Five key actions for redesigning adult skills assessments from learners, employees, and educators

Abstract Summative assessments provide data to evaluate the effectiveness of schools, teachers, and educational policies, contributing to a robust accountability system worldwide. However, educators and scholars argue that summative assessments do not effectively promote ongoing learning, enhance teaching practices, or align with the skills required in the workplace. Furthermore, traditional summative testing approaches lack culturally responsive practices and overlook the diverse needs of adult learners. This article summarizes research conducted through focus groups, interviews, and listening sessions to gain insight into learners’, employees’, and educators’ perceptions of assessment needs in adult education and workforce development in the United States. We conducted six focus groups, four interviews with diverse learners and employees, and two listening sessions with educators and administrators. In-person and online formats were used in Spanish and English. The results indicate that the backgrounds and needs of learners, employees, and educators in this study are diverse, but all agree there is a strong need for open assessment resources for mid- and lower-skilled and culturally diverse learners that provide them with useful information to help them achieve their personal and occupational goals. Educators in this study needed assessment information connected to the standards and curriculum that guide their instruction, and employees and their employers needed tools to identify and train adult learners for in-demand skills within industries and occupations. Assessing adult skills requires addressing these needs by designing tests that focus on learners’ characteristics and goals and are integrated with educators’ and employers’ needs and goals. The research findings suggest that assessments should be personalized to learners, integrated with instruction or job training, and embrace the cultural diversity of the adult learner population better to serve learners, employees, and educators.