Millions of jobs lost in the pandemic aren't coming back, and many of those vanished positions were disproportionately held by people of color. As automation and other shifts accelerate, many of these displaced workers will need additional education and training to find new roles, as well as a rapid return on their educational investment. This means more of the short-term credentials that are getting so much attention these days — but it also means faster pathways to an associate or bachelor's degree, both of which have greater proven value in the labor market.

Faster, more responsive pathways to degrees are essential for Black and Latino workers who not only are underrepresented in higher education but also often face biased hiring systems that make the signal of a degree especially powerful. We have, of course, recognized this need for years and failed to make much progress.

That's because we remain stuck on trying to improve our current model of higher education. To achieve real equity, we need to move to a model of learning and credentialing that focuses on what a student truly knows and can do — their competencies — rather than arbitrary markers of success, like the years they spent in a classroom. In other words, don't fix the system. Remake it.

Education-based on competencies, rather than time alone, has the power to deliver equitable economic advancement. First, it allows learners to move at their own pace, and second, it creates tight connections to high-demand knowledge, skills and behaviors in demand by employers.

Read the full article about competency-based learned by Charla Long and Stacey Clawson at Higher Education Dive.