Partnership for 21st Century Skills

I recently visited the Partnership for 21^st Century Skills, P21, website. My initial thought when I first glanced at the site was that this must be some right-wing initiative to bash public education and turn schools into small businesses. At first glance, I was disappointed in the lack of content; however, as I dove deeper into the site I discovered there was much more below the surface. Unfortunately, the layout of the site leaves a lot to be desired, in my opinion. The site navigation is awkward. If I want to get to a list of the skills, the path to the desired destination is blurry. By accident, I stumbled upon some great information. One such example is a fantastic animated short video, Above & Beyond, produced by P21 to show the impact of the 4 C’s. There are additional videos that show 21^st century skills in use. The resource page has some solid resources to help educators implement 21^st century skills. I have to admit, I was really impressed with the quality and content of the blogs. The blogs are written by experts in their fields. One in particular that I read was by Dr. Zhao titled “Zhao: Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Creativity Part 3.” In this blog Zhao discusses the value of arts, physical education, music, foreign language, and other coordinated arts classes. His analysis of the topic was insightful (Zhao, 2014). One surprise regarding the blogs was that there was very little participation. This indicated to me that the site has low traffic.

One piece of information on the P21site that surprised me and helped me develop a new understanding of the issues surrounding 21st-century skills was the Framework for 21^st Century Learning. I was misinformed about the 21^st century skills. I was always under the impression that it was only about technology. The web site displays a graphic that shows the framework in a format where the student outcomes are a rainbow and the support systems are pools below it. I discovered that 21^st century teaching and learning not only includes technology, but also innovation skills, life and career skills, and the core subjects. For the system to work, these skills must be blended. P21 does not view each part separate, but interconnected in order to achieve 21^st century outcomes (The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, n.d.). I mentioned earlier that my first impression was that the site was propaganda from a right-wing conservative group. I was wrong. I really believe that we are over-testing our students. The past 10 years, I have seen the creativity and problem solving skills that we once considered important erode away in order to improve test scores in core areas. The P21 site indicated to me that we need to get back to the 4C’s : creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. Sponsors such as Apple, Disney, Destination Imagination, Crayola, and LEGO indicate to me that creativity should be making its way back into schools (The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, n.d.).

I am not sure that I have any strong disagreements with anything I viewed on the P21 website. I do take issue with the dissemination of the Framework. Wisconsin, the state that I reside in, is listed as a P21 Partner State. Yet, I have heard very little about the 21^st Century Framework in my school district. I would like to see P21 push to get this framework out to districts around the country. My district has chosen to abandon the Common Core Standards. I do believe that our board would be open to P21. My district has a premier Destination Imagination program. The program is based on creativity. Recently, some members of the board have discussed getting back to creative problem solving in the classroom. I believe if P21 was better represented, it would be a viable option for my school district.

Now that I have a better understanding of the P21 Framework, the implications for my students and for me as a contemporary educator are a new way of learning and a new way of teaching. As our society changes, we need to change. Students have new tools at their disposal. There are new ways of doing things and jobs which require 21^st century skills. If a student does not acquire these skills, he or she will not be able to compete in the global marketplace. As teachers, we must be able to admit that we need to change the way we teach. We need to prepare our students for their futures.  In order to do this we must look to a framework such as P21. We all know that technology is driving the global marketplace, but we must also intertwine innovation skills, life and career skills, and the core subjects. Often the 4C’s are left behind in our schools due to a focus on the 3R’s. We need to get back to the 4C’s because computers can’t be creative, and they can’t critical think. We can!

Resources

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). Retrieved March 26, 2014, from http://www.p21.org/index.php

 Zhao, Y., PhD. (2014, March 20). Zhao: Innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity Part 3. Retrieved March 26, 2014, from http://www.p21.org/news-events/p21blog/1373-zhao-innovation-entrepreneurship-and-creativity