A New Vision for 21st Century Education

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21st Century Skills A New Vision for Education
and Workforce Development
A New Vision for 21st Century Education
Doug Levin Barbara Stein Board Members,
Partnership for 21st Century Skills US Conference
of Mayors 75th Winter Meeting Washington,
DC January 24, 2007
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slides based on your audience EDUCATION COMMUNITY
AUDIENCE
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Overview
This is a story about the big public
conversation the nation is not having about
education whether an entire generation of kids
will fail to make the grade in the global economy
because they cant think their way through
abstract problems, work in teams, distinguish
good formation from bad, or speak a language
other than English. How to Build a Student for
the 21st Century, TIME Magazine, December 18, 2006
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Overview
Key Message
We need to bring 21st Century Skills to each and
every student in America.
4
Overview

• What is the Partnership?
• Why are 21st Century Skills so important?
• What is the framework for 21st Century
  Skills?
• What can mayors do to promote 21st Century
  skills?

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What is the Partnership?

• The Partnership a unique collaboration of
  education, business, and government is a
  catalyst to define and promote a powerful vision
  for
• 21st Century Citizens
• 21st Century Workers
• 21st Century Education

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What is the Partnership?
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Why are 21st Century Skills so Important?
6 Reasons
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Why 21st Century Skills?
REASON 1 We need our students to become
effective 21st Century
Citizens. The world is more complex the stakes
are higher more responsibility falls to the
individual.
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Why 21st Century Skills?
REASON 2 The world is flat and 3 billion new
capitalists have joined the global
economy. Every student today will be competing
in the new global economy.
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Why 21st Century Skills?
REASON 3 The U.S. is falling behind on what
matters most.
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Why 21st Century Skills?
Ranking of G8 countries 10th grade math
problem solving
OECD Ranking
Problem Solving
Math
Science
Reading
14th
15th
15th
18th
18th
24th
24th
2000
2000
2000
2003
2003
2003
2003
Source PISA, 2000, 2003
Courtesy of Cisco
Systems
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Why 21st Century Skills?
REASON 4 The magnitude of our competition is
changing.
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Why 21st Century Skills?
China India
300 Million Skilled Workers
Japan
25 Million Skilled Workers
2025
1985
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Why 21st Century Skills?
REASON 5 The nature of work is changing.
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Why 21st Century Skills?
How many of your parents grandparents had only
one or two jobs in their lifetimes?
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21st Century at Work (RAND, 2004)

• Economic Globalization
• More expansive
• Structural job losses
• Counterbalanced by gains in other sectors
• Increased international competition
• Increasing need for non-routine cognitive skills

• More decentralized forms of business organization
• Specialized firms
• Non-core functions outsourced
• Less permanent employment
• E/Free-lancers growing
• Increasing need for entrepreneurial and
  cultural/linguistic skills

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Why 21st Century Skills?
How many jobs will a young person have today
between age 18-38?
10.2 jobs
SOURCE Number of Jobs Held, Labor Market
Activity, and Earnings Growth Among Younger Baby
Boomers Recent Results From a Longitudinal
Survey Summary, US Dept. of Labor, 2004
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Why 21st Century Skills?
21st Century
20th Century
1 2 Jobs
10 15 Jobs
Number of Jobs
Flexibility And Adaptability
Mastery of One Field
Job Requirement
Integration of 21st Century Skills into Subject
Matter Mastery
Subject Matter Mastery
Teaching Model
Subject Matter Mastery
Integration of 21st Century Skills into Subject
Matter Mastery
Assessment Model
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Why 21st Century Skills?
REASON 6 The requirements of the workforce are
changing employers need workers with mastery of
the basics.
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Why 21st Century Skills?
Workforce Survey Are They Really Ready to Work?
Released October 2, 2006, by The Conference
Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families,
Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and the
Society for Human Resource Management.
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Why 21st Century Skills?

• 85 of new jobs will require education beyond
  high school. Employers hiring practices changing
  over next 5 years
• 28 will reduce hiring of new entrants with
• only a high school diploma
• 50 will increase hiring among 2-year
• college graduates
• 60 will increase hiring among 4-year
• college graduates
• 42 will increase hiring among post-
• graduates

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Why 21st Century Skills?
What skills are most important for job success
when hiring a High School graduate?
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Why 21st Century Skills?
More than 40 of employers say incoming high
school graduates are deficiently prepared for
entry-level jobs in their companies.
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Why 21st Century Skills?

