Which Skills Matter Now?

A Data-Driven Framework for K-12 in the Age of AI

AI is reshaping which skills matter for professional success—and, therefore, what students need to learn. This report provides a data-driven framework for K-12 educators to navigat this shift, analyzing AI’s impact on 1,000 workforce skills and mapping the implications for 140 high school learning objectives. It offers a clear method for identifying where and how curriculum needs to be rebalanced. Three key themes emerge:

• The cognitive bar is rising. Skills with high automation exposure now demand deeper conceptual understanding, not less, to empower students to direct and evaluate AI tools.

• The real divide is within subjects, not between them. No discipline loses relevance, but every discipline contains skills that require new instructional approaches alongside skills that remain foundational.

• Traditional assessment faces new challenges. When AI can generate polished outputs, evaluation must focus on the students’ thinking, reasoning, and judgment.

The report introduces a four-quadrant framework—Deepen, Transform, Streamline, Anchor—that helps educators make evidence-based decisions about what to emphasize, what to redesign, and what to protect in their curriculum.