Written by: Sherri Widen
| Want to be part of shaping what comes next? If you work with learners (ages 4-22 years), we invite you to take our survey! This includes people who work in classroom, out-of-school time, clubs, extracurriculars, and sports contexts. This is your chance to shape the PreK-16 Durable Skills Framework. We want to know what you think! |
From the beginning, the K-12 Durable Skills Project has been guided by a simple principle: the people closest to the work know what works for their learners. That’s why educator and subject matter expert feedback has been central to everything we’ve built.
We’re excited to share how that feedback is reshaping our framework for the better.
A More Focused, Usable Framework
The Pathsmith™ Durable Skills Framework was designed for young adults entering the workplace. Driven by the analysis of 80 million job descriptions with Lightcast, in partnership with CompTIA, and with input from more than 800 employers, it includes 10 durable skills competencies and 74 subskills. It is comprehensive. But feedback from educators about its appropriateness and application in K-12 made one thing clear: it was a LOT. Educators needed something they could use in the flow of a busy school day.
We listened, refined, and condensed. The emerging developmental framework organizes durable skills into four interconnected clusters that encompass 24 skills. It’s still comprehensive, but far more navigable.
Expanding the Age Range
We also heard that durable skills development doesn’t start in kindergarten or end at high school graduation. These capacities emerge early and continue developing beyond high school. In response, we plan to expand from a K-12 focus to PreK-16, including ages 4 through 22. This new model will create a single developmental framework that follows learners from early childhood through early adulthood and into the workforce.
The framework uses a six-level continuum that applies across all ages. A learner in any grade band could be at any level because the Look-Fors describe developmentally appropriate behaviors, not grade-level expectations. A kindergartner demonstrating Level 3 self-management looks different from a high schooler at Level 3, but both are progressing along the same continuum. This design lets educators meet learners where they are while maintaining a coherent throughline from early childhood to early adulthood.
From Rubric to Look-Fors
Perhaps the most meaningful shift came from how educators talked about assessment. Traditional rubrics often focus on what students can’t do yet. Educators told us they wanted language that helped them notice growth, not deficits.
Our new six-level developmental continuum uses a Look-Fors format built on strengths-based language. Instead of evaluating students against criteria, educators can observe what learners can do at each level and support their progression forward. This approach aligns with how skilled educators already think about student development.
Refining Through Partnership
This framework is being shaped through ongoing collaboration with the people who will use it. We’re launching focus groups with subject matter experts to gather feedback on the four skill clusters and the skill progression. At the same time, we’re surveying educators across grade bands to hear their perspectives on the skills progression and teacher-facing materials because a kindergarten teacher, a middle school teacher, and a college professor see student development through very different lenses.
What excites us most is that the evolution of the new framework didn’t come from a team meeting or organizational directive. They came from practitioners who care deeply about helping young people develop the skills they need to thrive.
Want to be part of shaping what comes next? If you work with learners (ages 4-22 years), we invite you to take our survey! This includes people who work in classroom, out-of-school time, clubs, extracurriculars, and sports contexts. This is your chance to shape the PreK-16 Durable Skills Framework. We want to know what you think!