• Workforce Skills of High School Graduates
• Adequate
• Information Technology
• Teamwork
• Diversity
• Deficient
• Written Communications
• Professionalism/Work Ethic
• Critical Thinking/Problem Solving
• Oral Communications
• Ethics/Social Responsibility
• Reading Comprehension

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What is the Framework for 21st Century Skills?
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21st Century Skills Framework
20th Century Education Model
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21st Century Skills Framework
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21st Century Skills Framework
Core Subjects

• - English
• Reading or Language Arts
• Mathematics
• Science
• Foreign Languages
• Civics

• Government
• Economics
• Arts
• History
• Geography

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21st Century Skills Framework

• Thinking and Learning Skills
• Critical Thinking Problem Solving Skills
• Creativity Innovation Skills
• Communication Information Skills
• Collaboration Skills
• Information and Media Literacy Skills

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21st Century Skills Framework

• ICT Literacy
• Information and communications technology (ICT)
  literacy is the ability to use technology to
  accomplish thinking and learning skills
• Critical Thinking Problem Solving
• Skills
• Creativity Innovation Skills
• Communication Skills
• Collaboration Skills

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21st Century Skills Framework

• Life Skills
• Leadership
• Ethics
• Accountability
• Adaptability
• Personal Productivity
• Personal Responsibility
• People Skills
• Self Direction (e.g. Lawrence Township)
• Social Responsibility

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21st Century Skills Framework

• 21st Century Content
• Global Awareness
• Financial, Economic, Business and
  Entrepreneurship Literacy
• Civic Literacy
• Health Wellness Awareness

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21st Century Skills Framework
These 21st Century Skills should become the new
design specs for 21st Century education.
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Tools and Strategies to Support and Promote 21st
Century Skills
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Partnership Resources

• Reports, white papers, position papers a new
  book (practitioners, policymakers, assessment,
  HS reform, online learning)
• Tools Milestones for Improving Learning and
  Education (MILE) Guide for 21st Century Skills
  Route 21/Assess 21
• ICT Literacy Maps
• Leadership State Updates (WV NC
  CCSSO/SCASS.21)
• _at_ www.21stcenturyskills.org

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What can Mayors do?
Develop a Consensus
Gather educators, business leaders, community
leaders, and policymakers to build a vision of
education to meet the needs of your city.
Education is key to your economic and cultural
future.
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Strategies for Implementation
Use the MILE Guide to determine where you are
today.
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Strategies for Implementation
Focus on the skills and content areas that will
be growing in importance in the next five years.

• Personal Financial
• Responsibility (72)
• Diversity (67)
• Entrepreneurial
• Skills (61)
• Understanding U.S.
• Economic Issues in
• Global Economy (61)

• Critical
• Thinking (78)
• I.T. (77)
• Collaboration (74)
• Innovation (74)
• Health
• Wellness (76)

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Strategies for Implementation
Upgrade Professional Development

• Create a teacher professional development
  strategy for
• 21st Century Skills.
• Examples
• Lawrence Township (Indiana)
• North Carolina
• West Virginia

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Strategies for Implementation
Embed 21st Century Skills in core subjects

• Use the ICT Literacy Maps for
• Math
• Science
• English
• Geography
• Social Studies (early 2007)

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Strategies for Implementation
Imbed 21st Century Skills in core subjects
(continued)
21st Century Model
Geographic Content
Analytic Thinking
Geography
Global Positioning Software
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Strategies for Implementation
Upgrade Assessments
Use a full range of assessments, including
high-stakes and classroom assessments, to measure
21st Century Skills.

• Collegiate Learning Assessment
• West Virginia
• North Carolina
• Student Portfolios
• Senior Year Projects

Examples
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Strategies for Implementation
Focus on reforming high schools

• Focus on the results
• that matter in the
• 21st Century.
• Redefine rigor to
• include 21st Century
• Skills.

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Strategies for Implementation
Encourage collaborations among Education,
Business Non-Profit Communities
Provide career awareness and internships that
offer opportunities to learn beyond the
classroom, and bring the real world into the
classroom. Educators and the business community
should be partners, and support and learn from
one another.
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Strategies for Implementation
Align your education system with your
workforce development strategy.
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Conclusion
There is remarkable consensus among educators
and business and policy leaders on one key
conclusion we need to bring what we teach and
how we teach into the 21st Century. TIME
Magazine, December 18, 2006
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Conclusion

• Every student must be
• A critical thinker
• A problem solver
• An innovator
• An effective communicator
• An effective collaborator
• A self-directed learner
• Information and media literate
• Globally aware
• Civically engaged
• Financially and economically literate

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Conclusion
These skills should become the design specs of
a 21st Century education.
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Conclusion
Adopting these 21st Century skill outcomes for
K-12 education will align education with
workforce development in your city.
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Contact Us
Let us know how we can help. Doug Levin -
dlevin_at_ciconline.org Barbara Stein
bstein_at_nea.org The Partnership for 21st Century
Skills 177 North Church Avenue, Suite 305 Tucson,
AZ 85701 [phone] www.21stcenturyskills.org