Strategy 2: Develop Skills for Educational and Workforce Success in a Changing World
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Promising Practice
Commission Recommendation
The rapidly shifting demands of the global economy and American labor market mean that learners and employees will need to be increasingly adaptable. Developing durable skills and core competencies can help learners be “AI-proof” and provide stability through adaptability while also building their agency in the use of AI that may lead to greater innovation.56 As the evolution of AI continues to disrupt career pathways, educators should focus on embedding durable skill development through competency-based experiences both in and out of the classroom alongside fostering learners’ digital and AI literacy.
Stackable credentials are a sequence of portable, industry-recognized certificates, badges, or licenses that allow learners to validate skills incrementally and “stack” them over time toward higher-level qualifications, such as an associate or bachelor’s degree. Designing such credentials to validate learners’ durable skills and align to industry standards in high-demand occupations would better prepare learners to pivot in their careers. As labor market and business practices shift with technological advancements, the skills most in demand for employees will also continually change. A collaborative education and workforce ecosystem will allow for timely and responsive feedback loops about these changes and will support learners’ development of valued skills.
Recommendation 4
Promote Durable Skills Across the P-20 Continuum
The Commission’s listening sessions and meetings with education leaders, employers, and community partners made abundantly clear that they consider durable skills to be central to learners’ future success in work and life. This feedback aligns with recent national surveys of employers who agree that durable skills are essential for employees at all levels to thrive in a workplace augmented by AI.57 These durable skills are commonly understood to include collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking, leadership, problem-solving, and working in groups across differences. Other components, as outlined by America Succeeds, include character, fortitude, a growth mindset, metacognition, and mindfulness.58
Students also need to reach proficiency in core academic content areas, becoming literate, numerate, and competent in the scientific method by the time they graduate from high school. Additionally, core competencies in civic, digital, and financial skills are critical to learners’ future success and confidence in themselves and the world around them. The rapid growth and spread of AI have made durable skills even more valuable in allowing learners and employees to adapt to labor market changes. Finally, the key to unlocking a first apprenticeship, internship, or job is often the social capital and professional network within a learner’s industry of interest.
Expand Durable Skills Development Inside and Outside Classrooms
To prepare learners for a complex and evolving world, educators at all levels should incorporate into their curricula a range of skills, including core competencies, the ability to work in teams, and durable skills such as resilience, adaptability, and problem-solving. These skills can be fostered in the classroom and are also often learned through the liberal arts, creative pursuits and the arts, and extracurricular experiences such as community service, sports, and clubs. Classroom design, strong pedagogy, and role modeling by teachers and mentors also promote these vital skills and help learners to develop their sense of self, critical thinking, and collaboration skills.
Turnaround Arts is a national program of The Kennedy Center that provides arts education resources and a learning framework to Title I elementary and middle schools across seventeen states and Washington, D.C. In seven public schools in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this programming provides learners with artistic and musical instruction and is also integrated into other classes in which learners develop critical thinking and presentation skills.59
Durable skills may seem intangible or difficult to describe if they remain unnamed or undefined. Educators cannot be expected to support learners’ development of durable skills if they are unable to measure learners’ proficiency and track their progress against clearly defined benchmarks. Educators and service-year programs must have valid and reliable measurement tools that can validate durable skills and competencies. Additionally, such tools must be developed in partnership with employers or industry associations to be trusted and valued in the workplace.60
THE COMMISSION RECOMMENDS that the development of learners’ durable skills be intentionally integrated into K–12 and college-level curricula to ensure that educators have the language, resources, and incentives to support this important aspect of individuals’ education.
Ensure Digital and AI Literacy
The development of digital literacy has become an essential educational priority for learners in both K–12 and postsecondary settings. As digital technologies increasingly shape communication and information access, work and economic mobility, and civic life, learners need the knowledge and skills to navigate digital environments thoughtfully and responsibly. In recent years, the rapid expansion of AI tools has further heightened the importance of digital literacy, requiring learners not only to use technology effectively but also to understand its capabilities, limitations, and broader societal implications.
