Apparently our schools are not only struggling to meet standarized test scores, but they also are not connecting our students to the 21st century as far as technology and collaboration. I have had the chance to explore the website http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/, which is a website that promotes the skills and technology that is needed for students to progress in the next phase of the workforce in the 21st century. In the mission of the site, the site mentions how our students are suffering a gap between knowledge and skills they aquire from school and the ones needed for the 21st century workplace. The site is a well organized site which promotes its own standards and thoughts about the content that should be presented and taught in schools to better prepare our students for the future. Our "good ole" core is intact along with creativity an innovation, critical thinking skills (which I believe most schools are emphasizing), communication and collaboration within the sites standard frameworks. There is also a direction to implement media literacy, implementing technology into the schools and pursuing life skills. Is this not a great idea to add to the core skills? Yes, our schools and students are falling far behind in the race to compete in the 21st century. So, in that regard, the 21st century site is attempting to inform its readers a very positive and needed strategy.
Do we see this helping our schools? Well, from the schools that I have taught in and visited, not really!! Why, well this is what the site fails to mention. There is a huge cost to add this amount of technology to schools, and now is not the time for school systems to increase the budget. The site also mentions through the "Route 21" link that teachers should be provided with effective training and support for 21st century skills in the classroom. Wow! The thought of learning how to use the technology and gain valuable lessons would be refreshing to most all teachers. Hopefully most schools are not telling them the same my system is doing, we have no money for professional developement.
Overall, the idea of developing our students for the 21st century is where we need to be. I like other educators around me, are worried that we are falling behind because of limits our administrations have on them with time, budgets, and test scores. I would recommend to review the site especially the frameworks because they go beyond the traditional standards and open our eyes to what we could have eventually have in the class.
Tim
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Hello Tim~
ReplyDeleteSince writing a response to another student’s opinions on the http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/ website, I had a brief discussion about the site with my superintendent while on my preparation period. I also stated something similar to what you did in your post, by pointing out how America and American schools are falling far behind in the race to compete in the 21st century. While I am not sure where you formed your opinions about American students falling behind, I formed mine from the articles from our course. For example, Friedman (2005) stated that “in math and science, our fourth graders are among the top students in the world…by twelfth grade, U.S. students are scoring near the bottom of all industrialized nations…” (p.6). Surprisingly my superintendent disagreed, and said that foreign schools, when testing their students with tests that will be compared internationally, do not always have everyone take the tests, or include everyone’s scores like Americans do. I asked him for a reference, but he could not recall where he read that information.
I instituted a search for my own reference-information on international testing polices, but could not find any. However, I did discover that in the Programme for International Student Assessment (2000) study, German students were consistently below the performance of American students in the areas of knowledge and skills, and further, that American students typically scored around the international average. While I still believe that we can improve American students’ education, perhaps our students are not as behind as we thought. If this is the case, do we need to pressure our students and tax payers with all the new technology and skills that the http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/ website, promotes? I am some what divided on that question- I think some technologies and skills that the http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/ website promotes are more essential than others. What are your thoughts on the information I have brought to your attention?
Theo,
Terryfoxfan
References
Friedman, T. (2005, April 3). It's a flat world, after all. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com
Programme for International Student Assessment. (2000). Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Retrieved March 27, 2009 from http://www.oecd.org/document/4/0,3343,en_32252351_32236159_33668932
_1_1_1_1,00.html
While reading through the skills stressed by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning I was struck by the commonalites of what schools are currently teaching and the skills that were outlined on the website. Creativity and innovation, critical thinking skills, communication and collaboration and pursuing life skills are all things that, as educators, we should be teaching. Bloom's taxonomy calls for higher order thinking skills in which students are required to analyze, evaluate and synthesize. Bloom's has been taught to undergraduates for years- it's not anything new! The technology aspect of it would certainly help in our teaching of these critical skils but, again, funding is not feasible. As teachers we need to teach critical thinking skills with or without technology- we need to do the best that we can with what we have.
ReplyDeleteAs I perused the site I also linked to the “Route 21” and learned that ten of our nation’s states have already become 21st Century States in that they have now embraced the organization’s vision of The Partnership for the 21st Century Skills.
ReplyDeleteThis is exhilarating news. Not all of the schools are disconnected from the beat of the 21st Century workforce- there is hope for our youth. The students of these schools in Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wisconsin are moving in the direction of the net generation and its changing work environment (21st Century States, 2007). I am in South Carolina thus the information for North Carolina may provide a little framework for what I can use to persuade the district to get on board this information highway. Teachers who do not yet have 21st Century Skills practiced in their district should probably also use this link as their guided reference.
However the time is now to react. In fact, Cathy Olofson states,
“The phenomenon of information overload is in its infancy. If, according to some estimates, the amount of information doubles every 18 months, then by 2015 there will be 1,000 bits of data for every fact in existence. But we will not necessarily be better informed. Meaningful facts -- those that have reliable and relevant information -- will become our most valuable resource” (Olofson, 2007a,¶2).
As we educators equip our students with guided directions to use the 21st Century Web tools, we make them “our most valuable resource” (Olofson, 2007b,¶2). But first I must for myself endure the learning of the 21st Century Workforce via this class- Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work and Society.
With my participation in this course and my desire to learn the Web tools, I create a foundation for my students to build on. And as soon as I am in the classroom full-time my students will reap the benefits of my experiences.
ylaeducator
References:
Olofson, C. (2007, December 19). Just the meaningful facts. Fast Company, (30).
Retrieved March 30, 2009, from http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/30/futurist.html
21st century states. (2007). Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Retrieved March
29, 2009, from http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/route21/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=41&Itemid=35