A new year has already shone a bright spotlight on 21st century skills. In selecting Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education, President Barack Obama said "we need a new vision for a 21st century education system - one where we aren't just supporting existing schools, but spurring innovation." In addition to the elevated discourse surrounding 21st century skills, the debate over 21st century skills spread across the pages of the Washington Post, and the Christian Science Monitor and Education Week reported on schools, districts and states infusing 21st century skills into classroom practices.

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In This Issue...

• 21st Century Skills Framework Definition Project
• 21st Century Learning Environments White Paper
• Increased National Spotlight on the Partnership and 21st Century Skills
• Professional Development Affiliate Program
• Impact of 21st Century Skills

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The Partnership Completes the 21st Century Skills Framework Definition Project

The Partnership recently completed the Framework for 21st Century Learning definition project which intended to specify what is meant by creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration skills, information literacy, initiative and self-direction, social and cross-cultural skills, productivity and accountability, and leadership and responsibility. The new descriptions illuminate the necessary learning outcomes required for success in today's world, i.e., Learning and Innovation Skills; Information, Media and Technology Skills; Life and Career Skills; and Core Subjects and 21st century themes. This project will help those using the Framework flesh out the skills and how to incorporate them into teaching and learning.

Get more details on the Framework Definitions project.

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The Partnership Released the 21st Century Learning Environments White Paper

On January 23, 2009, at FETC, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills released the 21st Century Learning Environments White Paper, which finds that successful learning environments break through the barriers that separate schools from the real world, educators from each other and policymakers from the communities they serve. While a tremendous amount of attention has been paid to standards, assessments, professional development, and curriculum and instruction, the paper notes that learning environments are an essential component to supporting positive 21st century outcomes for students. The report, sponsored by Cisco Systems, explains that the term 'learning environment' has traditionally suggested a concrete place but, in today's interconnected world, a learning environment can be virtual, online and remote. While the relationship of physical spaces and technological systems to learning continues to be ever important, even more important is how - and whether - these environments support the positive human relationships that matter most to learning, according to the report. The most essential element of all learning environments has always been the community of students, educators, parents, business and civic leaders, and policymakers that constitute the human resources of an education system, each of these constituents need to be supported in a 21st century context.

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Increased National Spotlight on the Partnership and 21st Century Skills

As the calendar turned to 2009, the debate surrounding the Partnership and 21st century skills increased dramatically. The Christian Science Monitor reported on how schools "tap 21st century skills to prepare students for a fast-changing future." The piece highlights West Virginia and North Carolina - both Partnership leadership states - and focuses on how 21st-century skills "can be integrated into core subjects."

In addition, two Education Week pieces focus on the groundbreaking work conducted by West Virginia. The first piece details how the state increasingly emphasizes teaching content along with 21st century skills and how this impacts a teacher's role in the classroom. The story discusses how West Virginia plans to "[reorient] the training and professional support of its...teachers to ensure that they are capable of" embedding 21st century skills into core subjects. The second story describes how West Virginia is working to make core subjects more relevant by creating project-based units that are tied to local communities to "[encourage] students to engage more fully."

To set the record straight on the 21st century skills movement, the Partnership published a letter to the editor in the Washington Post, which outlined the support available for teachers to infuse 21st century skills into teaching, and noted that "thoughtfully integrating 21st century skills into education represents an important challenge that the country cannot afford to ignore." Moreover, two recent Washington Post articles discuss the importance of 21st century skills such as flexibility and adaptability, initiative and self-direction, social and cross-cultural skills, productivity and accountability, and leadership and responsibility and detail the movement toward 21st century skills in Manassas, Virginia.

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Professional Development Affiliate Program Official Launched

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills officially launched a groundbreaking program aimed at establishing a network of experts who can help states and districts design and implement 21st century skills professional development programs. The program, so far, has trained 50 participants from 24 organizations and plans to train over 100 practitioners by August of 2009. The P21 Professional Development Affiliate program equips participants with the knowledge and tools necessary for aligning existing professional development offerings with the Partnership's Framework for 21st Learning. The program also enables participants to help states, districts and schools combine core subject teaching and learning with 21st century skills. The next program will take place April 27 - 29. For information on participating, click here.

More information on participation is available on our website.

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Self-proclaimed Dinosaur Teacher Details the Impact 21st Century Skills Can Have

In two recent opinion pieces, Kay McSpadden, a technological dinosaur and high school English teacher in York, S.C., discusses how 21st century skills can impact core subject instruction. In "Teaching 21st-century skills," McSpadden discusses how excited she was that the 21st Century Skills and English Map goes way beyond requiring students to be tech savvy to ensuring students acquire the full gamut of skills (including creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving and others). One of the great aspects of the map is that for each 21st century skill, there is a corresponding "outcome and example from real classrooms which integrate content and technology." McSpadden's second piece focuses on teaching civic responsibility. The column discusses how civic projects that require students to learn and practice 21st century skills help students become "compassionate human beings," "think long and hard about social problems," and "learn that their actions can make a difference."

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