Assessing 21st Century Skills

It’s never been more important to teach 21^st century skills—the cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal competencies that students need to thrive in postsecondary education and the global workforce.

But teaching these skills—and assessing them—sparks a number of challenging issues. The Center for Assessment has produced an array of resources on defining, teaching and assessing 21^st century skills, and has assembled them in this toolkit. We’ve also included key highlights of our work on assessing social and emotional learning (SEL).

Below are the blog posts and literature reviews from our series on 21^st century skills.

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Overview & Considerations

• Instruction & Assessing 21^st Century Skills: Introduction & Overview (Evans, Thompson & Brandt, June 2020)

• Key Measurement and Assessment Considerations (Evans, Thompson & Brandt, 2020)

• Classroom Assessment Design, and Grading & Reporting (Evans, Thompson & Brandt, 2020)

Collaboration

• Collaboration (Evans, June 2020)

• Measuring Student Success Skills: A literature review on collaboration (Evans, March 2021)

Complex Communication

• Complex Communication (Thompson, 2020)

• Measuring Student Success Skills: A literature review on complex communication (Thompson, 2020)

Creative Thinking

• Creative Thinking (Brandt, 2024)

• Measuring Student Success Skills: A literature review on creative thinking (Brandt, 2023)

Creativity

• Creativity (Brandt, 2022)

• Measuring Student Success Skills: A literature review on creativity (Brandt, 2021)

Critical Thinking

• Critical Thinking (Evans, 2020)

• Measuring Student Success Skills: A literature review on critical thinking (Evans, 2020)

Ethical Thinking

• Ethical Thinking

• Measuring Student Success Skills: A literature review on ethical thinking (Lorié, 2023)

Self-directed Learning

• Self-directed learning (Brandt, 2020)

• Measuring Student Success Skills: A literature review on self-directed learning (Brandt, 2020)

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Assessment (Brandt & Buckley, 2020)

In a four-part blog series, Brandt & Buckley make the case for assessing social-emotional learning, and argue that balanced systems of assessment must effectively support SEL. They offer recommendations for how states, districts, and schools can and should support SEL in responsible and useful ways through assessment.

Part 1: Making the Case for Social Emotional Learning

Part 2: What States Can Do to Support Balanced SEL Assessment Systems

Part 3: How Districts Can Use Assessment to Support Social Emotional Learning

Part 4: How School Leaders Can Use SEL Data to Support Student and Staff Well Being During a Pandemic