This document summarizes key ideas from several chapters of books about teaching 21st century skills. It discusses how skills like collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and problem solving are now essential for students' futures. The authors argue that schools need to realign curricula and assessments around teaching these skills, and provide teachers support to learn new methods. Focusing too much on specific technologies or content coverage limits skill development; educators should emphasize skill functions over tools and help students take responsibility for their own learning.

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3. “Proficiency
in 21 st century skills
is the new civil right of our
times.”

4. “The new social contract is
different:
only people who have the
knowledge and skills to
negotiate constant change
and reinvent themselves for
new situations will succeed.”

5. “U.S. schools and students have
not adapted to the changing
world. On top of that, many
students are not engaged or
motivated in school learning that
seems out of step with their lives
and irrelevant to their future.”

6. “Students need both content
knowledge and skills
to apply and transform their
knowledge for useful and
creative purposes and to
keep learning as content and
circumstances change.”

7. “The combination of core academic
subjects, 21st century themes and
21st century skills redefines rigor for
our times. However, rigor traditionally
is equated with mastery of content
(core subjects) alone, and that’s
simply not good enough anymore.”

8. “The vision for 21st century learning is
situated in reality: producing the
results that matter in terms of student
outcomes in 21st century skills
requires every aspect of the
education system to be aligned
toward this goal.”

9. “…the term 21st century skills
is not a vague and squishy
catchword that can mean
anything.”

10. “Every element of our
(the P21) model has been
defined, developed, and
vetted by leading experts,
scholars, educators,
business people, parents
and community members.”

11. “The most important next step is
to agree on terms of proficiency
in 21st century skills. And it’s not
enough to want these outcomes –
it’s essential to plan the entire
education system intentionally
and transparently around them.”

12. “Articulating the skills that matter
is only the first step.
States and districts cannot
assume that teachers can break
out of the 20th century box
without sustained professional
development.”

13. “It is unfair and unproductive
to expect students to meet
new and higher expectations if
the supporting infrastructure
does not exist.”

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15. “Growing proportions of the
nation’s labor force are
engaged in jobs that emphasize
expert thinking or complex
communication- tasks that
computers cannot do.”

16. “The predominant learning
activities on the Internet have
changed from the presentation
of material by website
providers to the active co-
construction of resources by
communities of contributors.”

17. “Given that the curriculum is
already crowded, a major political
challenge is articulating what to
deemphasize in the curriculum –
and why – in order to make room
for students to deeply master
core 21st century skills.”

18. “Lack of professional development is another
reason 21st Century skills are underemphasized
in today’s schooling….Altering deeply ingrained
and strongly reinforced rituals of schooling takes
more than the superficial interchanges typical in
“make and take” professional development or
school board meetings…

19. Intellectual, emotional and social support
(in professional development) is essential for
“unlearning” and for transformational
relearning that can lead to deeper behavioral
changes that create next-generation
educational practices.”

20. “The assessment is forward looking,
focusing on young people’s ability to
use their knowledge and skills to
meet real life challenges, rather than
merely on the extent to which they
have mastered a specific school
curriculum.”

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22. “The current curriculum simply
contains too many topics
and is too fragmented, often
without clear connections from
one topic to another.”

23. “Many of the very skills and
processes needed to succeed
in the modern world are
blocked out of the curriculum.”

24. “The perceived expectation to
teach to all of the standards
and march through designated
textbooks leads to superficial
“coverage” of instructional
content.”

25. “The pressures of content
coverage come at the expense
of learner engagement and in-
depth exploration of concepts
and investigation of important
questions.”

26. “How can we possibly add 21st
Century outcomes
to an already overcrowded
curriculum?

27. “The key to unclogging a crowded
content-driven curriculum is to
create a clear conception of a few
really important ideas and
essential questions in order to
focus on understanding and
integrate 21st century skills.”

28. “because the curriculum is more
focused… teachers have time to
“uncover” it by engaging students
in analyzing issues, applying
critical and creative thinking to
complex problems…”

29. …working collaboratively on inquiry
and research investigations,
accessing and evaluating
information, applying technology
effectively, and developing initiative
and self-direction through authentic,
long-term projects.”

30. “ If we genuinely value the
infusion of 21st century skills
with core academic goals, then
assessments at all levels
classroom, district, and state –
should be aligned accordingly.”

31. “The curriculum maps remind
teachers that their job is to uncover
important ideas, explore critical
questions, focus on learning and
using 21st century skills, and
prepare kids to apply their learning
to new situations.”

32. “With this approach (authentic assessment/
portfolios), students graduate from high
school with a resume of authentic
accomplishments that demonstrate their
understanding of key ideas and their ability to
apply 21st century skills, instead of merely a
transcript of courses and a GPA.”

33. “While the changes we advocate are not
a quick fix, nor will they be easy to
implement, such changes to educational
missions and methods are necessary if
schooling is to remain relevant and will
adequately prepare our children to live
and work in the 21st century.”

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35. “Like the chalkboard of our school
days, the best technologies fade
into the background – they “weave”
themselves into the fabric of
everyday life until they are
indistinguishable from it.”

36. “Humans need to communicate, share,
store and create. As a species, we’ve
engaged in these functions for centuries.
There’s really nothing new about them.
What is new are the forms, or tools, that
students use to meet these needs.”

37. “Given that our attempts to ban
technology have failed and
technological innovation is
accelerating, it’s time that we
consider the use of 21st century
tools that serve long-standing
functions.”

38. “If we focus on the tool
but lose sight of the purpose,
we are forever condemned to
playing catch-up in a landscape
of rapidly changing
technology.”

39. “The tools themselves evolve;
our task as educators is to
foreground communication
while keeping abreast of the
technologies that support it.”

40. “Focusing on the tool at the
expense of the purpose means that
we shortchange our students. We
risk failure to prepare our students
to be 21st century learners who can
adapt to new technology…

41. … because they understand the
collaborative, cooperative and
communicative purposes that
underlie the tool.”

42. “ … as teachers, we should
focus on functions of the
technology rather than the
tools or forms of technology.”

43. “We have to stop thinking of
technology in terms of nouns
(PowerPoint, YouTube, or Twitter)
and instead think in terms of verbs
(presenting, sharing,
communicating).”

44. “As their teachers, it is our
responsibility to meet them halfway.
We have been entrusted to guide the
next generation, and doing so
requires that we apprentice them in
the functions they will need to be
successful…

45. …and this success will involve tools
that we haven’t yet imagined.
We’re no longer stressed about this;
we’re excited to learn alongside
students as they teach us tools and
we help them understand functions.”

46. “Our goal is to release responsibility
for learning to students, yet still
provide them with the support
required to be successful. We have
found the gradual release of
responsibility model most
appropriate to accomplish the goal…

47. … it suggests that teachers move
purposefully from providing
extensive support to using peer
support and then no support…”

48. “teachers have to move from
assuming “all the responsibility
for performing a task…to a situation
in which the students assume all of
the responsibility.”