vsbl was developed by the Education Design Lab, a national nonprofit that co-designs, prototypes, and tests education-to-workforce models through a human-centered design process focused on understanding learners’ experiences, addressing equity gaps in higher education, and connecting learners to economic mobility.

The Lab offers a comprehensive learning experience for employers, institutions and learners looking to acquire the most in-demand skills that make their learning visible.

In vsbl, the auto-graded assessments are based on the Lab’s Durable Skills Competency Framework and target the most in-demand, universal skills in the emerging job market of the future. Beneath every competency are four sub-competencies, and beneath every sub-competency are a set of rubric criteria that name observable behaviors exhibited by those who tend to be successful in the modern workplace. These assessments are designed to measure each rubric criteria within a given sub-competency in such a way as to ensure that all elements of that sub-competency are addressed, equivalently, enough times to establish a pattern of behavior.