What If Durable Human Skills Are Part Standardized Testing?

Every year, schools devote significant attention to what students know.

Can they read and comprehend increasingly complex text?

Can they apply mathematical concepts?

Can they demonstrate proficiency in science and other academic subjects?

These measures matter. Academic knowledge matters. But as school leaders reflect on one year and prepare for the next, there is another important question worth asking:

What skills do students need not only to succeed in school, but to thrive in life?

Some of those skills may never appear as a line item on a standardized test.

Communication.

Relationship building.

Self-awareness and self-regulation.

Collaboration.

Confidence.

Agency.

The ability to navigate challenges.

The ability to positively influence the people and environments around us.

These are increasingly being described as durable skills or, as we often call them at I AM Noticed, durable human skills. They matter in classrooms. They matter in careers. They matter in relationships and communities. And in a world being rapidly transformed by technology and artificial intelligence, the distinctly human capabilities students develop may become even more important.

What Are Durable Human Skills?

Durable human skills are transferable capabilities people can use across different environments and throughout their lives. Unlike a skill tied to one particular job, platform, or technology, durable skills travel with us. Consider communication: A student uses communication during a classroom discussion today. That same student may eventually use it during a college interview, team meeting, difficult conversation with a coworker, presentation to a client, or conversation with their own family. The context changes. The human skill remains valuable.

The same is true for collaboration, empathy, confidence, self-awareness, relationship building, problem-solving, agency, and leadership. These aren't “extra” skills students need after academics are finished. They help students navigate the environments in which learning itself happens.

What Do Durable Skills Have to Do With Standardized Testing?

Let's make an important distinction. Most standardized academic assessments are designed to measure specific academic knowledge and skills. They aren't direct assessments of whether a student feels connected, communicates effectively, has confidence, demonstrates empathy, or knows how to build relationships. But that doesn't mean those human skills are irrelevant to academic performance.

Consider the student experience surrounding learning.

A student walks into the classroom.

• Engages with instruction.

• Asks questions.

• Communicates when they don't understand.

• Navigates frustration.

• Recovers after mistakes.

• Works with others.

• Accepts feedback.

• Persists when something is difficult.

• And eventually demonstrates what they've learned.

Academic performance doesn't happen in a vacuum. There is a human being underneath the score. That is why we believe durable human skills are an important part of the broader story surrounding student success.

Connection Can Change How Students Engage

Students learn in relationships and communities. When students experience meaningful connection at school, they may approach learning differently. They may be more willing to participate; more comfortable asking for help; more willing to take an academic risk; and more likely to see themselves as part of the learning community.

Creating connection isn't separate from learning. It helps create an environment where learning can happen.

Confidence Influences How Students Show Up

Imagine two students encountering the same difficult problem.

One thinks: “I'm terrible at this. I can't do it.”

The other thinks: “This is hard, but I can try another strategy.”

Neither statement changes the academic content, but it can change what happens next.

Confidence doesn't mean believing everything will be easy or that we will always succeed.

At I AM Noticed, confidence begins with a foundational belief that Noticing the goodness in ourselves and others is a game changer! It changes how we can authentically practice positive self talk such as:

I can try.

I can make a mistake.

I can learn.

I can ask for help.

I can keep going.

I am enough.

I belong here.

Positive self-talk, confidence, and agency give students tools for navigating the inevitable challenges involved in learning.

Communication and Collaboration Are Academic Skills, Too

Learning rarely happens in complete isolation. Students listen.

They explain their thinking.

They ask questions.

They work in groups.

They interpret other perspectives.

They give and receive feedback.

They advocate for what they need.

Communication and collaboration aren't simply future workplace skills. Students are using them right now, and the more opportunities students have to intentionally practice these durable human skills, the more tools they have available to participate meaningfully in their education.

Durable Human Skills and Real World Readiness

The importance of these skills extends far beyond K–12 education.

Technology will continue to change. Specific job responsibilities will evolve. Some technical skills students learn today may eventually be automated, updated, or replaced, but people will still need to

communicate.

build trust.

collaborate.

exercise judgment.

navigate change.

lead.

listen.

adapt.

contribute.

develop relationships, and

understand themselves and others.

This is why conversations about college and career readiness should include more than technical preparation. Students need opportunities to develop the human capabilities that help them apply knowledge effectively in the real world.

Durable Human Skills Shouldn't Be Left to Chance

Schools are already developing these skills. The opportunity isn't to add something entirely new. It's to become more intentional about what is already happening.

What if schools created common language and common practices around durable human skills?

What if students had developmentally appropriate opportunities to practice them throughout their PreK–12 experience?

What if educators were supported by infrastructure that made this work easier to implement consistently?

That's when individual moments begin to become a system --That is I AM Noticed.

Building an Environments To Practice Human Skills Every Day

At I AM Noticed, we believe teaching durable human skills and creating positive school culture are deeply connected. Students need opportunities to learn about connection, kindness, confidence, communication, agency, and leadership.

But instruction alone isn't enough, they also need an environment where they can practice those skills in actionable ways.

That might mean learning how to

Notice goodness in another person and communicate it.

Practicing positive self-talk during a challenge.

Recognizing the difference between confidence and arrogance.

Learning to listen intentionally.

Using their voice.

Taking responsibility for their influence.

Contributing to the culture of their classroom and school.

When these practices become part of the daily experience, students aren't simply learning about human skills. They're developing them.

Academic Success and Real World Readiness Don't Compete

Schools face enormous pressure to improve academic outcomes. That makes it tempting to view anything outside direct academic instruction as competing for precious time.

We propose that our partners look at that a little differently.

Durable human skills don't have to compete with academics. They can strengthen the conditions in which academic learning takes place.

• Students who feel connected can engage differently.

• Students who believe they matter can participate differently.

• Students who have practiced communication can advocate for themselves differently.

• Students who develop confidence and agency can approach challenges differently.

• And students who understand their influence can contribute differently to the learning environment around them.

Preparing Students for School, Home, and Life

Standardized test scores will continue to provide schools with important information about academic learning, but no single score can tell the complete story of a student's readiness for the world ahead.

As schools look toward the future, one of our greatest opportunities is to intentionally teach durable human skills while creating school environments where students have opportunities to practice them every day.

Because ultimately, the skills that help students successfully navigate school are often the same skills they'll need to successfully navigate life.

Those skills are the same skills that lead to positive school culture and they are too important to leave to chance.