Blogs on Principals

Welcome back to our series on becoming a 21st century school or district. For the earlier installments of this series, please scroll to the bottom of this page.

We have covered a lot of ground since we started this 7 step series. We have talked about embracing the 4Cs (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity) and embedding them in professional development (step 4), and curriculum and assessment (step 5). But, the goals of your initiative can't be accomplished if your teachers aren't supported in making them happen in the classroom for each and every student.

Welcome back to our series on becoming a 21st century school or district! For the earlier installments of this series, please scroll to the bottom of this page.

Welcome back to the "7 Steps for Becoming a 21st Century School or District." As you will recall, in Step 1 you developed a list of the student outcomes that your students will need to become 21st century citizens and workers. Now, in Step 2, we want you to use that list to start a community conversation around your 21st century education vision. Although your list may contain other skills, for the purposes of this "7 Steps" series we are going to simplify and use the 4C's:

Last summer, as I was winding down my eight years as president of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, I went around the country and met with 30 superintendents, asking them, "What can I do to support your efforts to implement 21st century education in your district?" Together we came up with the idea of creating a professional learning community (PLC) of education leaders committed to 21st century education. A team of us liked the idea so much that earlier this year we launched EdLeader21, a community of education leaders committed to building critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity into their educational system.