The
Partnership for 21st Century Learning was
founded in 2002. Its purpose was to bring together the business community,
education leaders, and policymakers to put 21st century readiness in the
forefront of K-12 education and to get the conversation on 21st century
skills and the importance for all students started (Partnership for 21st Century Skills). The
Partnership for 21st Century Learning has continued to evolve their message over the last 13
years as well as expand their partnerships (Partnership for 21st Century Skills).
This website offers many great resources for
educators, policymakers and the community as a whole. I found many of the
educator resources to be of benefit to me in my current classroom. The resource
I found especially useful is the Roadmap for 21st Century Learning
Environments. This resource is a free planning tool that educators can use to create
a plan for transforming the classroom to benefits the students future. I feel
that I can really use this resource to support the transformation of my classroom.
One thing that I found surprising is that there
are only 40 exemplar schools. Even more surprising is that there are only 19
states partnered with P21. There are
many great companies that are partnered with P21 and for this reason I thought
there would be more schools involved. As I continue to explore the
Partnership for 21st Century Learning website I will keep in mind if
this is a site that my school can partner with.
Valerie Hicks
Reference
Partnership for 21st Century Skills.
(n.d.). Our history. Washington DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/about-us/our-history
Hi Valerie,
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed disheartening that there are so many notable partners but only 40 exemplar schools. That opened my mind to thinking whether it was as a result of the criteria or just that it is still somewhat in the trial period.
What do you think of the "exemplar school" status? How can we ultimately expand this beyond its present scope?
Nadine,
DeleteAfter reading your question I went back to website to further review the application process and criteria. While I would love to see my schools name listed as an exemplar school, this is not something I could do alone. In order to apply I feel that the school as a whole would have to work together. Administration would have to step up and take the lead. Thinking about the many things that my administration already has to juggle, I do not foresee this be a top priority. As for right now that best that I can do is to fully understand the mission of being an exemplar school and share it with my administration.
Valerie
Hi Valerie,
ReplyDeleteI found your post about the website Partnership for 21st Century Learning quite interesting because of the resource you found useful: The Roadmap for 21st Century Learning Environments. I did not come across this resource while I was exploring the website, so I’m glad you mentioned it in your post.
After viewing this roadmap I found the section titled “Guidance From the Assessment and Accountability Working Group” to be the most reassuring to me. Just like all the other sections of this article it is broken down into the following: Background, Principles, Stages, Key Questions, Policy Considerations, Exemplars, and Action Steps and Recommendations. More specifically, I found the examples of 21st century assessment method examples to be more reassuring rather than resourceful. Price, Pierson & Light (2011) outlined the following assessment strategies that align with the attributes today’s students (Generation Z) and the 21st century skills they must master: Performance-based assessments, self-assessments, peer-assessments, student-response systems, and rubrics. The reason I found these assessment methods to be more reassuring than useful is because I have been using them in the lessons I have been teaching. This means that I have been doing a relatively effective job of teaching my students the necessary 21st century skills; however I feel as though I could utilize more of these assessment methods.
You mentioned how you felt you could really use this resource to support the transformation of your classroom. How do you plan on doing this? Do you feel as though you use these assessment methods in your classroom?
Great insights!
-Valarie Gasparino
Valarie,
DeleteI do not use all of the assessment methods in my classroom. To be honest, I do not use enough of a variety of assessments in my classroom or even assess enough. Reading through the stages really sparked some thoughts as far as planning, collaboration and assessments. I do not have a full plan in place but I will begin to use this roadmap as a tool.
Valerie Hicks
Valerie,
ReplyDeleteI too found the resources on the website interesting and a way to keep up with technology and ways to plan for using this technology. I was happy to see my state on the list, but thought it was interesting that more states were not on the list of partners. That does not mean that those states don't have a technology focused plan. It would be nice to have thoughts from each state in this collaboration so that we would have more thoughts and voices. It is nice that there are business partnerships and other community leaders adding to the collaboration. Thanks for your thoughts.
Jeromy