21st Century Skills and Themes

Monica Pappalardo

21^st Century Skills and Themes

According to Johnson (2009) the Partnership for 21^st Century Skills has been the leading advocacy organization in the United States focusing on placing 21^st Century skills into education since 2002. The 21^st Century skills is made up based on a consensus among hundreds of stakeholders who decide what students need to learn to succeed in work and life. In 2005, the partnership began the State Leadership Program, which 13 states have joined to date. These states are Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. These states all agree to develop standards, assessments, and professional development programs to ensure students have the 21^st century skills they need.

There are many aspects of the 21^st century skills and themes. There are student outcomes that include core subjects and 21^st century themes, life and career skills, learning and innovation skills, and information, media, and technology skills. The core subjects include, English (language arts), world languages, arts, mathematics, economics, science, geography, history, and government and civics. In addition to these core subjects they also believe that there must be a weaving of 21^st century interdisciplinary themes in place. This includes, global awareness, financial, economic, business, and entrepreneurial literacy, civic literacy, and health literacy. The second student outcome of learning and innovation skills focuses on creativity, problem solving, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration to prepare students. The third student outcome is information, media, and technology skills, which aspires that students will be prepared for the technologically driven world we live in. They want these students to have information literacy, media literacy, and ICT literacy. The last student outcome is life and career skills, which takes into account the ability to navigate the complex life and work environments in a globally competitive world. This includes teaching student’s flexibility, adaptability, initiative, self-direction, social and cross-cultural skills, productivity and accountability, and leadership and responsibility.

Along with the 21^st century skills student outcomes, there are 21^st century skills support systems. These are the systems necessary to ensure the student outcomes and mastery of the 21^st century skills. The systems include, 21^st century standards, assessment of 21^st century skills, 21^st century curriculum and instruction, 21^st century professional development, and 21^st century learning environments. The 21^st Century standards are just what the title entails; these are the standards, which focus on content knowledge and expertise. It is having students gain a deep understanding of what they learn and to engage them in the real world. Assessment of 21^st century skills is based on standardized testing along with classroom assessments. 21^st century curriculum and instruction stresses the fact that 21^st century skills must be applied within the core subjects and curriculum instruction. A major system necessary in helping students is having 21^st century professional development for teachers. This is important so teachers can have the opportunities and resources to integrate 21^st century skills and tools into their classrooms. The last system needed to promote student outcomes is 21^st century learning environments. This creates a support system for teaching 21^st century skills and also allows educators to collaborate and share ideas for teaching in the 21^st century. This is also a great resource for teachers to access learning tools and to have a support community.

There is not much research in favor or against 21^st century skills and themes; however, there are 13 states that are in favor of using this approach to learning. I think that there are, in my opinion, some pros and cons to the issue. I believe that this places a lot of pressure on our children in schools. They are learning a lot of information that is helpful to them and will benefit them, but are we placing too much on them? They are still children and we do not want to take their childhood away from them. Another drawback would be that this places a lot of emphasis on standardized testing, something that I think we should stray away from. However, I also believe that this prepares our children for the world, and for any life career they want to pursue. I feel that they will be ahead of the game, when taught these skills. I also think that they do want to assess children based on making each child a portfolio and this portfolio will follow them throughout school. This is something I believe is extremely helpful, not as the partnership puts it, as a way to get a job; but I see it a way to see progress in a child. This is a way to show a parent and the child that they are succeeding and making progress, without showing standardized test scores. Overall, I believe that 21^st century skills and themes are a big step forward toward getting our children ready for life in a technologically driven world.