63 Copyright © 2018, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 4 DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-5085-3.ch004 ABSTRACT The challenges of educating a shifting demographic for a shifting job market, with a solution that enhances educational equity and efectively develops competence, has been demonstrated by WGU’s implementation of competency-based education (CBE). WGU’s model is scalable and maintains aford- ability. The chapter presents an idealized model of CBE that extends the practice and analyzes its and WGU’s contribution to equitable education, afordability, and scalability. The analysis of the model’s contribution to equity highlights the importance of explicitly including identity and personal factors in assessment and evaluation. The idealized model is recommended to improve equity through encouraging self-growth, identity formation, evaluation, and assessment for improvement. INTRODUCTION Employment trends in the United States have shifted. Student demographics are shifting. All institutions face a growing demand from underserved categories of students (Snyder, de Brey, & Dillow, 2016, p. 497, tab. 306.30). Writing on behalf of State Higher Education Executive Officers and Complete Col- lege America, Zaback et al, in their report, Serving the Equity Imperative, call for intentional actions to Adult Learner-Centered and Scalable Online Competency- Based Education David E. Leasure Higher Learning Challenge LLC, USA Daniel K. Apple Pacifc Crest, USA Amy P. Fulton University of Michigan, USA Lucas B. Kavlie Western Governors University, USA