Measuring Soft Skills at Scale: Developing an assessment for use by teachers and trainers

• In Event: Measuring soft skills: concepts, methods and results

Proposal

The role of soft skills (also known as work readiness, 21st century, or social-emotional learning skills) in education systems has received increasing attention in the last several years. The intersection between soft skills and workforce, health, and violence prevention outcomes was demonstrated in USAID-funded research by Youth Power Action (Gates, S, et al, 2016). More countries are including specific emphasis on soft skills in their curriculum, especially at the secondary school level. The increasing emphasis on soft skills has exposed a gap in the ability of national education systems to measure soft skills. Through a PSIPSE-funded Echidna Giving project, Education Development Center (EDC) is developing and testing an innovative soft skills assessment that is built with the end-user in mind. Existing soft skill assessments are tested in non-developing countries, require complex analysis, or are so unreliable that they cannot reflect learners in developing countries or provide meaningful information to teachers, trainers, or education officials. EDC’s assessment balances the rigorous research on measuring soft skills with the need for ownership of the test and its analysis by educators and instructors.

However, the project also focuses on more than just building a new assessment tool. Assessments can be a vital component in an effort to improve the quality of education. But as long as Ministries of Education use assessments only as a means to rank schools and students -- the way national exams are used -- they miss the powerful benefit of helping teachers and schools improve quality and efficiency. Instead, implementers must focus on helping educators change the way they administer and use assessment results, align learning goals and assessments, and learn from results.

Therefore, this project also aims to give access to and empower education officials and educators to use assessment data to improve school management and efficiency. The assessment was designed so that educators and ministry officials are able to administer, analyze, discuss with youth and parents, and use results to improve teaching approaches, school decision-making, and management.

The assessment measures four domains: communication, interpersonal skills, dependability, and problem solving/critical thinking. These skills were chosen based on existing research by Youth Power Action (Gates, S. et al, 2016) and a detailed review of essential skills for workforce success by a panel of experts within EDC.

This paper will share the results of field testing of the assessment in Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya alongside key implementing partners. EDC will present its process, field testing results—including details of the test’s fairness and reliability, as well as its work with ministries of education on validating and supporting the assessment.


McGivney, E., Robinson, J.P., Winthrop, Rebecca. (2016). “Millions Learning: Scaling up Quality Education in Developing Countries.” https://www.brookings.edu/research/millions-learning-scaling-up-quality-education-in-developing-countries/

Gates, S., Lippman, L., Shadowen, N., Burke, H., Diener, O., and Malkin, M. (2016). “Key Soft Skills for Cross-
Sectoral Youth Outcomes.” Washington, DC: USAID’s YouthPower: Implementation, YouthPower Action.

Authors

• Rebecca Povec Pagel, Education Development Center (EDC)

• Ann Hershkowitz, Education Development Center (EDC)