Assessment of 21st-Century Skills. 

Prepare

Reflect

The school year begins with an informative session for parents detailing approaches the neighborhood P-8 school is taking to integrate 21st-century skills as part of the curriculum. Doing so supports the district’s initiative to equip learners with the tools needed to be successful in today’s more competitive global economy. Both the school principal and a business professional in the community are facilitating the event.

A few parents in attendance express disagreement with the need to add 21st-century skills to the curriculum, failing to see their relevancy. Some wonder how the need for these skills now are any different from the need to learn them in past decades.

Respond (Post an initial response by Day 3.)

Get creative! How could you communicate your position in ways other than drafting a written response? Consider creating an audio or video recording and posting the saved recording file as an attachment or embedding it directly into the response box.

Take the position of either the school principal or the business professional there to support the principal. Compose an original response that would be easy for parents to understand and address their concerns. In the subject line of your response, indicate the role you have selected (principal or business professional).

School Principal – Address the following points to the audience of parents:

• How 21st-century skills differ today than from decades past
• Why it is necessary to include these skills in everyday instruction
• An example of how any of the 4Cs in particular, can easily be integrated in instruction

Business Professional (Non-education field) – Address the following points to the audience of parents:

• How 21st-century skills differ today than from decades past
• Why it is necessary to include these skills in everyday instruction
• Describe how you know the 21st-century skills described by P21 are indeed necessary and valuable in the workforce based on your experience and observations.