why the Carnegie Unit Falls Short in Today’s World
The Carnegie Unit, originally created to establish equity in education by standardizing “seat time,” helped ensure that students across the country had access to similar academic experiences. But today, this approach hinders our ability to meet the individual needs of students. Education has advanced in extraordinary ways: technology allows for anytime, anywhere learning, and we understand more than ever how important it is to allow students to exercise choice and learn at their own pace.
Yet, despite these advancements, schools continue to measure learning through a time-based system that prioritizes how long a student sits in a class rather than what they have actually learned or can demonstrate. As Diego Arambula, Vice President for Educational Transformation at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, noted in a recent conversation: “Carnegie solved an important problem around quality and equity of education access over a century ago. But the time has come to replace seat time with new, flexible, and rigorous metrics as the gold standard of describing learning over time.”
This shift is not just about innovating for innovation’s sake. Research from organizations like the Aurora Institute reveals that the Carnegie Unit hinders opportunities for meaningful, student-centered learning. As one of their reports highlights, competency-based learning (CBE) is better aligned with students’ needs and modern workforce demands, as it allows learners to demonstrate mastery of skills at their own pace, unshackled from arbitrary time constraints.
What Does Learning Beyond the Carnegie Unit Look Like in Practical Terms?
Forward-thinking districts are already embracing this shift, providing valuable models for other education leaders to follow. The State of Utah, for example, has begun to operationalize transformational approaches to learning through partnerships with organizations like the Walton Family Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. These initiatives aim to replace traditional time-based metrics with more flexible, competency-driven systems that focus on skills, creativity, and real-world problem-solving.
Similarly, school districts as well as Ministries and Departments of Education are forging partnerships with local communities to scale these innovative CBE models. These organizations and their leaders recognize that learning doesn’t happen in a vacuum and are moving toward models where students can demonstrate mastery in applied, meaningful contexts—whether through internships, project-based learning, or collaborative community efforts.
At Advanced Learning Partnerships (ALP), we work alongside these innovative districts and mission-aligned organizations like the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to create scalable solutions that redefine how learning is measured. Our goal is to help districts not only transition away from outdated models like the Carnegie Unit but also build agility and flexibility into their systems, enabling educators and students to thrive in a fast-changing world.
Scaling Promising Innovation Through Partnerships
ALP, the Carnegie Foundation, the Aurora Institute and other organizations are committed to transforming K-12 education by fostering approaches that prioritize mastery over time spent in class. As more districts and states adopt competency-based learning models, our role as a partner to these districts is to support them with the tools, expertise, and frameworks needed to ensure successful implementation.
By working in alignment with organizations like the Carnegie Foundation, we are advocating for policies and practices that give students more agency in their learning and ensure that education better reflects the needs of the modern world. Together, we are helping to reimagine a future where seat time is replaced by rich, flexible pathways for learning.
A Call to Action for Education Leaders
The time for change is now. Education leaders across K-12 and higher education must come together to challenge the status quo and advocate for systems that allow students to flourish beyond the constraints of outdated models like the Carnegie Unit.
Let’s continue this conversation. I invite you to connect with me on LinkedIn to explore how we can collectively reimagine education for the future. Together, we can take action to transform learning models and build a system that prepares students for success in a world that values skills, creativity, and innovation.
