Allison Zmuda, Facilitator zmuda@competentclassroom.com

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National level conference this past summer
Garnered respect from leaders from
Partnership for 21 st century skills
Developed an interface for evaluation around the MILE guide
Who is it????

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Increasing awareness
Assessing your current state
Narrowing to a manageable number of skills
Planning
Implementation
Evaluation and continuous improvement

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1) create context-specific definitions for whichever skills a district has decided to begin with
2) create the [context specific] continua
3) develop a plan to conduct a gap analysis comparing present lessons, units, etc. to the continua that were developed
4) improve the quality of assessments

21 st century student learning

STUDENT
TEACHER CONTENT
Richard Elmore, et. al. Instructional Rounds

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-- David Conley, Standards for Success

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84% of employers say K-12 schools are not doing a good job of preparing students for the workplace
55% say schools are deficient in preparing students with basic employability skills
51% cite math and science deficiencies
38% cite reading and comprehension deficiencies
-- Findings reported in 2005 Survey of National Association of
Manufacturers
Copyright Zmuda 2009 8

The most notable feature of the new labor market, as just about everyone agrees, is that people don’t stay tied to companies anymore.
Americans now change jobs on average every
3.5 years—a figure that has been declining steadily for every age group; and workers in their twenties switch jobs on average every 1.1 years, according to 2001 figures from the Bureau of
Labor Statistics.
--- Richard Florida

“The skills of the workforce will increasingly be the defining characteristic that determines the extent to which an economy can develop and exploit new technologies and compete in the global marketplace. Knowledge workers in every industry require high-level cognitive skills for managing, interpreting, validating, transforming, communicating and acting on information.”
-- 2004 RAND Report
Copyright Zmuda 2009 10

80% of voters say that the kind of skills students need to learn to be prepared for the jobs of the 21st century is different from what they needed 20 years ago.
88% of voters say they believe that schools can and should incorporate 21st century skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving skills, computer and technology skills, and communication and self-direction skills into their curriculum.
66% of voters say they believe that students need more than just the basics of reading, writing and math; schools also need to incorporate a broader range of skills.
53% say they believe schools should place an equal emphasis on 21st century skills and basic skills.
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 “Just as the Web has empowered students to undermine pointless, rote ‘research assignments’ through copy-and-paste masterpieces, the new WWW shifts learning power to the students themselves.
When the world of information explodes beyond what one head can hold, who decides what gets into that head? When students can demonstrate their learning in a persuasive essay, a sardonic blog, a moving short film, a robust wiki entry or a humorous podcast, why would we demand deadening conformity? The new
WWW may do us all a favor and put assembly-line education out of its misery.”
-- T. March
Copyright Zmuda 2009 12

 “Schools have conflated technology use with instructional quality and student engagement with improved learning and higher-order thinking. In all the excitement about new ways of teaching with technology, we educators may have neglected to pose the most fundamental question: Are students really learning?”
-- M. Burns
Copyright Zmuda 2009 13

 “Laptops tend to amplify what is already taking place in schools. Whatever a school is doing well, it can probably do better with laptops. By the same token though, if a school is seriously troubled with discipline problems or unfocused instruction, laptops may amplify those difficulties by giving students a new means for off-task behavior and teachers a new tool for keeping students busy rather than teaching them. Laptops will make a good school better, but they won’t make a bad school good.”
-- M. Warschauer
Copyright Zmuda 2009 14

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Two out of three respondents (67% in each year) are bored at least every day in class in high school.
Approximately half of the students (51% in 2007,
50% in 2008) are bored every day.
Approximately one out of every six students (16% in 2007, 17% in 2008) are bored in every class.
Only 2% in each year report never being bored.
E. Yazzie-Mintz (2009). Engaging the Voices of
Students

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More than four out of five cited a reason for their boredom as “Material wasn’t interesting” (83% in 2007,
82% in 2008).
About two out of five students (41% in each year) claimed that the lack of relevance of the material caused their boredom.
About one-third of the students (33% in 2007, 32% in
2008) were bored because “Work wasn’t challenging enough.”
Just over one-fourth (27% in each year) of respondents were bored because “Work was too difficult.”
More than one-third of respondents (35% in each year) were bored due to “No interaction with teacher.”
E. Yazzie-Mintz (2009). Engaging the Voices of Students

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Failure becomes a bad word and is to be avoided at all costs.
Giving the teacher what he or she wants is critical if you want to get good grades.
Questions are good only if they are on topic.
Developing good ideas must be done in accordance with the directions.

