The Partnership for 21st Century Skills

As I started to sift through the information presented on this website, I took a look at their mission so that I could have a good idea at what they are intending to do. Their mission states, "Serve as a catalyst to position 21st century skills at the center of US K-12 education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business, community and government leaders." To me, this says that their goal is to prepare our students so that they are ready when they become our future's leaders. One day they will be running the businesses and government and they will need to be equipped with the skills so that they are able to succeed.

I really enjoyed what I saw on The Partnership for the 21st Century Skills website. I saw a lot of valid connections as to why it is important to teach children the skills they will need to succeed in the 21st century. At one point, I saw stated on the website "There is a profound gap between the knowledge and skills most students learn in school and the knowledge and skills they need in typical 21st century communities and workplaces." When I read this, I thought about how there can be such a large gap when the world of education is always changing, looking for improvement. I feel that eduction takes time to focus on what children need based on how the world is changing. I think that the gap between knowledge and skills is primarily because of funding in our education system that causes us to adapt more slowly than others.

I also really liked looking at the framework that they have put in place for 21st Century learning. It looks like their goal is to not primarily go for the skills needed in the 21st century, but to focus on those skills along with the core subjects. The core subjects include those that we already teach; science, math, reading, etc. The 21st century themes include global awareness, financial literacy, and health and civic literacy. Looking back on when I was in school (which was not that long ago), I do not remember ever being taught about financial literacy and what it means. This year my team and I decided to use a new curriculum to teach about economics. Along with this curriculum, we taught about financial literacy (bank accounts, check writing, check registers, and money flow). I cannot express how valuable this has been to my students. I have gotten so many compliments from parents saying that they had not seen anything like it before and are seeing changes in their children's financial responsibility; even for fourth graders it made a difference.

One thing that surprised me was under the "State Initiatives" section; Washington was not listed. I thought that because Washington is one of the centers for technology, with Microsoft and other major technology companies located here, that we would for sure be listed. The states that were listed have some sort of commitment from their leaders to make sure that these skills are taught and the students can succeed. Along with Washington not being listed, I was even more surprised that only ten states were among the ones committed to following through on teaching 21st century skills. That just seems amazing to me.

As far as the implications for my students and myself go, there are going to be more expectations for both myself and my students when it comes to learning the skills of the 21st century. I think that people are now starting to realize how important it is to prepare the children for their futures and they are going to put higher expectations on everyone involved in education. By higher expectations, I mean that employers are going to expect that the people who are applying for their open positions are going to be technologically literate and have critical thinking skills to help develop new and creative products or ideas. As an educator, I am going to not only be expected to teach the core subjects, but to also include methods of teaching critical thinking, life and career skills and technology skills. This puts a lot of pressure on myself as an educator, but I do not think that it is impossible to fit it all in. There are going to be many, many changes in the next several years in the way things are taught in schools and I feel that it is going to start being directed to the 21st Century Skills.