Tech Directions- October 2008

direct from washington Anne C. Lewis anneclewis@earthlink.net Twenty-first Century Skills In a political campaign season full of rhetoric about making American workers more competitive but almost devoid of break-through ideas, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills is keeping the heat on policy makers to do more about preparing workers beyond the basics. The Partnership is a collaboration of the leading technology companies in the country, as well as educationrelated organizations. It has distilled worker skills that are needed beyond the basics, and for at least the last two years has been a counterforce to all of the attention on only basics and on closing the domestic achievement gap. The Partnership contends that schools need an “NCLB-Plus agenda” that infuses 21st-century skills into the core subjects. “Increasing the number of years of schooling by the labor force boosts the economy only when increased levels of school attainment also boost cognitive skills,” it says in its most recent guide. “In other words, it is not enough simply to spend more time in school; something has to be learned there.” The “something,” according to the Partnership, emphasizes application of skills to innovation and creativity. The skills include: thinking critically and making judgments about great quantities of information; solving complex, multi-disciplinary, and open-ended problems; creativity and entrepreneurial thinking; communication and collaboration; making innovative use of knowledge, information, and opportunities to create new services, processes, and products; and taking charge of ﬁnancial, health, and civic responsibilities. lished with federal funds to help states implement the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in high schools, thoroughly integrates CTE into most of its recommendations. While the brief mentions speciﬁc strategies such as tech prep, it focuses more on cross-cutting lessons for policy makers about interventions that especially help students who struggle in traditional programs. One lesson is to start the interventions early. Waiting until the junior or senior year of high school can be too late because students must pass core subjects in the ninth grade to be on track for postsecondary education and/or employment. In addition to tech prep, interventions that can start early include career academies, Career Beginnings, and the integration of academic content into CTE. readiness, is growing rapidly, according to a report from Inside Higher Education. The certiﬁcate focuses on jobs that do not require a bachelor’s degree and is becoming very popular with community colleges. The certiﬁcate is based on nationally normed assessments that cover three areas: reading for information, applied mathematics, and locating information. Test takers receive one of three grades: bronze, silver, or gold. These tests are part of WorkKeys, a product of ACT, and they are correlated to more than 15,000 jobs. Some states have their own certiﬁcate program, but they all use the same standards. Introduced in Virginia in 2004, the certiﬁcate is now recognized ofﬁcially in 16 states, and almost 30 states are using it partially or considering use of it. For the rest of this item, visit www.techdirections.com/w104.html. Anne Lewis, one of the country’s most respected writers on education policy, works in the Washington, DC, area. For the rest of this item, visit www.techdirections.com/w102.html. Research Center for Learning Technologies As part of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, Congress has established a new National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies. Comparing the new center to historical changes in education such as the Land Grant Colleges Act and the GI Bill, its supporters see it as providing the missing link between the explosion of new technologies and learning strategies. It will bring “learning and skills training into the 21st century,” said the co-chairs of the Digital Promise Project, Lawrence Grossman, former president of PBS and of NBC News, and Anne Murphy, former American Arts Alliance president. Calling All Inventors! Don’t let your students miss the 2008-2009 techdirections Inventors Competition! RESCUE ME! Get them involved in devising creative uses for discarded milk cartons! For the rest of this item, visit www.techdirections.com/w101.html. For the rest of this item, visit www.techdirections.com/w103.html. Interventions That Work A new issue brief from the National High School Center, estab- Career Readiness Certificate Interest in a career readiness certiﬁcate, which is sort of a test for job For details, visit www. techdirections.com/contest. html or see page 22 of the August issue of techdirections. Deadline: January 30, 2009 www.techdirections.com WASHINGTON 7 http://www.techdirections.com/w104.html http://www.techdirections.com/w102.html http://www.techdirections.com/w103.html http://www.techdirections.com/contest http://www.techdirections.com/w101.html http://www.techdirections.com

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Tech Directions Technically Speaking Contents Direct from Washington The Report Technology's Past Technology Today Mastering Computers Automotive Power and Energy Technology Education Career Directions Electronics Special Feature More than fun

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