Education Law

Making sense of 21st century skills

We hear a lot about 21st century skills these days — how, why, and even if new methods and approaches should be incorporated into our public schools. Washington Post education editor, Jay Mathews recently weighed in on this topic, praising the Center for Public Education report “Defining a 21st Century Education” for moving beyond “Star Trek idealism” to provide practical advice.

The report gives concete suggestions on how districts can adapt what they already offer to include 21st century skills like critical thinking, collaboration, and problem solving. Even going beyond academics, the CPE report cites research demonstrating that after school athletic programs and other extracurricular activities help develop interpersonal and collaborative skills.

You can catch Center for Public Education staff at the upcoming NSBA Annual Conference in Chicago, where they will be sharing more findings to help school boards adapt to change and become 21st century education leaders.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on December 09, 2009 (boomark / email).