Partnership for 21st Century Skills - LIVE

Today's National Summit on 21st Century Skills is being held "live" in Washington DC and "LIVE" online at the P21 Cyber Summit.

NOTES from National Summit. (excuse typos and speed typing) :-/

- Introduction with Framework for 21st Century Skills

- Ray Suarez, NewsHour (Moderator) -

Emily DeRocco - US Chamber of Commerce
- technology advances have shifted the manufacturing workspace to an environment where works have to know advanced skills, education and knowledge that workers bring to the 21st century manufacturing work space.
- manufactures have identified the skills required - personal effectiveness skills, academics, industry tech skills; levels of competencies in education for manufacturing workforce
- must include these skills in our education curriculum

Emily DeRoco (National Assoc. of Manufacturers)
- school system needs to prepare workforce with skills needed for small business and larger organizations
- what do employers want that the are not finding? Employers want people who can THINK. Also includes P21 skills.

Steve Pain - WV Dept. of Ed
- How do we grow cognitive demand while building 21st century skills
- How do we grow teachers knowledge to apply 21st century skills

Patrick Gaston - Verizon Foundation
- What kind of people does Verizon need; how is it different from 25 years ago
- Technology has changed; customer needs has changed
- employee of today needs critical skills we need for today
- individuals needed to be able to work independently
- communication, motivation, collaborative skills
- eliminate redundancies in the system

Tony Wagner
- problem is not just finding the right teachers, but having the right mission
- not just about workforce readiness; redefining what it means to be an educated adult in the 21st century
- skills have converged
- this is not a teacher workforce problem; problem is defining the goals for today's goals
- transform the nature of the teaching job to teaching as a team
- get clear about the goals; get clear about working conditions
- rethink what the teachers work is and how they work collaboratively
- In Finland, teachers spend 10-20% in front of students; the spend their time working as teams
- what does teaching need to look like? if you get clear about goals in education; align a system of teacher preparation, assessment and pd around that, you get dramatic results

Emily DeRocco
- what are drivers in business success? Innovation - not only in product, but corporate structure, technology, customer service, the companies ecosystem
- give workers skills and education to be a mobile and productive member
- individual change jobs 7-10 times; not just jobs / careers

Patric Gaston
- 200 M dollars on education literacy skills spend - verizon

Lydia Logan
- people who are applying to be journeyman are not passing entrance exams
- what is required for an entry level job is very different across the board
- myth of high skill / low skill is not the question
- are you equipped to think, option to change jobs, adapt
- we are eliminated options for job opportunities
- how do we prepare our citizens for opportunities that come along

Patrick Gaston
- P21 as a forum to discuss these issues and how we integrate training, pd, how we hire, prepare workforce
- do leadership /execs have the skill sets that reflects our marketplace

Tony Wagner
- how do we take this P21 'rainbow' and make actionable?
- Greatest gap: critical thinking, communication and collaboration (3 cornerstones)
- 1 actionable item - how do you assess critical thinking; not on state assessment; evidence students have mastered this skill
- we need assessments for critical thinking skills

Steve Paine
- as collective body, use political capital to move legislation
- kids want skills (critical thinking) and technologies
- Our national assessment for the last 8 years has been a mockery
- we need accountability in our system, assess critical thinking skills
- embed performance skills that work, bring skills to all learners/teachers, bring to manufacturing sector

Emily DeRocco
- it is more than content; it's about 21st century skills (curriculum, pd, assessments)
- how do manufacturers and educators work together to bring forth effective knowledge workers?

How can we address the diversity and change in population?

Tony Wagner
- (3-10) students won't go to college
- 1 in 3 Caucasian students graduate from college and are productive citizens
- 1 in 6 hispanic students graduate college and progress
- we have a belief to be college ready means more content means more prepared for college
- kids need the skills to make it in the workforce
- ensure all kids graduate from high school
- kids must be career, citizenship and college ready

Leaving skills not prepared for 21st century learning, it is a lifetime of low wage opportunities

Lydia Logan
- employers care about content knowledge and critical thinking skills; rigor is important

Tony Wagner "Accountability 2.0"

False argument - skills vs. content


Audience reactions:
- every other month our department gets together to talk (voice of teacher)

Steve Paine
- Global 21. Need to voice the message and carry it out to community.


How do you learn in the 21st century?

Tony Wagner
- this generation is very differently motivated to learn and to work
- Global achievement and global learning gap

How much change are you seeing from Ed schools? Very little

Is our economy a "winner take all" economy?


National Student Clearinghouse
- we need to track kids in college and in the workplace


Community colleges have stepped up to the plate on workforce and getting students ready for careers

- K12 is hard to crack; how do we get more aligned as manufacturers to K12?
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