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Carnegie Foundation and ETS Unveil Skills Progressions Framework

On January 21, 2026, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Educational Testing Service (ETS) jointly launched their first set of Skills Progressions. This initiative focuses on essential skills such as Collaboration, Communication, and Critical Thinking aimed at enhancing student outcomes in education and beyond.

A Groundbreaking Framework

The newly introduced framework aims to define and refine the crucial abilities that students require for success in school, work, and life. Given the rapidly changing landscape, especially influenced by technological advancements like Artificial Intelligence, the need for a clear understanding of these skills has become paramount. These Skills Progressions serve as foundational standards to complement academic subjects in American high schools.

The disparities between the skills students currently learn and those they need to thrive in their future endeavors are glaringly obvious. The modern workforce increasingly demands collaboration, effective communication, and critical thinking. However, many educational institutions have yet to prioritize these skills in the same way they do traditional academic subjects. This begs the question: How can schools effectively equip students for real-world challenges?

Many states have recognized this need and have initiated the development of 'Portraits of a Graduate,' which presents a more comprehensive vision of student outcomes by graduation. This vision includes both academic knowledge and vital skills that have been shown to predict long-term success in various fields. However, merely outlining a vision is the first of many steps. For these skills to hold true value, postsecondary institutions and employers need shared, scientifically-backed definitions. What do these skills look like at various stages? What conditions foster their development? How can we measure proficiency?

Overview of the Skills Progressions

The first set of Skills Progressions encompasses three key areas:

1. Collaboration - This progression examines students' evolution from basic participation in group activities to integrating diverse opinions, managing conflicts, and establishing trust within teams.

2. Communication - This focuses on the journey from simple message creation to more complex adaptations based on audience, context, and various communication methods, including active listening and comprehension skills that enable authentic dialogue.

3. Critical Thinking - This details how students develop their ability to inquire, evaluate information, and construct evidence-based arguments, culminating in sound reasoning and decision-making, especially amid uncertainty.

Dr. Timothy F.C. Knowles, President of the Carnegie Foundation, emphasizes the importance of honing these essential skills for students to succeed across various aspects of life. The foundation aims to create a shared 'human skills genome,' offering clear definitions of essential capabilities that facilitate reasoning, connection, and creative contribution to society. Without widely accessible and continually improved definitions, creating opportunities for millions of individuals remains a daunting challenge.

Additionally, these Skills Progressions have been developed with extensive input from leading assessment experts, ensuring they are grounded in decades of multidisciplinary research from physical, developmental, and social sciences. The Progressions are crafted to articulate the gradual sophistication of these skills while considering that they are often utilized together, rather than independently. Feedback from educators, higher education leaders, and workforce sectors has been vital to ensuring relevance and credibility across varied contexts.

Future Endeavors and Ongoing Efforts

Amit Sevak, CEO of ETS, notes that often, the capabilities valued in education go unrecognized in the learning process. These Skills Progressions are intentionally designed to enhance visibility and coherence among educational practices, research, and policies. Through the joint Skills for the Future initiative, the effects of this framework will permeate the educational landscape, influencing student records, curricula, assessments, and educational technologies. The goal is to enrich the lives of countless individuals, allowing them to achieve academic excellence and contribute meaningfully to civil society.

To further this mission, the Carnegie Foundation has formed a group of Senior Fellows tasked with identifying additional skills necessary for success in an evolving world. These experts come from diverse fields and are committed to ensuring that subsequent Progressions are grounded in rigorous research, adaptable to the demands of modern education and the workplace.

Looking ahead, further Progressions are expected to be released later this year, continuing this critical work aimed at transforming education and equipping students to navigate their futures more effectively.

About the Organizations

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Founded by an act of Congress in 1906, the Carnegie Foundation has long fostered transformational changes in the education sector. Its current mission is focused on transforming American high schools to optimize the role of the postsecondary sector as a vehicle for social mobility.

Educational Testing Service (ETS)

As a global educational assessment and talent solutions organization, ETS is dedicated to enabling lifelong learners to demonstrate their skills. Their commitment to readiness for future careers aims to prepare over 100 million individuals by 2035, bolstered by trusted assessments such as GRE, TOEFL, and more.

For further information, visit Carnegie Foundation and ETS.