ETS is a global education and talent solutions organization enabling lifelong learners to be future ready. The organization advances the science of measurement to build the benchmarks for fair and valid skill assessment - committed to powering human progress by promoting skill proficiency, empowering upward mobility and unlocking more opportunities for everyone, everywhere. With operations in more than 200 countries and territories across the globe, ETS helps more than 50 million people each year to clarify their strengths and find opportunities for growth in education, work and beyond – continuing to make a transformative impact.

In response to the rising demand for skills-based hiring and workforce readiness, ETS developed a comprehensive skills framework aimed at bridging skill gaps across primary and secondary education (K-12), higher education, and the workforce. This work aims to help individuals identify their skills and better position themselves for long-term educational and career success.

Approach and Actions

ETS’s skills framework is built with the goal of aligning educational outcomes with workforce requirements through a shared language of skills that spans primary education through career development. This skills-first framework shifts the emphasis from traditional, school-based academic knowledge alone to recognizing competencies developed across varied educational, occupational, and life experiences.

The journey to create the ETS skills framework began with an extensive analysis of established skills frameworks, such as the World Economic Forum’s Global Skills Taxonomy and the OECD Learning Framework, alongside national frameworks. This crosswalk analysis enabled ETS to pinpoint and define core skills essential for students' transition from high school to career, as well as the skills needed for continued career success. ETS’s findings identified 30 "meta-dimensions" of skills that span multiple frameworks and educational levels, resulting in a unified, adaptable framework designed to serve both academic and workforce needs.

One of the primary challenges in developing the ETS skills framework was reconciling the diversity of skill definitions across skills taxonomies, each of which often uses distinct terminologies and targets unique audiences. ETS addressed this by engaging stakeholders from diverse geographies, cultures, and demographics in extensive discussions, ultimately refining the language to ensure neutrality and adaptability across contexts.

Key Lessons Learned

ETS identified two key success drivers that were essential to the development of their skills taxonomy:

• Accessible Language: To ensure that the ETS skills framework is accessible and applicable across K-12, higher education, and the workforce, ETS prioritized the use of simplified, standardized language. This inclusive approach enhances the framework's versatility across contexts, enabling ETS to provide comprehensive tools for skills-based hiring, career development, and performance assessment. Clear and accessible terminology promotes greater engagement among educators, employers, and students, allowing the framework to meet the needs of a broad audience effectively. 
• Continuous Stakeholder Feedback: ETS emphasizes the importance of ongoing feedback from stakeholders to continuously refine skill definitions and ensure alignment with both academic and workforce needs. This iterative design and testing process validates the framework’s effectiveness in real-world applications. Early and ongoing engagement with stakeholders allows for adaptable definitions based on feedback, ensuring that the framework remains relevant, comprehensive, and responsive to changing needs. 

Through the skills framework, ETS is advancing a unified model for skills development that aligns with strategic educational and workforce goals while remaining flexible for future needs. This initiative is set to evolve further, with upcoming pilots aimed at enhancing predictive skill assessments, underscoring ETS’s commitment to a sustainable, skills-based educational framework. ETS will be incorporating this skills framework across new and in-progress offerings that will be providing skills insights for both education and talent solutions.