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STUDENT
TEACHER CONTENT
Richard Elmore, et. al. Instructional Rounds

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Too much content – needs to be more clear about essential learnings and 21 st century skills
Subject areas are in silos – don’t have opportunities to make connections or apply learning
Pacing of content is too fast
Overreliance on traditional and/or superficial assessments

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Attitudes about 21st century skills as it relates to teaching to the test
Teacher contract/time
Physical setup of classroom design
How teachers learn
Differentiation of instruction i.e. time, materials, human resources
Horizontal & Vertical discussions between grade-levels (getting people together)

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Lack of relevance and motivation
Students feel defined by their deficits
Lack of self reflection
Unwilling to fail/learn from mistakes
Traditional schooling—geared toward the industrial revolution as opposed to 21 st century learning

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“The core of schooling remains relatively stable in the face of massive changes in the structure around it.
Schools legitimize themselves with their various conflicting publics by constantly changing external structures and processes, but shield their workers from any fundamental impact of these changes by leaving their core intact. This accounts for the resilience of practice within the context of constant institutional change.”
- Richard Elmore

 “We are not brains disembodied in the bucket sitting in the corner. And likewise, we don't learn by having information stuck into our brains. It doesn't work that way. We have to learn more actively than that. So it is not true that you can plug the world into the brain and thereby know everything. Instead, knowledge has to built.”

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Critical thinking / Problem solving
Information Technology Application
Teamwork / Collaboration
Creativity / Innovation
Diversity

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Critical thinking and Problem Solving
Collaboration
Agility and Adaptability
Initiative and Entrepreneurship
Effective Oral and Written
Communication
Accessing and Analyzing information
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Push for reform from the outside in
Cannot be done in addition to status quo
Rethinking and imagining required to come up with a viable definition

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Ability to synthesize to come up with combinations that are new and useful
Self-assurance, self confidence
Ability to take risks
Breaking or stretching generally accepted rules
Passionate interest -- the work is enjoyable
Tolerance for disruption to existing patterns of thought and life
Largely driven by intrinsic motivation

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Look at the three sets here
Look at the samples in the slides
Come up with your “right answer”
(HINT: THIS IS THE EASY PART! It will be uphill from here….)

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 HINT: Don’t reinvent the wheel.
 HINT: You may pick and choose from each of the three examples.
 HINT: Keep in mind it should get progressively harder (both the level of the task and the level of performance).

Criteria:
 Is it framed in terms of a learning goal?
(What the learners will accomplish NOT how
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Is it framed in language that is measurable?
Is the language clear enough to give the necessary leverage to improve teaching practice and system effectiveness?

NOVICE EMERGING PROFICIENT EXEMPLARY

Information and media literacy
Access and evaluate information and sources critically; apply information to complete the task in an ethical and legal manner
NOVICE EMERGING
PROFICIEN
T
EXEMPLAR
Y

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Use the continua as the benchmark
Not good enough to “fit it” – stay true to the language
Look for areas of “weird-ness” – don’t assume that students aren’t capable….somebody is already doing it

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It is difficult to measure the full scope of the standards.
Teachers will be instantly over-budget in terms of instructional time and assessment fatigue.
This cannot be done in addition to what teachers are already expected to do.

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Transfer of learning is the cornerstone upon which education should ultimately rest. In its broadest sense, transfer of learning is basic to the whole notion of schooling. If there is no transfer at all, students will need to be taught specifically every act that they will ever perform in any situation [ which is impossible ]. (Bigge & Shermis, 1992).
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 What are the key representative complex challenges spanning a field of study?
 What are the various challenges we expect successful people to be able to handle?
 What does it mean to “do” the subject?
What are the representative tasks?
 Think: the decathlon in each subject area
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Problem/Solution- Identifies and defines a problem and generates a possible solutions (or solution paths), evaluates the viability of each solution, and offers a recommendation.
Inquiry/Investigation- Systematically develop questions and pursue an explanation/pattern based on, but not limited to, known information.
Source/Comparative Analysis- Analyze data, information, artifacts, and/or textual evidence to develop an explanation, interpretation, and/or determine impact.
Critique/Self-Analysis- Evaluate a given text, performance, or problem based on established criteria
Debate, Panel, Role Play- Present and participate in a debate, panel, or role play to provide information, gain insight and/or promote a particular point of view

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Performance / Product - Generate a performance/product using visual, multimedia, sound, writing, and /or speech to demonstrate understanding and/or communicate creative intent
Modeling/Simulation- Given a model or set of criteria/data/experiences, create representations to illustrate/predict outcomes or to deepen understanding
Correspondence/Interviews- Appropriately communicates and/or responds to an idea, point of view, concern, request or proposal to an audience to achieve a desired result
Persuasive statement- Develop an argument/artifact using supporting information and persuasive techniques to promote a particular point of view and/or cause action
Portfolio/Reflection- Collect work over time to demonstrate mastery in one or more modes of expression/College, Career, Citizen-Ready skills, reflect on growth, and/or set goals

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Based on your drafted 21st century skills, how does this correlate to the ten performance assessments?
What is missing? (skills or assessments)
What is redundant?

Look at the “ten” assessment vehicles.
 What’s missing?
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Where are there areas of redundancy?
Is it attractive to multiple disciplines?