Powerskills Game Lab: Improving High School Communication Skills Through Formative Assessment

The project team will develop Powerskills Game Lab, a game-based intervention for high school students to develop career readiness abilities in communication and adjacent intrapersonal and interpersonal domains. The intervention will include modules on different career readiness topics (clear and effective communication, personal and social awareness, work ethic and professionalism) and will address specific skills, active listening, accountable talk, adaptability, assertiveness, conflict management, cultural awareness, empathy, initiative, integrity, self-management, and self-efficacy. Components of the intervention will include diagnostics for covered skills; practice games with anchored instruction, leveling, feedback and coaching; and scenario-based performance games that combine multiple skills in different real-world contexts. The intervention will be integrated into the existing Hats & Ladders Career Readiness Platform, which includes a student-facing app and educator-facing dashboard. Performance data and other implementation supports will be available through the dashboard.