For generations, the Carnegie Unit has served as the “common currency” of the nation’s education system. A century after its creation, it remains the primary vehicle by which student learning is organized, progress around desired learning outcomes tracked, and the achievement of key outcomes, such as high school graduation, validated.
In recent years, the Carnegie Unit has come under scrutiny as an inadequate measure of academic achievement. It is, after all, a measure of time, rather than learning. It has also been seen as a barrier to more dynamic and student-centered approaches to teaching and learning. The COVID 19 pandemic reinforced these deficiencies, complicating efforts to provide more flexible pathways for students, and to “count” learning that took place beyond the school walls and school day.
Even the Carnegie Foundation itself, which established the eponymous Carnegie Unit in 1906, is deeply engaged in efforts to replace it.
Because it is so deeply embedded in the education landscape, though, moving beyond the Carnegie Unit will require addressing a series of interconnected challenges.
Identifying desired learning outcomes. For as long as anyone can remember, the chief indicator that students were prepared to graduate from high school was the accumulation of the requisite number of Carnegie Unit credits, across a required set of content areas. Any alternative to this approach will require a redefinition of what students must know and be able to do in order to be prepared for life beyond high school. Encouragingly, a number of states and districts have adopted “Profile of a Graduate” models, which seek to define these desired student outcomes more clearly.
Embracing new models of teaching and learning. In order for students to achieve these desired outcomes, a new “ecosystem” of policies and practices related to curriculum and instruction will need to be developed and implemented. States and districts have explored new models for teaching and learning that are more student-centered and competency-based, are differentiated to meet student needs, and are delivered through multiple modalities and in multiple settings.
Creating new processes for tracking student learning. The accumulation of Carnegie Unit credits has long been the yardstick by which student progress and achievement has been measured and documented. As definitions of college and career readiness evolve, and new instructional approaches and settings become the norm, new processes for measuring, tracking, and reporting student learning will need to be developed.
Engaging key stakeholders in new ways. The Carnegie Unit is not only the common currency of the K-12 system, but is also used by stakeholders outside the system, such as higher education institutions, scholarship-granting organizations, and even athletic conferences. It is also widely understood by parents and families from their own K-12 experiences. Given these stakeholders, any effort to replace the Carnegie Unit will need to be accompanied by robust communications and stakeholder engagement strategies.
Beyond the Carnegie Unit
The goal of the Hoover Institution’s Beyond the Carnegie Unit project is to explore the ways that schools and districts are tackling these challenges, deepening our understanding of effective practice and highlighting promising approaches.
To inform this work, the Hoover Institution has created a set of data collection tools and information gathering processes.
The Beyond the Carnegie Unit Surveys
To better understand the nature of the Carnegie Unit-related reforms being explored by schools and districts, two online survey instruments have been created.
- The Launch Survey. Upon implementing a new reform approach, schools and districts are asked to complete the Launch Survey. This survey is designed to gather information on the origin and intent of the proposed reform, as well as the details of its planning and implementation.
- The Reflection Survey. Once the innovative approach has reached the point where its success can be evaluated, participating schools and districts are asked to complete the Reflection Survey. This survey is designed to gather lessons learned about the reform, including adaptations that were made, outcomes that were realized, and next steps to be undertaken.
Through this combination of surveys, the Hoover Institution hopes to learn from these innovations --the "what" and "why" and "how" of what was done, and the "what did we learn" from the experience.
The Beyond the Carnegie Unit interviews
As an alternative to the surveys, the Hoover Institution is also providing an opportunity for schools and districts to participate in structured interviews with researchers. Using this form, interested schools and districts can request an interview, which will likewise be designed to gather information about the Carnegie Unit-related reforms.
Telling the Story
Using the information gathered through these processes, Hoover’s research team will craft brief project summaries describing these innovations, which will be posted on the Beyond the Carnegie Unit website. Maintaining a catalog of these efforts will allow researchers to identify promising practices from across the nation, while also highlighting the innovative approaches being undertaken by school and district leaders.
The Carnegie Unit has been a part of the landscape of public education in the US for more than a century. Moving away from its industrial-era, time-based architecture will take considerable effort. Given the nation’s decentralized system of schooling, most of that effort will have to take place at the school and district level. And while there are high levels of experimentation in schools across the country, there have been few attempts to document those reforms more fully or to look across these efforts and establish guidance for policymakers. In collaboration with school and district leaders, the Hoover Institution hopes to achieve both of these goals though the Beyond the Carnegie Unit initiative.
