The Pathsmith® Durable Skills Framework is designed to future-proof learners and earners with the skills needed for economic mobility in a rapidly changing world.
Built on our original research, data, and comprehensive employer-informed framework, Pathsmith® is an ingredient brand that powers products and services like curriculum, assessments, professional development, skills-based hiring, professional upskilling, and Portraits of a Graduate.
How We Built It
The Pathsmith® Durable Skills Framework was not developed in isolation or overnight. Every component is grounded in research, validated by practitioners, and stress-tested against real employer demand.
It began in 2021 with an analysis of more than 80 million job postings, identifying the durable skills employers request most consistently across industries, roles, and geographies. From there, subject matter experts from major employers helped define the core competencies and proficiency levels that became the Durable Skills Lexicon and Early Career Performance Rubric. That work was further shaped by a global validation survey, a national feedback tour, and an embedded equity review to ensure the framework reflects diverse learners and contexts, resulting in a framework informed by more than 800 employers and grounded in what the labor market is actually asking for.
The PK-16 Developmental Progression and Development and Application Guide later extended that foundation into early learning, drawing on developmental research, expert review, and a multi-month educator pilot to expand the framework’s scope from K-12 to PK-16. The result is a framework that is employer-generated, research-validated, practitioner-tested, and equity-conscious, built to serve the full ecosystem of stakeholders who shape how learners develop, from early childhood through early career.