The ideas making the rounds last week at the virtual SXSW EDU conference—usually hosted in Austin, Texas—weren't anything new. Higher education experts and college officials spoke of the need for digital equity, unbundled degrees, and better alignment between credentials and the skills employers are seeking.

A year into the coronavirus pandemic, however, these ideas have taken on more urgency. Without accessible and flexible credentials, experts suggest, the country will struggle to meet workforce needs during the economic recovery and well into the future. 

When college campuses closed because of COVID-19, students experienced waves of loneliness, fear, upheaval, and grief. Some lost loved ones; others saw their parents lose their jobs and their families sink into poverty. Nearly all experienced a degree of depression from being apart from their friends and missing important milestones. Even students who thrived with distance learning endured periods of frustration and sadness.

But some advocates foresee schools and colleges adopting permanent changes in the way they address students’ mental health needs, leading to long-term improvements in campus climate and students’ overall well-being.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute announced on Monday that it will adopt a “test-blind” admission policy. Starting this fall, the institution will no longer consider ACT or SAT scores for all applicants as part of an eight-year pilot.

WPI's Andrew B. Palumbo is a vocal critic of testing requirements. In this interview, he discusses why the institution reached its decision to ditch the ACT and SAT altogether, how the pandemic has changed the standardized-testing debate, and the questions he thinks institutional leaders should be asking themselves about their admission requirements.