Techlearning blog

Ken Kay just sent a blurb to me, last week, from a Partnership for 21st Century Skills news release, describing a recent poll of U.S. Voters. Here's part of what he sent!

WASHINGTON, DC – Oct. 10, 2007 – A new, nationwide poll of registered voters reveals that Americans are deeply concerned that the United States is not preparing young people with the skills they need to compete in the global economy.

An overwhelming 80 percent of voters say that the kind of skills students need to learn to be prepared for the jobs of the 21st century is different from what they needed 20 years ago. Yet a majority of Americans say that schools need to do a better job of keeping up with changing educational needs.

The national poll was conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and Peter D. Hart Research Associates on behalf of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills.

Among the other key findings:

• Eighty-eight percent of voters say they believe that schools can and should incorporate 21st century skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving skills, computer and technology skills, and communication and self-direction skills into the curriculum.
• Sixty-six percent of voters say they believe that students need more than just the basics of reading, writing and math; schools also need to incorporate a broader range of skills.
• Fifty-three percent say they believe schools should place an equal emphasis on 21st century skills and basic skills.

You can read the entire press release at the Partnership’s web site. They appear to be the only source for the survey findings at this time.

To me, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the schools that most of us (adults) attended are not the schools that should be preparing our children for the 21st century. Many of us have been talking about it for years, and nearly every audience I speak to, teachers to school board members, seem to be on board with the idea that basic skills today are only and barely a foundation for what children need to learn to be ready for tomorrow. An today, the public is becoming increasingly convinced that they need schools that are changing.

I, and others, provide some examples. The Partnership and others have developed frameworks. But the lions share will be done by professional educators, in leadership roles who are determining exactly what this all looks like. A handful of agencies are working on this now, such as my own state's department of education and others who have invested themselves in the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. They are taking the framework, and figuring out how to reshape their standards and suggest curriculum provides students with basic 21st century skills, a context for who, what, and where they are, and a sincere desire and love of learning.

But what is the vision? What is the story? We need more of us to be dreaming it and telling it. Blog your vision. If you aren't blogging yet, go to:

• Edublogs -- http://edublogs.org
• WordPress -- http://wordpress.com

Both of these blogging services will provide you wit a free blog, a free megaphone, with which to cast your dream about schools that will prepare today's millennials, inside of a dramatically new information landscape for a future that is changing so fast, that the workplace and lifestyles can not even be described.