Patrick Cronin & Wendy Shanahan
Transforming 21st Century Teaching &
Learning in North Carolina
April 18, 2011
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Institute for Emerging Issues
• The Institute for Emerging Issues (IEI) is a
public policy organization dedicated to North
Carolina’s future competitiveness.
• By supporting collaboration among
individuals from all sectors and areas of the
state, IEI builds an enduring capacity for
progress.
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What is Creativity?
Creativity means generating ideas that can be used to solve
problems or invent new products and services.
Creativity
Innovation
Competitive Advantage
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What Are Creative Skills?
Right
It’s using more of your right brain
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What Are Creative Skills?
Left Brained Skills
• Linear
• Logical
• Analytical Tasks
(Think of the SAT)
Right Brained Skills
• Big Picture
• Empathy
• Inventiveness
• Artistry
(Think Multidisciplinary)
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IEI’s Work on Creativity
• IEI’s stakeholders identified four strategies to
help N.C. achieve its creative potential:
– Enhance education
– Cultivate creative assets
– Foster connectivity
– Transfer ideas to market
• Progress has been made in all four
strategy areas but there is still work to be
done.
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Existing Creativity Teaching Standards
1.
Encourage students to ask questions, think creatively, develop
and test innovative ideas, synthesize knowledge and draw
conclusions
2. Help students exercise and communicate sound reasoning;
understand connections; make complex choices; and frame,
analyze, and solve problems
Creativity is part of the standards, but this has not always
filtered down into the classroom.
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Enhance Education
• IEI established a Business Committee on Creativity
(BCC) to offer recommendations to ensure K-12
education is aligned with the creative skills
businesses need from their employees.
Three BCC Co-chairs:
– Louis Foreman, Enventys
– Cynthia Marshall, AT&T North Carolina
–
Alex Macris, Themis Media
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Goals of Business Committee on Creativity
• Monitor whether students are acquiring necessary
creativity skills to achieve success in postsecondary education and the workforce.
• Review promising practices for assessing creativity
in K-12 education that are aligned with the skills
that today’s businesses require of their employees.
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Business Committee on Creativity
• General Membership:
• 34 members from small and large businesses throughout N.C.
• Represented creative industries such as gaming, music and
design, as well as more traditional industries such as healthcare
and engineering.
• Discussion:
• The most practiced method of teaching pushes students to find
only one answer, or the “right” answer which runs counter to the
way businesses operate today.
• Critical thinking, communication skills, using one’s imagination
and entrepreneurship skills are most critical for success today.
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Business Committee on Creativity
Recommendations
1. Business Must Communicate to the Policy
Community the Urgency of Developing Creative
Skills in the K-12 Curriculum
• Message must emphasize that both STEM education and
education in creative skills are necessary.
• Business should share the message with policy audiences.
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2. Business and K-12 Education Must Create an Online
Network Designed to Make Direct Connections Between
Educators and Business
• Educators would post specific needs and local businesses
connect directly with educators on the resources they
provide.
3. Business and K-12 Education Must Engage in a Broadbased Marketing Campaign Targeting the Public
• Campaign would focus on the fact that students must
develop right-brained skills to succeed in the creativity
economy and this shift requires an enduring partnership
between education, government and business.
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www.emergingissues.org
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