OpenLearnLM Benchmark: A Unified Framework for Evaluating Knowledge, Skill, and Attitude in Educational Large Language Models
This provides a comprehensive evaluation framework for educational LLMs, addressing a gap in existing benchmarks, though it is incremental in combining existing assessment approaches.
The authors tackled the problem of evaluating educational large language models by introducing OpenLearnLM Benchmark, a unified framework that assesses models across knowledge, skills, and attitude dimensions, revealing that no single model excels in all areas with Claude-Opus-4.5 leading in skills and Grok-4.1-fast in knowledge.
Large Language Models are increasingly deployed as educational tools, yet existing benchmarks focus on narrow skills and lack grounding in learning sciences. We introduce OpenLearnLM Benchmark, a theory-grounded framework evaluating LLMs across three dimensions derived from educational assessment theory: Knowledge (curriculum-aligned content and pedagogical understanding), Skills (scenario-based competencies organized through a four-level center-role-scenario-subscenario hierarchy), and Attitude (alignment consistency and deception resistance). Our benchmark comprises 124K+ items spanning multiple subjects, educational roles, and difficulty levels based on Bloom's taxonomy. The Knowledge domain prioritizes authentic assessment items from established benchmarks, while the Attitude domain adapts Anthropic's Alignment Faking methodology to detect behavioral inconsistency under varying monitoring conditions. Evaluation of seven frontier models reveals distinct capability profiles: Claude-Opus-4.5 excels in practical skills despite lower content knowledge, while Grok-4.1-fast leads in knowledge but shows alignment concerns. Notably, no single model dominates all dimensions, validating the necessity of multi-axis evaluation. OpenLearnLM provides an open, comprehensive framework for advancing LLM readiness in authentic educational contexts.