21st Century Skills
After viewing the website, Partnership for 21st Century Skills, I am thrilled to know that there are people and businesses in society that are making attempts to bridge the gap between the classroom and the business world. I was amazed to find out that this partnership has been in existence since 2002. Being a 2005 college graduate in the education field I am somewhat astonished that we as future teachers were not informed about this attempt to bring the 21st century skills into the classroom and this partnership that was formed in order to help make this a reality.
The website discusses the approach to making certain that the youth of society is prepared for the real world. One topic that was discussed was assessment. It was mentioned that “assessments must measure all five results that matter — core subjects; 21st century content; learning skills; ICT literacy; and life skills (2004).” I find this to be very interesting considering that the students in the state of Ohio take MANY standardized tests that assess only the content knowledge that students have learned throughout the year. These test also require students to use their knowledge of skills taught in the classroom and how to adapt them in different situations. However, these test truly do not measure what students are really capable of achieving.
In addition to the amazement that this partnership exists and it’s views on how to make the 21st century skills come alive in the classroom, I was taken aback by the many members of both the business and education professions that belong to the partnership; however, I am disappointed in the progress that they have made thus far. Many of the partners are part of the technology world. With this being said, one would assume that more efforts would be made on their behalf to help equip our schools with the most up to date technology. In addition to this disappointment, I am also unsatisfied with the number of states that are included in this partnership. Why is it that only a small number are part of this? Do all states know about this opportunity and/or how to get involved? What are your thoughts on this issue?
Julie,
ReplyDeleteI agree, I am also surprised at the length of time this website and program has been around. It is to bad that we did not know about this sooner. It makes me wonder how many other educators there is that doesn't know anything about this program. It is excellent that people are working together to bring the business community and education closer together. I can only hope this continues.
It is possible that this partnership might just "look good on paper and in theory" but may have a hard time putting their ideas to work. After all, so many of these idea based programs often sound good and never go anywhere. I want to know how they propose to change the way we test children when so much is placed on the SAT. I want to know when these companies will get computers and technology into the classrooms of all 50 states. After all, they have been at it for seven years now. I completely agree with your assessment of this web site and am a bit disheartened.
ReplyDeleteJulie, I graduated from college in 2004 and I too was astonished that I had never heard of this program. Is it possible that they are just trying to say that they have "tried" to bridge the gap? It seems like they aren't working very hard to actually "fix" the problem otherwise I would think we would have heard of the program and there would be more states involved. I wonder if it was a really nice idea that they came up with and then it just died down. I sure hope not! We need to have these students ready for the world of technology when they graduate and go out into the work place.
ReplyDeleteJulie,
ReplyDeleteI graduated from college around the same time as you did and I was also a little surprised that I had not heard about the partnership before now. I do appreciate what this organization is attempting to do, but I also do not understand why other states are not involved with this. This seems to be so helpful to make our students not only better students, but better citizens. Why wouldn't other states want to take advantage of this opportunity?
Susan, Katie, and Kim,
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing how we have not heard of this throughout our college experience. I too hope this just is not another great idea that is never really put into action. I am not sure why other states would not want to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to prepare our students for the 21st century. I would love to hear what some of our state representatives think of this topic.