A New Vision for 21st Century Education

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21st Century Skills as a Vision for K-12
Education What should schools and districts do?
A New Vision for 21st Century Education
Ken Kay, President Partnership for 21st Century
Skills FETC Orlando, Florida January 25, 2007
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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

• Every student in your school or district 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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Overview

• Why are 21st Century Skills so important?
• What is the framework for 21st Century
  Skills?
• What should school and districts
• do?

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Why are 21st Century Skills so Important?
5 Reasons
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Why 21st Century Skills?
1. U.S. students must compete in a new global
economy.
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Why 21st Century Skills?
2. The U.S. is falling behind.
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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?
3. 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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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?
20th Century
21st Century
1 2 Jobs
10 15 Jobs
Number of Jobs
Critical Thinking Across Disciplines
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?
4. The requirements of the 21st Century work
force are changing.
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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?

• What skills are most important for job success
  when hiring a High School graduate?

Work Ethic 80
Collaboration 75
Good Communication 70
Social Responsibility 63
Critical Thinking Problem Solving 58
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Why 21st Century Skills?

• Of the High School Students that you recently
  hired, what were their deficiencies?

Written Communication 81
Leadership 73
Work Ethic 70
Critical Thinking Problem Solving 70
Self-Direction 58
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Why 21st Century Skills?

• What skills and content areas will be growing in
  importance in the next five years?

Critical Thinking 78
I.T. 77
Health Wellness 76
Collaboration 74
Innovation 74
Personal Financial Responsibility 72
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Why 21st Century Skills?
5. We need to prepare our students to be
effective 21st Century citizens.
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What is the Framework for 21st Century Skills?
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Overview
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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

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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 Information 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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What can schools and districts do?
8 Strategies
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What can your school or district do?
1. Develop a Consensus
Develop a consensus among the key stakeholders on
the 21st Century skills needed by students in
your school or district.
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What can your school or district do?
2. Take a Self-Assessment
Use the MILE Guide to determine where you are
today.
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What can your school or district do?
3. 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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What can your school or district do?
4. Imbed 21st Century Skills in core subjects

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

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What can your school or district do?
21st Century Model
Analytic Thinking
Geographic Content
Geography
Global Positioning Software
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What can your school or district do?
5. 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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What can your school or district do?
6. 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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What can your school or district do?
7. Collaborate with Community-Based Groups
Collaborate with youth development and
after-school programs on a community strategy
to pursue 21st Century Skills.
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What can your school or district do?
8. Collaborate with the Business Community
Develop an agreement on skill outcomes and ask
local businesses to provide career awareness and
internships that offer opportunities to learn
beyond the classroom.
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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 in your school or district 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 in your school or
district.
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Contact Us
Let us know how we can help. The Partnership for
21st Century Skills 177 North Church Avenue,
Suite 305 Tucson, AZ 85701 (520)
623-2466 www.21stcenturyskills.org