This document discusses trends and implications for the future of education, including: 1) The world is becoming more digital, globalized, and unpredictable, making skills like critical thinking and adaptability more important. 2) Competition for spots at top colleges is intense, with acceptance rates under 5%. Colleges seek well-rounded students who excel academically. 3) The amount of information is doubling increasingly quickly, changing the nature of learning from acquiring discrete facts to developing lifelong skills and the ability to learn independently.

1. What is Next?
Trends and Implications for
New Canaan Public Schools
December 9th, 2014
http://digitallearningforallnow.com
http://www.slideshare.net/jpcostasr
costa@educationconnection.org
Jonathan P. Costa

2. Mission
To prepare
EVERY student
for learning, life,
and work
in the 21st century.

3. Where Do They Go?
Most Competitive
Highly Competitive
Very Competitive
Competitive
All other (special/vocational/none)
A history
of success

4. Key to Success is No Secret
Obvious…
• High expectations/culture of success
• Support from community/resources
• Curriculum depth and breadth (lots of strong
academic options/choices)
• Quality staff & leadership
Not So Obvious…Change in the Air
• Narrowing of the achievement gap
• Moving the entire curve to the standard
• No football team (67 of top 100 Washington
Post)

5. For the First Category… Same as it Ever Was
• In a survey (answered by 63 of the 75 most competitive colleges,
mostly private, with just a few public flagships) and in follow-up
interviews, almost all of the colleges that provided information first do
a winnowing of one of two sorts that yields the group that gets a more
thorough review. The most common winnowing process (used by 76
percent of the colleges) is some measure of academic merit.
• This may be based on grades, rigor of high school courses, test scores
and so forth. While there is some difference in the relative weight
given to various factors, there is a straightforward value on doing
better than others in whatever formula the college uses.
Inside Higher Ed, How They Really Get In, April 9, 2012, Scott Jaschik

6. What do they want?
Best, Brightest and Rejected: Elite Colleges Turn Away Up to 95% (New York
Times, April 8, 2014)
Enrollment at American colleges is sliding, but competition for
spots at top universities is more cutthroat and anxiety-inducing
than ever. In the just-completed admissions season, Stanford
University accepted only 5 percent of applicants, a new low
among the most prestigious schools, with the odds nearly as bad
at its elite rivals. Admissions directors at these institutions say
that most of the students they turn down are such strong
candidates that many are indistinguishable from those who get in.

7. Our world has changed…
1. It is digital, flat, open
and pluralistic.
2. It is unpredictable and
volatile.
3. It is increasingly
unforgiving to those
who are unskilled.

8. Less
paper,
more
pixels.

9. Impact of Digital Learning on Higher Education
• At the highest level it is impacting how the business
of learning is conducted.
• In the broader market, its impacting the
business of learning itself.

10. Less single
source,
more
crowd
source.

11. In ONE
Generation…
From going out of
your way to
communicate - to
going out of your
way not to.

12. Shifting from Single Source to Crowd Source
Old School
“Read the part of
Chapter 6 on the
Boston Massacre and
be prepared to answer
questions.”
New School
1. Team One find 5 historical
narratives by different authors
2. Team Two find 5 primary source
documents from the trial
3. Team Three find 5 British history
references and opinions
4. Team Four find 5
contemporaneous editorials.

13. Less
just in case,
more
just in time.

14. It’s About to get Really Interesting….
• Human knowledge doubled
approximately every century
until around 1900.
• By the end of World War II, it
was doubling every 25 years.
• Currently doubling every 13
months.
• Internet 2.0 will lead to the
doubling of knowledge every 12
hours.
David Russell Schilling, IBM | April 19th, 2013

15. Disruptive
Questions
What would an “open
phone test” look like?
What happens when
everyone can get
anything from
anywhere?

