Preparing Global Thinkers, Workers, Leaders: A 21 st Century Education Plan

1. Preparing Global Thinkers, Workers, Leaders:A 21st Century Education Plan ASCD Annual Conference March 6, 2010 Janis Jensen, Director, Office of Academic Standards, NJ Department of Education Marie Adair, Executive Director, NJASCD

2. The Context • ASCD Position Statement: Educating Students in a Rapidly Changing World As educators in the 21st century, we are charged with educating students to be successful in a complex, interconnected world. This responsibility requiresschools to prepare studentsfor technological, cultural, economic, informational, and demographic changes.

3. ASCD supports changes in teaching, learning, and leadership that adequately prepare students for the 21st century and graduate students who: • Acquire and apply core knowledge and critical-thinking skill sets that are essential in an information age • Demonstrate creativity, innovation,and flexibility when partnering with business and community members to advance common goals; • Make decisions and solve problems ethically and collaboratively

4. Use technology to gather, analyze, and synthesize information for application in a global economy • Exhibit positive interpersonal relationships that value multiple languages, cultures, and all persons • Display leadership skills that inspire others to achieve, serve,and work together

5. Question How can national and state education organizations bring about change in light of the new realities in this century?

6. The Context • New Jersey Department of Education Initiatives • Partnership for 21st Century Skills member state 2. High School Redesign Policy 3. 2009 Standards Revision Project 4. Pre-School Expansion 5. Teacher Preparation Program Standards

7. New Jersey’s Education Plan:Preparing Global Thinkers, Workers, and Leaders

8. Secondary Education Redesign Vision New Jersey will educate all students to prepare them to lead productive, fulfilling lives. Through a public education system that is seamlessly aligned from pre-school to college, students will gain the requisite academic knowledge and technical and critical thinking skills for life and work in the 21st century.

9. 2009 Standards Revision Project:PreparingStudents in the 21st Century • Standards will align with the knowledge and skills needed for post-secondary education and the workplace • Reflect 21st Century Themes: Global Awareness; Financial, Economic, Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy; Civic Literacy and Health Literacy; • Emphasize the development of skills needed in real world situations in the digital age; and • Allow for multiple measures of mastery

10. 21st Century Standards: • Provide the foundation forthe development of curriculum that promotes the use of innovative learning strategies by integrating supportive technologies, inquiry- and problem-based approaches and higher order thinking skills • Enable students to learn in relevant, real world 21st century contexts • Support expanded community and international involvement in learning, both face-to-face and online

11. Teacher Preparation Program Standards • Explore the implications of the new emphases of state standards in relation to pedagogies • Foster collaboration • Authentic and applied application of skills • Global perspectives • Higher order thinking skills and interdisciplinary connections • Use of 21st century tools

12. Question • What do you believe will be a key catalyst for change for the development of the new literacies required in the global age?

13. Question • Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, commented in a recent interview with Tom Friedman: “In a world where information was scarce, schools operated as kind of a repository of that precious resource. But now, information is abundant. A school doesn’t have to harvest and distribute this scarce resource. It has to serve some other kind of function.” How would you best define that function?

14. Setting Goals In light of the new state, national and international contexts, examine what you are poised to do in order to determine a course of action that will shape a continuum of progress in creating 21st Century schools. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

15. Partnerships • The power of professional partnerships: ~ a common message ~ a clear direction ~ several pathways of choice ~ collaborate, innovate, lead

16. Initiatives Creating 21st Century New Jersey Schools: The Statewide Systemic Model for Continuous Professional Learning and Growth ~Phase 1: Awareness and Familiarization ~Phase 2: Critical Transformations ~Phase 3: Sustaining the Change

17. Initiatives Modules of New Learning • Module A: Content Areas • Module B: Instructional Strategies • Module C: Learning Environments/New Technologies/Changing Teacher Roles • Module D: Assessing Learning • Module E: Leadership • Module F: Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)

18. Initiatives Supervisors as Agents of Change in Transforming Secondary Schools • Planned and offered as three part series for supervisors to become familiar with the revised content standards and create a Curriculum Template that included 21st century themes and skills, integrated technology, and project based learning • Day 1: The Case for Reform • Day 2: Supervision in the Context of 21st Century Learning • Day 3: Using the Standards

19. Initiatives Secondary School Leadership in a Time of Change: The Wallace Leadership Project • A project involving 23 high schools • Identify an element of reform • Plan to address the change • Supports by Department of Ed and the PD Partnership

20. Initiatives The Professional Development Partnership • NJ Department of Education • New Jersey ASCD • NJ Principals & Supervisors Association • Center for Innovative Education at Kean University • Planned and provided professional development that connects to the implementation of the State initiatives

21. Initiatives Curriculum 21: Upgrading the Curriculum for 21st Century Learners • A three day curriculum institute in collaboration with Heidi Hayes Jacobs and staff Topics • What to cut? What to keep? What to create? • Using Mapping as a Vehicle for 21st Century Planning • Developing your Plan: Making It Work in your School

22. Initiatives Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century: Designing Curriculum to Meet Revised Standards • Session A: The Curriculum Core: Unit Design and Lesson Plan Templates • Session B: Designing Teaching and Learning for the 21st Century Learner

23. Info-Briefs • A Common Language for Professional Learning Communities • From 20th Century Classrooms to 21st Century Work Spaces: Educating Students in a Rapidly Changing World

24. American education is at a crossroads . . . We should . . . ~ inform the public about the possibilities brought about by globalization, ~ encourage education innovations, ~ inspire educators with genuine support, ~ diversify and decentralize curriculum, ~ educate children as confident, unique, and well-rounded human beings. Yong Zhao