Colorado Essential Skills

Colorado statute requires the Colorado Academic Standards and descriptions of postsecondary and workforce readiness to incorporate a set of skills. Statue reads:

Ensure that, in addition to measuring a student's subject matter knowledge, the standards, to the extent practicable, will require a student to develop and demonstrate creativity and innovation skills; critical-thinking and problem-solving skills; communication and collaboration skills; social and cultural awareness; civic engagement; initiative and self-direction; flexibility; productivity and accountability; character and leadership; the ability to use information and communications technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information; and other skills critical to preparing students for the twenty-first-century workforce and for active citizenship.

In 2017, leaders from across CDE came together to produce an initial guidance resource that could be used in the 2018 revisions of the Colorado Academic Standards. Following the adoption of the 2018 standards, a second cross-department group oversaw a refinement to the initial resource:

Read the Colorado Essential Skills

CDE continues to monitor developments in the field to ensure that the Essential Skills remain current. This includes following discussions of "durable skills" and releases of the Colorado Talent Pipeline Report by the Colorado Workforce Development Council.