August 2004 — Industry Perspective
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Policymakers and 21st Century Skills
ICT Literacy is a higher hurdle than technology literacy, and the Partnership recommends that states incorporate this model of learning into their standards, particularly into the technology literacy standard. Policymakers must understand and embrace this ICT standard as the model for future educational policy. Incorporating 21st century skills into education will make learning as relevant and invigorating in school as it is in students' personal lives, where they already use the latest technologies to communicate, collaborate, work and learn. Many students already learn and process information differently from past generations — multitasking and using personal digital tools to interact and retrieve information at anytime, from anyplace.
Creating a Policy Framework
To help policymakers get started, the Partnership recently released "The Road to 21st Century Learning: A Policy-makers' Guide to 21st Century Skills." Within this report, there are five key recommendations:
1. Adopt state standards that incorporate 21st century tools and learning skills as part of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) eighth-grade technology requirement.
2. In addition to the technology literacy requirement, embed ICT Literacy into current standards, curricula and assessments for core subjects.
3. Create a state and local infrastructure that supports a 21st century education.
4. Provide professional development that is strategically aligned to support the goal of offering a 21st century education to all students.
5. Engage educators, employers, community members, parents and policymakers in an ongoing dialogue that provides recommendations and advice about 21st century education.
These recommendations are excellent starting points for policymakers to begin creating educational policies that include 21st century skills. As education leaders work with these new state and federal policies, it is the perfect time to set an agenda for 21st century skills. It is also a great time to set the tone in every state for the integration of these skills. Specifically, as state policymakers begin to craft NCLB, Title II, Section D — the eighth-grade technology literacy requirement — for their state, the Partnership advocates that states should embrace a broader definition of this requirement. The Partnership also encourages K-12 and higher education leadership to emphasize the importance of 21st century skills and to promote legislation that supports these issues.
Integrating ICT Literacy into Core Subjects
In addition to embedding ICT Literacy into the eighth-grade technology requirements, states must also embed ICT Literacy into current standards, curricula and assessments for core subjects. As states regularly update their standards, curricula and assessments, they must infuse existing standards for core academic subjects and assessments with the learning skills and 21st century tools, context and content that should be emphasized more in most schools today. Technological tools are not isolated from function and content in daily life, and they shouldn't be in educational settings either. This powerful combination of knowledge and 21st century skills will offer all students the opportunity for a more meaningful and relevant educational experience.
