Evaluating 21st-Century Skills

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has emerged as the leading advocacy organization focused on infusing 21st-century skills into education. The organization brings together the business community, education leaders, and policy makers to define a powerful vision for 21st-century education to ensure every child’s success as citizens and workers in the 21st century. The Partnership encourages schools, districts and states to advocate for the infusion of 21st-century skills into education and provides tools and resources to help facilitate and drive change.
—Partnership for 21st Century Skills

There is a profound gap between the knowledge and skills learned in school and the skills required in the 21st century workplace. As a concerned educator, I want to learn how to bridge this gap and utilize the best practices that will help my students acquire the 21st century skills that they will need to be successful in the global workforce. Educating myself is the first step to address the challenges associated with teaching 21st-century skills in today’s schools and in my classroom.

I have spent some time exploring the website of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. I have familiarized myself with their mission, the members of the partnership, and the various resources available on their site.  I have found this site to be extremely helpful and full of rich resources for educators.  I also found their blog entitled “P21 Blog” very interesting and informative.  Each month, this blog site invites two prominent educators to respond to a “driving question” about 21^st Century Skills.

The blog can be followed at:  http://www.p21.org/tools-and-resources/p21blog

I appreciate this site’s mission to provide students with the skills and knowledge they will need to succeed in this century.  They call their holistic approach to teaching and learning, the “Framework for 21st Century Learning”.  The framework uses a rainbow to represent the skills, knowledge and expertise that all students should master to succeed in work and life in the 21^st century. This framework supports the foundational skills of critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration, creativity, and innovation. Furthermore, what I found most helpful about this site are the free, downloadable resources for educators.  One resource in particular that will be very useful is the “P21 Common Core Toolkit”. My district recently adopted the common core standards, and this toolkit provides a guide to help teachers align the common core state standards with the “Framework for 21st Century Skills”. This document provides lesson examples and assessment ideas and can be accessed at the following link: http://www.p21.org/tools-and-resources/publications/p21-common-core-toolkit. I believe that teaching 21st-century skills is vital, yet many of these skills are not clearly addressed in the common core content standards.  I think that this toolkit will be an excellent way to connect 21^st century skills with the content that we are required to teach in the classroom. I will most definitely share this free resource with my colleagues.

Overall, this site helps educators, policy makers, parents, and community members learn about and develop a new understanding of the issues surrounding 21st-century skills.  I did not find any information or opinions that I disagree with at this time. The topics discussed have great implications for my students and for me, as a contemporary educator.  I plan to utilize the resources and information this site offers to further my knowledge of the most current technology tools to help my students acquire the 21^st century skills they will need for survival in this complex, globally-driven society. I believe that it is possible to prepare our students with the skills that they will need to thrive in this century, and I am committed to learn strategies to bridge the gaps in education, create a 21^st century context for learning in my classroom, and prepare my students with the skills that they will need to compete in the labor market of tomorrow. 

If you would like to learn more about this advocacy organization focused on infusing 21st-century skills into education, visit http://www.p21.org/

Please feel free to share your experiences or challenges associated with teaching 21st-century skills in your classroom.  Can you offer any additional resources or insight to help other educators further their understanding of the ways to teach 21st century readiness skills for their students?