The Partnership for 21st Century Skills

After lingering around on The Partnership for 21st Century Skills website I was surprised to see that there really are people out there who are trying to help bridge the gap that has been created with technology and the educational system. The mission statement for the program is to "serve as a catalyst to position 21st century skills at the center of US k-12 education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business, community, and government leaders." I agree when they state "to successfully face rigorous higher education coursework, career challenges and a globally competitive workforce, U.S. schools must align classroom environments with real world environments by infusing 21st century skills." I was very impressed that they mention the core subjects in school and still consider them to be important.

I did not really find anything that I disagreed with on the website. However, I was shocked and a little discouraged to see that so few states are involved in this program. Also, the states that are involved are not what I consider big ones such as New York, Maryland, California, Texas, Florida... that I thought would have the funds and motivation to be involved. Another thing that I was a little discouraged by was the fact that the board is made up of members from highly respected and very well known companies. I only graduated from college 6 years ago and I would have thought that if this really was such a BIG program that I would have heard about it before. In addition, with the companies that are involved I am a little discouraged that since 2002 when it was formed it has not gotten as much publicity with what they are trying to do as you would think.

Moreover, I do not feel that this website was very user friendly. I find myself to be tech savvy but I found this website difficult to navigate. Overall, I feel that this website has some resourceful information for incorporating 21st century skills into education not only for educators but also for the public. I think the program has good intentions but more states need to jump on board in order for it to be successful. We need to prepare our students for the real world they are about to enter and beginning with teaching 21st century skills is a good starting point.