In the evolving landscape of education and workforce development, the traditional metrics of assessment are increasingly seen as insufficient. The report “A New Vision for Skills-Based Assessment” (2023) by ETS and the Carnegie Foundation addresses this concern by advocating for a comprehensive reevaluation of how we define, measure, and value skills in both educational and professional contexts. The report is authored by Ou Lydia Liu, Harrison J. Kell, Lei Liu, Guangming Ling, Yuan Wang, Caroline Wylie, Amit Sevak at ETS and by David Sherer, Paul LeMahieu, and Tim Knowles at Carnegie Foundation.
The report reviews existing frameworks and initiatives in competence-based education in both K-12 and postsecondary education, identifies and defines the critical skills deemed important for life, work, and education, proposes assessment principles and innovative task design in measuring skills that matter, and discusses the creation of professional learning communities for high-fidelity implementation of the new assessment system.
The Limitations of Traditional Assessment Systems
Historically, educational assessments have concentrated on a narrow set of cognitive skills, primarily because they are straightforward to measure. This focus often neglects the diverse array of competencies that students develop through various experiences, both within and outside the classroom. As educational pathways become more nonlinear, with learners acquiring skills from diverse channels such as military service, internships, and community involvement, the traditional assessment systems fail to capture the full spectrum of valuable skills. This misalignment not only overlooks critical competencies but also misses opportunities to provide meaningful insights to learners, educators, and policymakers.
The Imperative for a Broader Skill Set
The modern workforce demands more than just cognitive proficiency. Employers are increasingly seeking individuals who possess a blend of cognitive, behavioral, and affective skills. These include critical thinking, collaboration, adaptability, and emotional intelligence. The report emphasizes that to prepare students effectively for future challenges, education systems must prioritize the development and assessment of these comprehensive skill sets.
Defining and Measuring Essential Skills
To bridge the gap between current educational outcomes and workforce requirements, the report proposes a framework for defining, identifying, and measuring essential skills that contribute to success in educational, occupational, and societal contexts. This involves:
Defining Skills: Clearly articulating the competencies that are crucial for success in various domains.
Identifying Skills: Recognizing and acknowledging the diverse ways in which these skills can be acquired and demonstrated.
Measuring Skills: Developing innovative assessment methods that accurately capture the presence and level of these skills in individuals.
By expanding the scope of assessments to include a wider range of skills, we can create a more holistic understanding of a learner’s capabilities.
Innovative Assessment Practices
The report advocates for the development of professional learning communities that assist educators in understanding and implementing new assessment and instructional practices focused on skills. This collaborative approach ensures that educators are equipped with the knowledge and tools necessary to foster and evaluate a broad spectrum of student competencies.
Technological Infrastructure for Dynamic Assessment
A key component of the proposed vision is the creation of a technological infrastructure that provides dynamic, diagnostic, and continuous data insights. Such a system would offer immediate and ongoing support for learners and educators, enabling real-time tracking of skill development and facilitating timely interventions to address learning gaps.
Conclusion
The report “A New Vision for Skills-Based Assessment” underscores the necessity of transforming our assessment systems to align with the evolving educational and workforce landscapes. By broadening the focus to include a comprehensive range of skills and leveraging innovative assessment practices and technologies, we can better prepare learners for success in all facets of life. ETS’s initiatives exemplify a commitment to this transformative vision, striving to create assessment systems that recognize and cultivate the full spectrum of human potential.
As the main organization behind this report, ETS has been at the forefront of advancing skills-based assessment through various initiatives such as the Skills for the Future, an initiative aiming to build an assessment system that captures evidence of essential and durable skills, in tandem with disciplinary knowledge, to prepare learners for future challenges. ETS has also pushed hard on partnerships for transformative assessments, that is collaborations with organizations like the Carnegie Foundation and others like Accenture focusing on creating new models for talent management centered around skills-based learning and assessment. Those effort are leading to innovative assessment tools that intend to also use AI-enabled talent measurement solutions to measure job skills.
