The Role of Noncognitive Skills for Student Success

As educators deeply invested in the effectiveness of public education, we often find ourselves measured against outcomes determined by political, media, and social influences. Public policy, large businesses, federal and state mandates, and district and school leaders influence what “students need to know” and how to measure these outcomes. A stream of buzzwords surrounds this discourse: 21st Century Skills, academic mindsets, critical thinking skills, Common Core Standards, noncognitive variables, social-emotional intelligence, STEM, STEAM, character development. Each of these terms carries political and social implications, different understandings of the purpose of public education, and an array of implications for what we do in the classroom and how the public holds teachers, schools, and districts accountable to student outcomes. We have seen too many reform efforts focus more on the alignment and accountability components of student outcomes and less on the ways in which we make these outcomes relevant to our students and educators. Further, many reform initiatives fail to make research-based connections between the outcomes they propose and how students perform after high school.