Partnership for 21st Century Skills

http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=332&Itemid=64

Boy am I jealous of teachers in South Dakota. The state of South Dakota has a joined into a joint partnership with Partnership for 21st Century Skills, an "advocacy organization focused on infusing 21st century skills into education."

"As part of the 2010 Education Initiative, South Dakota is committed to making sure that students leave our schools with the skills they need to be effective citizens, workers and leaders in today's global economy. Schools across South Dakota have already begun to implement strategies that address these skills, and participation in this national initiative will only make these efforts stronger,"

Finally, a whole state that is taking the leap and thinking about their student's futures. They are joined by 4 other states: Massachusetts, North Carolina, West Virginia and Wisconsin as part of this Leadership Initiative. My question is how do we get Maryland and Delaware on this list? I looked up Partnership for 21st Century Skills Framework and Resources. Here they have a graphic that shows their framework. This is definitely different than what I understand to be Maryland's Framework.

In my county there is no lump for Core subjects. It is made very clear that certain subjects are much more important than others. A lot of this has to do with state testing and what our county needs the most work with to improve. If we listed the subjects from most important to least they would rank like this:
Reading/English/Language Arts
Math
Science
Social Studies
My school is also big into the Character Counts program. This program promotes the 6 pillars of character: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship. These are taught and modeled throughout the year on a daily basis. It isn't technically part of our framework but it is there, in every part of our teaching. These are kind of like the Life Skills that are part of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills framework. However, we are definitely lacking in the Learning and Thinking Skills and the 21st Century Content areas. The ICT Literacy is not being taught at all in my school. Basic computer, typing and word processing skills are all we have in our elementary school. I think without these areas our students wouldn't understand the importance of all these skills.

Each of the states frameworks is listed under State Initiatives. West Virginia's motto on their Framework page states "Learning for all...Whatever it takes". That is such a simple statement but it holds so much power. Whatever it takes tells me that they are willing to be flexible which is something that most school districts are not. I hope that you get the chance to check out these initiatives and that we can work together to get Maryland/Delaware working towards these or similar frameworks.

I also found a link to Preparing Schools and School Systems for the 21st Century . A council of leaders in business, education and other fields was formed last year by the American Association of School Administrators to create a study of preparing schools and schools systems for the 21st Century. "The study points out 16 major characteristics of schools and school systems capable of preparing students for a global knowledge/information age." You can ready all 16 points at the link above but the one that stands out the most to me is "All students have equal opportunity for an outstanding education, with adequate funding, no matter where they live."
This is something that most school systems will agree with but are not work towards. This means money out of their pockets. We all need to have adequate funding for technology and professional development that is going to get our students that outstanding education. These 16 points are something you might want to start thinking about how does these fit into my school/district? What can I do to get us there?

Issue: Framework & Curriculum changes needed to guide us into teaching the 21st Century students.