Same Keys, New Doors: Foundational Skills and the Demands of a Changing World

Abstract

As artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies accelerate change in education and the labor market, concerns about learners’ readiness have intensified. The urgency is compounded by the nature and speed of information flow today, which raises demands on the knowledge, judgment, and critical thinking required to navigate an increasingly complex world. This policy report examines the role of foundational skills—particularly literacy—as essential enablers of durable skills such as adaptive problem solving. We focus on literacy because it underpins individuals’ ability to access, evaluate, and use information in a rapidly changing environment. Drawing on data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the analysis shows a widening divergence in skill distributions in the United States. Over the past decade, performance at the lower end of the distributions of skills has declined among both adults and students, while performance at the upper end has remained largely stable. Adults with literacy proficiency below key thresholds are far less likely to demonstrate high levels of adaptive problem solving, and recent cohorts of students show increasing proportions performing below basic achievement levels by the end of high school, leaving them potentially less well prepared for the future. Taken together, these patterns suggest not a uniform erosion of skills, but a growing separation. This policy report also suggests that foundational skills should be understood as dynamic competencies and that policies aimed at advancing higher order and AI‑related skills must explicitly address foundational skill development. It concludes with recommendations for policymakers, educators, funders, practitioners, and researchers to invest in systems that open—and keep open—doors to opportunity across the life course. 

Suggested citation: Sands, A. M., & Lavigne, C. (2026). Same keys, new doors: Foundational skills and the demands of a changing world (Center for Policy Research Report No. CPR-26-01). ETS. https://doi.org/10.64634/xp03c566