Core Knowledge versus 21st Century Skills

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

Thanks for reading my blog!

CSAP & Assessment in Colorado

Here we are! The CSAP brings up a whole host of emotions and opinions. I like the CSAP. The CSAP is the only objective measurement we have in the state of Colorado. When you think about a state with 170+ school districts and hundreds of thousands of students and thousands of teachers I'm thankful for the one measurement that cuts through the fog of the teaching - learning process. The future of assessment in Colorado is changing. Senate Bill 212, the Colorado Achievement Plan, or CAP4Kids, is coming. Right now the state is working on rewriting Colorado's standards with a very clear end product: Fewer, Clearer, and more Rigorous. For the first time the Colorado Department of Education and the Colorado Commission of Higher Education is working together. There is also much discussion centered on assessment and the future of CSAP, particularly at the high school level. You can follow the process by clicking below!

http://coloradostandardsreview.wetpaint.com/

Thanks for reading my blog, I'll be updating on a regular basis.