弥合技能差距：高中生对未来职业重要技能视角的洞察

BECKY L. BOBEK, JOYCE Z. SCHNIEDERS, ALEX CASILLAS, NOLADALEY, AND DIVYA MANDHOTRA Conclusions This study demonstrates that high school students vary in their awareness of and theimportance they attribute to skills that employers value for the careers they plan to pursue.Findings reveal that students who are more certain about their career choices have greater skillawareness. Students are also strongly aligned to the top skills that employers considerimportant, making communication, work ethic, critical thinking, and collaboration necessary forcareer success. While these skills emerged as highly important across career fields for manystudents, others varied by career field, suggesting that students’ perceptions of the importanceof these skills are based on the unique demands of their planned careers. These resultsreinforce the need to provide broad skill development, along with targeted skill support alignedwith students’ career aspirations. This study also shows that the extent to which essential, transferable, and foundational skills aretaught in school is significantly related to students’ self-rated proficiency in these skills. Findingshighlight that most students perceive being taught nearly all the skills in school, with essentialskills being most frequently taught in schools and those in which students rate themselves thehighest. Overall, this pattern is similar for transferable skills, although fewer students considerthemselves highly proficient in these skills. Students think foundational skills in math,documents, and graphics are taught more frequently, and yet they rate themselves lower in skillproficiency. The prevalence of “average” self-ratings across transferable skills and foundationalskills may reflect variability in students’ perceptions related to the focus or quality of instruction.These results underscore the value of intentional curriculum design that prioritizes skillsimportant for career success. So What? There is a clear and persistent gap between the skills that employers need and the skills thatindividuals have when entering the U.S. workforce. This skills gap poses a risk to the success ofboth individuals and the organizations that support the U.S. economy. The employment,productivity, and innovation implications of this skills gap must be addressed in part by futureworkforce entrants, making it imperative to gain greater awareness of high school students’perspectives on work skills valued by employers. Insights from this research help us betterunderstand the views of future workforce entrants and provide a lens into ways in whicheducators and employers can better prepare students to address the skills gap. Now What? Based on findings from this study, schools can address gaps in skill awareness, skill instruction,and skill development. To better prepare students to meet workforce demands, schools shouldconsider the following: (a) embed career readiness skill instruction into the school curriculumand integrate these skills within school subjects, (b) connect learning to real-world experiencesthat make these skills more concrete and relevant, (c) build in opportunities for students toassess and reflect on their skills by using valid career readiness assessments to identify skillstrengths and weaknesses, track growth, and obtain actionable feedback, (d) align curriculum and graduation requirements with important career-related skills, and (e) help teachers facilitatestudents’ skill development by promoting professional development opportunities. In addition, employers could also participate in preparing students by considering the following:(a) partner with schools to offer work-based learning opportunities, such as internships, jobshadowing, apprenticeships, and mentorship programs, (b) engage with educators and studentsthrough career fairs, as guest speakers, and through work demonstrations, (c) collaborate withschools and advisory boards to support efforts that align curriculum and graduationrequirements with skills needed in the workplace, (d) support teacher professional developmentby sharing expertise, co-developing training resources, and participating in professional learningcommunities, and (e) promote and recognize industry credentials that certify desired skills. About the Authors Acknowledgments Becky L. Bobek, PhD, Principal ResearchScientist at ACT, specializes in how peoplenavigate education and career transitions, alongwith career planning assessments and learningresources designed for navigation success. The authors would like to thank Cindy Hill and Kate Waltonfor their comments on earlier drafts of this report. Joyce Z. Schnieders, PhD, is a ResearchScientist II at ACT specializing in mixed-methodseducation research. Her research focuses onlearner experiences that support academic andworkforce success. Alex Casillas, PhD, is a Principal ResearchPsychologist at ACT specializing in behavioralpredictors of performance and persistence ineducation and wo