Skills for Success
Academic learning is only one part of student success. Students also develop skills that help them participate in learning, work with others, respond to challenges, and become increasingly independent.
Skills for Success provide a common way for teachers, students, and families to talk about these transferable skills across secondary courses.
Skills for Success are taught, practiced, and assessed separately from academic learning so families can see both:
- what a student knows and can do academically, and
- how the student is developing skills that support learning and success
What are the Skills for Success?
The framework includes four broad skill areas:
Interpersonal Skills - students develop skills for working and communicating effectively with others
Community Skills - students develop skills for participating responsibly and contributing to a learning community.
Engagement Skills - students develop skills for actively participating in and taking ownership of their learning
Independence & Adaptability Skills - students develop skills for working independently, responding to feedback, solving problems, and adjusting when circumstances or expectations change.
Each broad skill includes supporting skills that help teachers make the skill more specific and meaningful within their course.
What do Skills for Success look like in different classes?
The same skill may look different depending on the course or learning activity.
For example, effective collaboration might include:
- sharing responsibilities during a science lab,
- listening and responding to others during a classroom discussion,
- communicating progress during a group project,
- working together during a rehearsal or performance, or
- following an agreed-upon process when completing a technical task
Teachers identify course-specific indicators and share rubrics with students that describe what a Skill for Success looks like in their particular classroom.
These rubrics help students understand what they are learning, what successful use of the skill looks like, and what they can do to continue developing it.
Skills for Success are taught - not simply observed
Skills for Success are developmental skills. Students should have opportunities to learn and practice a skill before being assessed on it.
Instruction → Practice → Feedback → Assessment → Reflection
Instruction
Teachers introduce the skills and explain what it looks like in the context of the course.
Practice
Students have opportunities to use the skill during classroom learning.
Feedback
Teachers help students recognize what they are doing successfully and identify areas for continued growth.
Assessment
Teachers use observable evidence to determine the student's current level of development with the skill.
Reflection
Students consider their progress and how they can apply the skill in future learning situations.
Over time, repeated experiences across different courses help students develop greater independence and transfer these skills to new situations.
How are Skills for Success assessed?
Teachers assess Skills for Success using four developmental levels:
Emerging
The student is building understanding of the skill through instruction, modeling, practice, and support.
With Guidance
The student is beginning to apply the skill successfully and benefits from guidance, prompting, or structured support.
Practicing
The student applies the skill successfully in most situations with only occasional support.
Independent
The student applies the skill successfully without support and can use the skill in new situations.
These levels describe a student's current development of the skill. They are not judgments about a student's personality or character.
Skills for Success are not measures of compliance
Teachers assess specific, observable skills, not personality traits or general impressions of a student.
For example:
| Observable Skill Evidence | Not Skills for Success Evidence |
| Asks clarifying questions during group work | "Has a good attitude" |
| Communicates progress to group members | "Is nice" |
| Uses equipment and tools appropriately for the task | "Is eager to please" |
| Responds to feedback by making a revision | "Works hard" |
The goal is to give students useful feedback about skills they can understand, practice, and develop.
How do Skills for Success connect to academic learning?
Skills for Success often appear naturally within academic work.
For example, while students are completing a science investigation, they may also be practicing collaboration. During a presentation, students may be developing communication skills. During a long-term project, students may practice independence, planning, and adaptability.
When appropriate, we recommend attaching Skills for Success directly to an academic assignment so the connection between the skill and the learning is clear.
This does not mean the Skills for Success score becomes part of the student's academic score. Academic learning and Skills for Success communicate different information and are reported separately.
What should families look for?
When reviewing Skills for Success with your student, consider asking:
- What skill are you working on?
- What does that skill look like in this class?
- What feedback have you received?
- What can you do independently now?
- Where do you still benefit from guidance or practice?
- Where else could you use this skill?
The purpose of Skills for Success is not simply to assign another score. The goal is to help students recognize, practice, and strengthen skills they can use across courses, future learning, work, and other settings.