Activities to develop digital literacy should include an AI component that teaches learners how to responsibly use new tools and how to determine the validity of information that may be produced by AI. To protect learners, AI should be introduced in a developmentally appropriate manner and in a controlled environment at first. The AI-Enabled Professional Competencies Framework outlines how seven competencies, including AI and data literacy, problem-solving and creativity, computational skills, and continuous learning, can be scaled to different educational and professional levels.61 Developing digital literacy across educational levels supports adaptability in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.
States have increasingly embedded digital literacy requirements within K–12 systems, often through computer science standards, media literacy laws, or broader digital learning frameworks that emphasize skills such as information evaluation, digital citizenship, and technology use. For example, New Jersey mandates instruction in information literacy across grades, while states such as Arizona, North Dakota, Utah, and Virginia have developed comprehensive digital literacy frameworks that are integrated into core academic standards.62
THE COMMISSION RECOMMENDS that all K–12 and college learners be supported in developing and demonstrating competency in digital and AI literacy.
Integrate Civic Education and Engagement
Learners can build familiarity with civic habits through structured opportunities to experience and demonstrate civil and respectful discourse and practice communicating across differences in class and around campus. Key elements of civic education, such as American government structures and procedures, electoral and legal systems, and participatory democracy activities, can be appropriately taught to learners at all levels and in a variety of classes and contexts. Additionally, service learning, campus-community partnerships, and structured community service projects allow learners to apply disciplinary knowledge in real-world contexts. Military service and service-year programs provide ample opportunities to practice civic skills.
Institutions of higher education in the United States play a significant role in preparing learners for civic engagement by cultivating the knowledge, skills, values, and opportunities necessary for participation in democratic society and community life. In classrooms, courses in disciplines such as political science, sociology, and economics give learners the knowledge and tools to reflect on the political, social, and economic factors shaping community conditions. Outside the classroom, institutions of higher education also foster civic participation and leadership through various student organizations, debate societies, and volunteer groups. Opportunities to bridge the classroom and local community include learners and scholars partnering with local leaders and organizations to address societal challenges such as climate change and food insecurity.
A recent Academy publication, Preparing Students for Civic Life, provides guidance to higher education leaders on how to embed civic education and engagement across departments and multiple aspects of campus life.63 One case study presented in the publication spotlights the Institute of American Civics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, which has pioneered initiatives to connect undergraduates with their local government. The institute’s Public Square lecture series seeks to educate learners, the public, and local lawmakers about issues that are resonant for the local government. Undergraduate policy lab courses have picked up some topics from the Public Square series and, following small-group discussions with local elected officials, provided evidence-based recommen-dations for potential solutions.
THE COMMISSION RECOMMENDS that, in K–12 and college settings, educators expand civic education and engagement that are related to coursework and sustained over time to provide learners with a foundational understanding of constitutional governance, the U.S. election system, and the rights and obligations of American citizens.
Strengthen Learners’ Social Capital Networks and Engagement
Social capital and economic connectedness across socioeconomic classes are important drivers of economic mobility.64 Learners with social connections across socioeconomic classes are more likely to be able to leverage their network for future career success. In K–12, college, service, and workplace settings, learners should be provided with structured and supported opportunities to meet employers, mentors, and peers across socioeconomic groups. Experiences that build social capital may look different at different grade levels and should be appropriately matched to learners’ development and skills.
One strategy for supporting learners’ social capital development is to directly embed professional networking into coursework. Through structured opportunities to practice networking with employers in low-stakes environments, learners build networks and social capital with professionals in their field of interest while gaining exposure into that industry.
