Changes in the Nature of Work: Implications for Skills and Assessment

Concerns about the condition of the economy and the skill requirements of the modern workplace have driven education reform for at least a decade and a half. As the U.S. economy lost its dominant economic position in the world, many began to blame the country's education system. The public perception grew that young Americans were not as well educated and prepared for work as their European and Asian peers and that those deficiencies accounted for growing trade deficits and a loss of jobs to foreign competitors (Commission on Skills in the American Workforce, 1990; U.S. Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983).