The Partnership For 21st Century Skills in the United States has a clear mission. It aims:
To serve as a catalyst to position 21st century readiness at the center of US K12 education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business, community and government leaders.
Below are excerpts and videos from its website. You can discover more via the following link.
Twenty-First Century Children
Every child in the U.S. needs 21st century knowledge and skills to succeed as effective citizens, workers and leaders. This can be accomplished by fusing the 3Rs and 4Cs.
There is a profound gap between the knowledge and skills most students learn in school and the knowledge and skills they need in typical 21st century communities and workplaces.
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 fusing the 3Rs and 4Cs:
The 3Rs include: English, reading or language arts; mathematics; science; foreign languages; civics; government; economics; arts; history; and geography.
The 4Cs include: critical thinking and problem solving; communication, collaboration; and creativity and innovation.
As the 3Rs serve as an umbrella for other subjects and core content, the 4Cs are a shorthand for all the skills needed for success in college, career, and life.
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills
P21 is a national organization that advocates for 21st century readiness for every student.
P21 is a broad coalition made up of education nonprofits, foundations, and businesses working together to make 21st century education a reality for all students.
As the United States continues to compete in a global economy that demands innovation, P21 and its members provide tools and resources to help the U.S. education system keep up by fusing content and the 4Cs (critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation).
While leading districts and schools are already doing this, P21 advocates for local, state and federal policies that support this approach for every school.
Framework For 21st Century Learning
The Framework presents a holistic view of 21st century teaching and learning that combines a discrete focus on 21st century student outcomes (a blending of specific skills, content knowledge, expertise and literacies) with innovative support systems to help students master the multi-dimensional abilities required of them in the 21st century and beyond.
You can download the Framework for 21st Century PDF via the following link.
http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/1.__p21_framework_2-pager.pdf
You can keep up-to-date with the Partnership For 21st Century Skills via its blog.
http://www.p21.org/our-work/p21blog
Here is another introduction to these skills.
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