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: BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog

What it's all about

It does BoardBuzz's heart good when we see things like this recent opinion piece in the Post-Bulletin (Minn.). School board member Diane Hermann Blakley discusses the importance of community engagement and 21st century skills in her editorial.

I recently had the pleasure of attending the National School Board Association Conference in Orlando. This conference helped to assure me that our schools need to teach the core subjects, but must also address the 21st Century Skills. These skills include problem solving, critical thinking, media literacy, global awareness, collaboration skills and civic leadership. The skills students need today are fundamentally different from what was needed 20 years ago. Teaching our students 21st Century Skills is essential to our nation's economic success. Our nation cannot afford to have ANY of our students not reach their full potential. The demand on our workforce in upcoming years will require all our students to be well taught. This Rochester School Board, along with Superintendent Romain Dallemand, is committed to closing the opportunity gap.

And it sounds like not only are they committed to their students, but to their community too.

We need to engage all of our youth in their communities and engage adults in the lives of our youth. We as a school board are working to engage students into becoming productive citizens within our community and our country. Parental and community involvement is the key to this process. Parents need to find the time to spend quality time with their children. Positive adult-child interaction increases student achievement, reduces substance abuse, creates responsibility, and respect.

Engaging the community in the public schools is not a new idea, but it certainly a critical one. And BoardBuzz thinks that Blakley sums it up best when she says, "Every child is a gift to our community. ALL children can learn, and with the leadership of our schools, parents, and community, we can make this happen." We couldn't agree more!

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on April 09, 2008 (boomark / email).