Braven, an intermediary organization connecting higher education, college success organizations, and employers, regularly convenes employer-engagement events, such as industry spotlight panels, networking sessions, and skill-building opportunities, where learners interact with professionals in their industries of interest. Braven staff design and facilitate these experiences so that they are safe spaces to practice networking, while also creating the conditions for learners to make meaningful connections with professionals. Through these events, employers also have access to prospective employees from a wider variety of backgrounds to grow their talent pipelines.65
THE COMMISSION RECOMMENDS that high schools, institutions of higher education, and service-year programs partner with local employers to develop career-connected learning and professional networking that builds learners’ social capital.
Recommendation 5
Validate and Demonstrate Essential Knowledge and Competencies
The standard model of high school education in the United States has remained mostly unchanged for decades and is widely criticized as unengaging and inequitable.66 The one-size-fits-all mode of instruction, based on how long learners are taught as opposed to how much they learn, does not adequately recognize the important competencies, knowledge, and skills that learners develop outside the classroom or while moving at their own pace through material. With growing evidence of the positive impacts of project-based and experiential learning, more educators are incorporating these types of assignments and instructional practices into their classes.67 However, more flexibility in requirements for “seat time” in classrooms could lead to more student-centered learning approaches.
“Self-led learning helps you learn who you are.”
—Learner at a career academy in North Dakota
Recently, some employers have turned to skills-based hiring to fill open positions with candidates who have the necessary skills and competencies; more than half of U.S. states have issued policies encouraging the practice.68 Skills-based hiring typically involves examining job descriptions and removing or decreasing degree requirements in favor of enumerating the knowledge, skills, and competencies needed for the role. At the same time, education leaders are reexamining the standard educational experience and measurement of learning, which has historically been the Carnegie Unit.69
An overreliance on report cards and transcripts impacted by grade inflation has led to a growing “honesty gap” between reports of learner progress and learners’ actual proficiency, as demonstrated by continuing declining performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.70 States, local school districts, and higher education institutions need to realign high school graduation requirements, postsecondary credentials, and reporting through transcripts and diplomas to ensure that diplomas, degrees, and other industry-valued credentials reflect demonstrated proficiency and preparedness for careers and college in the twenty-first century.
Expand Competency-Based Education and Accept Competency-Based Transcripts for College Admissions
A competency-based high school or college transcript should validate learners’ proficiency in high-demand, durable skills and academic content standards. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and ETS have partnered to reimagine the assessment of skills learners will need to succeed in the twenty-first century.71 In higher education settings and service-year programs, this process may take the form of identifying and promoting microcredentials or badges that could be added to degree paths to validate learners’ competencies. Service-year programs could also develop a competency-based transcript equivalent to document participants’ skills in a format that would be accepted in college admissions processes.
In New Hampshire, the Performance Assessment of Competency Education (PACE), which has since transitioned into the Performance Learning and Assessment Consortium for Educators (PLACE), empowers local educators to design performance assessments that align to state academic standards.72 PACE has decreased the frequency of standardized state assessments to just four of the K–12 grade levels and relies on common tasks in each grade and subject to calibrate assessment of learners’ competencies.
Higher education institutions review transcripts from a large variety of domestic and international high schools and colleges to evaluate applicants’ knowledge, skills, and, ultimately, readiness for college and the workforce. Students with a competency-based high school transcript must be empowered to pursue any of the postsecondary paths best suited to them. College admission processes should treat a competency-based high school or college transcript equitably to other transcripts.
THE COMMISSION RECOMMENDS that competency-based education in K–12 and college settings be expanded to compile a portfolio of learners’ skills and competencies that does not rely on seat time or credit hours to demonstrate mastery of in-demand skills and core academic content. The Commission also recommends that institutions of higher education analyze their admissions practices and endeavor to create a path by which a student with a competency-based high school transcript has a similar application experience to a student with a traditional high school transcript.
Align Graduation Requirements and Diplomas to State Readiness Metrics
High school graduation requirements, for the most part, indicate which classes a state believes are necessary for learners to take to become ready for life after high school. In listening sessions with learners, administrators, and community leaders across the country, the Commission heard that four years of English class was not the only goal they have for high schoolers. The Commission heard about dreams of giving back to parents and local communities, finding meaning in their work, and securing financial stability.
