Alabama Education in the 21 st Century

1. Alabama Education in the 21st Century Kristan Van Hook, Infotech Strategies Alabama Department of Education February 18, 2004

2. Alabama in the 21st Century • Why 21st Century Skills in Alabama? • What are 21st Century Skills? • What must Alabama do? • Summary Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

3. Why 21st Century Skills in Alabama?

4. Why 21st Century Skills in Alabama? The needs of Alabama and the Alabama economy have dramatically changed. The needs of Alabama and its economy will continue to change.

5. Why 21st Century Skills in Alabama? How is our world different from our parents’ world?

6. Parents: 1.5 jobs over lifetime Subject mastery was most important to keep single job over lifetime Today 9.6 jobs between ages 18-40 Subject mastery is not as important- employees need broader skills to handle the diversity of the workforce. Parents’ World vs. Our World Why 21st Century Skills in Alabama? Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

7. What has changed… Why 21st Century Skills in Alabama? • Today, people have more than 10 jobs during their lifetime. • Core subjects are not enough- employees need to know: • How to communicate • How to use 21st Century Tools • How to collaborate • How to problem-solve Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

8. Our needs have also changed… Why 21st Century Skills in Alabama? • We are in a Global Skills race- Alabama students need to be able to compete in the 21st Century workforce that requires globalization of skills and knowledge Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

9. The Global Skills Race is on… Why 21st Century Skills in Alabama? • Montgomery must be able to compete against cities like Bangalore, India for positions in a knowledge economy. Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

10. Why 21st Century Skills in Alabama? As our needs change, our education must change…

11. Traditional Student Core Subject Mastery 21st Century Student Core Subject Mastery 21st Century Skills, such as Thinking and Problem Solving Skills Information and Communication Skills Interpersonal and Self-Direction Skills Competing Education Models Why 21st Century Skills in Alabama? Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

12. As we consider these two models… Why 21st Century Skills in Alabama? • Who would be a better citizen? • Who would be a better employee? • Who would be best prepared for a changing economy? • Who would be a better leader? Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

13. What does a 21st Century Student Need? Why 21st Century Skills in Alabama? • In order to master the 21st Century, a student needs: • The ability to use 21st Century Tools appropriately • The ability to apply 21st Century Tools to their core subject learning. • The ability to be ICT Literate. Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

14. What are 21st Century Skills?

15. 21st Century Skills are: the full integration of core subjects with learning skills, 21st Century tools and 21st Century content as taught in 21st Century contexts. What are 21st Century Skills? Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

16. Traditional View of Education… What are 21st Century Skills? Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

17. Vision for the future… What are 21st Century Skills? Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

18. What is ICT Literacy? What are 21st Century Skills? ICT (information and communication technologies) Literacy is competency in enacting learning skills via the application of 21st Century Learning Tools. Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

19. Information and Media Literacy Skills Communication Skills Critical Thinking and Systems Thinking Creativity and Intellectual Curiosity Problem Identification, Formulation and Solution Interpersonal and Collaborative Skills Self-Direction Accountability and Adaptability Social Responsibility What are Learning Skills? What are 21st Century Skills? Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

20. Why is ICT Literacy Important? What are 21st Century Skills? • It is better than the technology literacy model, as it gives students broader skills for the 21st Century. • ICT Literacy is an effective way of teaching core subjects to allow students to apply both core subjects and 21st Century Skills to all areas of students’ worlds. Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

21. What are 21st Century Skills? How are communities applying ICT Literacy?

22. Maine Township, Illinois What are 21st Century Skills? • Maine Township has formally adopted information literacy goals and systematically integrated them into core academics in the high school. By their senior year, students are expected to know how to formulate questions efficiently to meet the requirement of a problem, identify appropriate resources, analyze and organize identified resources, build arguments and problem solve based on the resources. • Visit them at www.maine207.k12.il.us Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

23. Lawrence Township, Indiana What are 21st Century Skills? • The district hired a full-time director of professional development and an internal initiative coordinator and trained 40 master teachers to serve as digital age literacy leaders and coaches. In addition, the district created the framework for an online learning environment, a professional development council and have assessed the self-direction skills of their students. • Visit them at www.msdlt.k12.in.us Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

