Written by Melody Su and edited by Michael Crawford & Sherri Widen
We’re inviting educators from across the country to pilot test resources from the forthcoming K–12 Durable Skills Framework. Whether you’re a classroom teacher, instructional coach, counselor, or youth program staff member, this is your chance to shape tools that will help learners build durable skills — the real-world skills they need to thrive in life, learning, and work. This is an opportunity with low commitment and high impact — and your voice will help shape what comes next. Sign up for the pilot here.
How Experts from Across the Country Helped Shape the Future of Durable Skills Education
Over three intensive convenings, we brought together subject matter experts, educators, and industry professionals to tackle an ambitious challenge: translating workplace-ready durable skills into age-appropriate language and learning experiences for K-12 students. These collaborative sessions—which examined language and developmental appropriateness, child and youth development principles, and future-readiness perspectives—exceeded our expectations and directly informed our approach.
The Challenge: Making Durable Skills Accessible for K-12 Learners
The Pathsmith™ Durable Skills Advantage Framework was developed by America Succeeds, to future-proof learners with the skills needed for economic mobility in a rapidly changing world. With over 2,000 downloads of its Starter Edition, and with growing interest in adapting the framework for K-12 learners, America Succeeds launched the K-12 Durable Skills Framework project.
The challenge? How do you adapt concepts like “strategic thinking” and “professional communication” for kindergarteners? How do you ensure that critical thinking skills introduced in elementary school create a foundation that builds seamlessly through high school and beyond?
These were the questions our Denver convenings tackled head-on.
A Research-Practice Collaborative in Action
Our approach brought together rigorous research and real-world classroom expertise. The 29 subject matter experts (SMEs) we convened across three sessions brought over 300 years of collective experience working with K-12 learners.
For each of the three convenings, we analyzed 10 durable skills domains and 74 subskills across four grade bands (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12), ensuring our framework would be both developmentally appropriate and academically rigorous.
Key Findings and Breakthroughs
Across all three convenings, three critical insights emerged that are shaping our approach to K-12 durable skills development:
1. Human-Centered Skills Are the Future
Participants consistently emphasized that as AI advances, human-centered capabilities will become even more critical. The group identified compassion, empathy, critical thinking, and interpersonal relationships as the most enduring skills, regardless of technological changes—making them essential foundations for K-12 development.
2. A Reference Framework, Not a Rigid System
We developed the K-12 Durable Skills Framework as a reference tool that educators can adapt to meet diverse student needs. We recognize that cultural, socioeconomic, and individual learning differences affect how students develop these skills. Our emerging framework provides a foundation for building toolkits and resources that support developmental progress in all 10 durable skills domains.
3. Development Over Assessment
Rather than creating new ways to rank students, we’re building learning-embedded approaches. Our SMEs generated over 260 ideas for implementation resources and tools, determining the most impactful ones and completing detailed SWOT analyses for them.
What’s Next: From Research to Practice
The insights from Denver are now shaping the creation of light-weight resources for our upcoming pilot. The SMEs’ expertise is directly informing the tools that educators will test in real classrooms and learning environments this fall.
Want to Be Part of the Story?
We’re seeking K-12 educators (i.e., teachers, youth program staff, counselors, and others who work with K-12-aged learners) to participate in our free pilot program from October to December 2025. This is your chance to get early access to framework-aligned resources and help shape their final form. By participating in this pilot, you’ll not only gain access to durable skills resources early, but also you’ll join a community of like-minded educators striving to help equip youth for what lies ahead.
The Bigger Picture
These convenings were just the beginning. We’re building a comprehensive, research-backed, practitioner-informed framework that bridges the gap between learning in classrooms/youth programs and real-world success. By bringing together K-5 specialists, 6-12 educators, and industry professionals, we aim to create a cohesive approach that supports students from kindergarten through career.
Stay tuned for insights on our research in upcoming blog posts. And join our free pilot program and greater community to be part of this transformative work.
About the K–12 Durable Skills Framework Project
This multi-phase initiative equips learners with core human and professional skills that employers demand and learners need for long-term success. Learn more at americasucceeds.org/k12.
