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August 1, 2006
Redesign high school - failing the future
In a posting over a year ago (Don't reform education, redesign), I mentioned the work of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. The Partnership released its news report a couple of months ago - Results That Matter: 21st Century Skills and High School Reform continuing their work to redesign the high school:
The report presents three fundamental ideas about high schools that are not yet widely perceived:
* There are results that matter for high school graduates in the 21st century — and these results are different from and go beyond traditional metrics. Even if every student in the country satisfied traditional metrics, they still would remain woefully under-prepared for 21st century success beyond high school.
* Improving high schools requires the nation to redefine “rigor” to encompass not just mastery of core academic subjects, but also mastery of 21st century skills and content. Rigor must reflect all the results that matter for all high school graduates today. Today’s graduates need to be critical thinkers, problem solvers and effective communicators who are proficient in both core subjects and new, 21st century content and skills. These 21st century skills include learning and thinking skills, information and communications technology literacy skills, and life skills. Twenty-first century skills are in demand for all students, no matter what their future plans — and they will have an enormous impact on students’ prospects.
* The results that matter — 21st century skills integrated with core academic subjects — should be the “design outcomes” for creating high schools that prepare students for success in the 21st century. Only by setting clear goals that incorporate 21st century skills can high schools truly prepare students to succeed in postsecondary education, workplaces and community life.
These are powerful findings! What they say is that even our best high schools may not be doing their job of preparing young people for real world. Our educational standards are geared for the Industrial Era, not the I-Cubed Economy.
And until our policymakers, on every level, get that, we run the risk of falling further and further behind.
Posted by Ken Jarboe at August 1, 2006 10:07 AM
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