24. Napa, California What are 21st Century Skills? • Napa New Technology High School features performance-based assessments, daily shared planning time for staff, state-of-the-art technical facilities for project-based learning, internships for all students and close links to high-tech workplaces. All core subjects are integrated and assessments are portfolio-based. In addition, the school teaches and assesses such learning skills as collaboration, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. • Visit them at www.nths.nvusd.k12.ca.us Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

25. What must Alabama do?

26. What must Alabama do? Nine Steps to Build Momentum

27. The Nine Steps… What must Alabama do? • Build a Powerful Vision of Education • Build Capacity for 21st Century Skills • Take a Self-Assessment • Develop Priorities for 21st Century Skills • Develop a Professional Development Plan • Ensure Equitable Access • Develop Student Assessments for 21st Century Skills • Collaborate with Outside Partners • Plan Strategically for Ongoing Improvement Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

28. What must Alabama do? Step #1: Build a Powerful Vision of Education

29. Building a Powerful Vision… What must Alabama do? • Does your vision of education include 21st Century Skills? • Is your vision broader than just core subjects? • Does your vision include learning skills and 21st Century Tools? Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

30. What must Alabama do? Step #2: Build Capacity for 21st Century Skills

31. Building Capacity… What must Alabama do? • This cannot be done from the bottom up- everyone must be excited about incorporating 21st Century Skills. • Everyone must commit to incorporating 21st Century Skills into standards, assessments, professional development. • Students, teachers, principals, superintendents and other stakeholders must be aligned in their efforts to learn and promote 21st Century Skills. Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

32. What must Alabama do? Step #3: Take a Self-Assessment

33. Take a self assessment… What must Alabama do? • Use our MILE Guide for 21st Century Skills to gauge schools’ current capacity for preparing students to succeed. • Share the results with stakeholders. Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

34. The MILE Guide for 21st Century Skills What must Alabama do? Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

35. What must Alabama do? Step #4: Develop Priorities for 21st Century Skills

36. Develop Priorities… What must Alabama do? • Using your results from the MILE Guide, focus on the gaps between the current realities and your vision. • What are your short-term and long-term priorities? Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

37. What must Alabama do? Step #5: Develop a Professional Development Plan

38. Professional Development Plan… What must Alabama do? • 21st Century Skills must be a critical part of professional development. • Money must be put aside for professional development. Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

39. What must Alabama do? Step #6: Make Sure Students Have Equitable Access to a 21st Century Education

40. Equitable Access… What must Alabama do? • All students need highly qualified, effective teachers and regular, reliable access to 21st Century Tools. • Education leaders and stakeholders must be vigilant about providing underserved students with equitable access. Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

41. What must Alabama do? Step #7: Develop Student Assessments for 21st Century Skills

42. Assessments… What must Alabama do? • Develop assessments to measure 21st Century Skills. • Assessments must be embedded in core subjects and project-based. Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

43. Assessments… What must Alabama do? • The Educational Testing Service (ETS) is currently working with higher education to create to conceive, design, and build assessments that gauge whether students possess the ability to use digital technology to solve problems in order to function in an information society. Learn more at http://www.ets.org/ictliteracy/index2.html Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

44. Assessments… What must Alabama do? • Microsoft and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) have collaborated to create a formative, online technology learning assessment tool. Available in pilot programs starting in 2004, the tool will offer schools the ability to legitimately document their progression toward and support their implementation of technology standards. Learn more at www.iste.org. Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

45. What must Alabama do? Step #8: Collaborate with Outside Partners

46. Collaborate… What must Alabama do? • Business • Communities • After school Programs • Partnership for 21st Century Skills • Infotech Strategies Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

47. What must Alabama do? Step #9: Plan Collectively and Strategically for the Future

48. Plan… What must Alabama do? • Work with stakeholders • Articulate a long-term vision • Work on continuous innovation • Develop an improvement agenda Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

49. Summary • Those of us dedicated to the future of Alabama must make a commitment to ensuring that students have the 21st Century Skills that they need to succeed. • This is a daunting challenge- we simply can’t afford not to take it on. Infotech Strategies, Inc. Confidential

50. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills www.21stcenturyskills.org