“[My goal is] giving back to my parents tenfold for everything that they’ve done for me.”
—Learner at a community college in Texas
To fully capture expectations for high school graduates, state policymakers, education leaders, employers, and other community stakeholders should define metrics for youth thriving and learner success, potentially through tools such as the Portrait of a Graduate.73 State leaders should also consider the skills that will help graduates adapt and succeed in a rapidly changing economy, especially as AI increasingly impacts on the future of work and reshapes society. This process could then inform a realignment of high school graduation requirements to ensure that learners are set up to succeed and thrive upon graduation.
Upon implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015, a majority of states chose at least one college and career readiness indicator for high school accountability.74 Many of those states also embarked on a process of updating how high school accountability metrics were communicated to learners and families through school report cards and other means. The Commission believes these metrics can be improved to clearly define and communicate readiness across employment in the labor market, enlistment in the military, engagement in service, and enrollment in college. This change would allow learners and families to understand the quality and value of their high school education.
North Dakota’s Choice Ready Framework outlines the essential skills, knowledge, and experiences that all learners will graduate with, including financial literacy and community service, and defines indicators of college, career, and military readiness.75 High schools are then held accountable for the growth in the number of their graduates who demonstrate readiness to undertake at least two of the three pathways. By aligning definitions for the success of high school graduates with the state’s school accountability system, North Dakota has increased coherence and transparency for learners and educators alike.
THE COMMISSION RECOMMENDS that state policymakers collaborate with education leaders, employers, and community stakeholders to define requirements for career, military, service-year, and college readiness and align high school diplomas with these metrics.
Build Partnerships Between Education and Industry to Validate and Demonstrate Competencies
As employers increasingly seek reliable signals of job-relevant skills, they will need to work in partnership with educators to create industry-validated signals of the knowledge and skills learners acquire and help learners translate these competencies into future job prospects. In recent years, interest has grown in using learning and employment records (LERs) as tools for documenting individuals’ skills, competencies, and educational experiences across formal and informal settings.76 This shift reflects broader changes in the labor market, including increased demand for demonstrable skills, evolving career pathways, and the expansion of alternative education and training opportunities.
“Are [employers] looking at their English and math grades or whatever to determine if that’s a successful student for work-based learning? To me, it’s about the employability skills, collaboration, critical thinking, the resilience, the durable or soft skills. The current K–12 system doesn’t measure or have any way of indicating what success looks like within that.”
—K–12 administrator in Indiana
In Massachusetts, Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) has launched eleven skill badges that certify the competencies learners develop in existing course sequences.77 The BHCC Skills Badge program addresses a challenging reality: community college liberal arts majors have historically had a difficult time finishing their associate degrees and translating coursework into positive career outcomes. For this reason, while BHCC faculty identified skills developed in their existing courses, employer partners were invited to shape and attend related workplace scenario workshops to validate learners’ skills and build employer trust in the skill badges as a credential.
Experiential, project-based, applied learning opportunities are considered a high-impact practice for engaging learners’ lifetime knowledge and skills and for assessing their mastery of a particular learning outcome and are a ripe opportunity for partnerships between educators, employers, local leaders, service-year programs, and workforce development programs. Capstone courses and projects can be a valuable opportunity to apply and assess learning and skills that are relevant to certain industries and valued for employment.78 Effective capstone courses may include the application of knowledge and skills to a problem-based learning project, which could be a solitary venture or include a project with a community-based organization, or a research project like a written thesis.79 If a capstone course is designed in partnership with local employers, it can provide additional value by allowing learners to demonstrate competencies that align with the career they plan to pursue.
THE COMMISSION RECOMMENDS that educators collaborate with local employers and industry associations across public and private sectors to embed microcredentials or badges along educational paths to create a mechanism for learners to validate and communicate their competencies for future education, employment, or service opportunities.