Continuing with my previous post on the Colorado Achievement Plan...
Part of the CAP4Kids legislation and revising the Colorado standards center on defining work force readiness and post-secondary education preparedness. The CDE (Colorado Department of Education) and the CCHE (Colorado Commission of Higher Education) are at this very moment defining what skills a student should have to enter the workforce, college, community college, the military, etc., and be prepared. In this process the discussion is centered on 21st Century skills, or "soft skills" as many of us refer to abilities such as leadership, organization, teamwork, resiliency, etc.
The questions I have surrounding this debate are:
1. What are critical 21st Century skills?
2. How do we teach those skills in a consistent manner (because we are teaching those skills every day)?
3. How do we measure whether or not we achieved our goals?
4. Finally, if we assume education is a zero sum game (X amount of days multiplied by Y amount of minutes divided by what we teach equals ___) how do we decide what to teach and when to teach it?
Below is a thought provoking article. I agree with the 21st Century Skills concept, but I also E.D. Hirsch's philosophy concerning core knowledge.
Enjoy: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-03-04-core-knowledge_N.htm
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3 comments:
An even more comprehensive story on this debate is in the current Education Week:
Backers of '21st-Century Skills' Take Flak (http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/03/04/23pushback_ep.h28.html)
We've also written quite a lot about this at the Core Knowledge Blog including here...(http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/2009/03/02/21st-century-skills-a-guide-for-clear-thinkers/) and here... (http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/2009/02/05/21st-century-skills-and-the-tree-octopus-problem/)
Thanks for the articles. I have another one: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/04/AR2009010401532.html
I'll get to them soon. Joe M.
Hi Joe,
What do you think of the AASL's Standards for the 21st Century Learner? The standards are:
(Learners use skills, resources & tools to...)
1. Inquire, think critically and gain knowledge.
2. Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge.
3. Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society.
4. Pursue personal and aesthetic growth.
These are rounded out with Skills, Dispositions in Action, Responsibilities and Self-Assessment Strategies. Check out http://www.aasl.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/standards.cfm if you are interested! I wonder if they are utilizing these in the CAP4kids discussions...I'll try to find out.
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