16. Align Your Systems With Your Goals for Learning
Type of
Assessment
Required
Subject Area
Responsibilities
Everyone’s
Responsibility
Content
(Declarative)
Facts
Content Skills
(Procedural)
Discrete Skills
CC/21st Cent. Skills
(Contextual)
Applied Understandings
Type of
Knowledge
Desired
Type of
Instruction
Required
Lecture, video,
films, assigned
readings and
memory activities.
Classroom or textbook
problems, experiments,
discussions, practice and
repetition.
Complex projects,
real time explorations,
authentic and relevant
skill applications.
Amount of
Time
Required
Discrete units,
spiraled and
predictable.
Ongoing, systemic and
without a finite
or predictable end.
Discrete units,
spiraled and
predictable.
Recall & recognition
based quizzes, tests,
and activities. Multiple
choice, matching, etc.
(SAT/AP/Exams)
Checklists,
analytic rubrics,
or other agreed upon
skill standards
(AP/SB/CAPT/Exams)
Holistic and,
analytic rubrics,
or other agreed upon
standards of rigor
(Portfolios, Exhibitions, SB)

17. Less
about tests,
more about
proficiency.

18. Policy Challenges
1. A visionary transition from
analogue to digital.
2. Redefining exit criteria,
refining assessments,
identifying credits and the
defining proficiency.
3. Maintaining standards while
varying pathways.
4. Establish and strengthen
coherence.

19. Policies That Anticipate/Encourage Rethinking
Retrofitting
Doing exactly what you used to do, only now with a
new tool.
Reengineer ing
Doing a version of what you used to do, but using new tools that expand
consumer options and empowerment.
Rethinking
Consumer driven fundamental shifts in your product, service,
or market role.
1

20. Policy Challenges
1. A visionary transition
from analogue to digital.
2. Redefining exit criteria,
refining assessments,
identifying credits and
the defining proficiency.

21. Dr. Scott Miller, President Bethany College
According to a report from the National Center for Higher
Education Management Systems and the Association of
American Colleges and Universities, "93 percent of employers
agree that candidates' demonstrated capacity to think
critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems is
more important than their undergraduate major." Colleges
will be well advised to refocus at least some areas of their
curricula on such career realities.

22. Critical Life Long Skills
CC ELA
E1/M3/21 - Demonstrate independence in reading complex texts
or viewing media and writing, speaking or producing content
about them.
E2/21 - Build a strong base of knowledge through content rich
texts or other appropriate sources of information.
E3/E6/M5/21 – Use digital tools to obtain, evaluate, synthesize,
and report findings/information clearly and effectively in
response to a variety of tasks and purposes.
M3/E4 - Construct and engage in viable arguments based on
evidence and critique reasoning of others.
E1/E3/E5/21 - Read, write, produce and speak grounded in
CC Math evidence for a variety of purposes and audiences.
M1/M2/M8/21 - Make sense of problems and persevere in
21st CS
solving them.
E7/21 - Come to understand other perspectives & cultures
through reading, listening, and collaborations
M7/21 - Demonstrate innovation, flexibility and adaptability in
thinking patterns, work habits, and working/learning conditions.
M4/E7/21 - Value and demonstrate personal responsibility,
character, cultural understanding, and ethical behavior.

23. Policy Challenges
1. A visionary transition
from analogue to digital.
2. Redefining exit criteria,
refining assessments,
identifying credits and
the defining proficiency.
3. Maintaining standards
while varying pathways.

24. Standards – Yes / Standardization - No
Uniform
Achievement
Uniform
Process

25. Three Principles of Coherence
Measure
what you
value
Value
what you
measure
Measure Connect
Priority
Student
Learning
Priority
Adult
Learning
Priority
Systems
Learning
Focus
Student
Learning
Adult
Learning
Systems
Learning

26. Coherence Pathways
Mission
To develop in all
children the
knowledge, skills,
attitudes and
values...
Theory of Action
Focus
Measure
Connect
G = Goals P = Practices M= Measures Jonathan P. Costa S= Students A = Adults O = District/Building

27. Student Data
Driving
Instructional
Practices &
Decision
Making
Instruction
Driving
Improved
Measures
Professional
Practice
Driving
Improved
Measures
Systems
Driving
Improved
Measures
Adult Data
Driving
Professional
Learning &
Decision
Making
Organizational
Data
Driving
Systems
Decision
Making

28. Coherence Pathways – 5,000 Foot View Leadership
Domain One
Student Learning
S-G Goals for Student Learning
• Connecticut Core/21st
Century Skills &
Content
A-G Goals for Professional Learning
• Evaluation & support
goals, SLOs, focus
goals & other
O-G Goals for Building and District
• Improvement targets
related to DPI, SPI or
other goals
Focus
Measure
Connect
O-M
Building &
District
Measures
DPI
SPI
5
10
Other…
A-M
Professional
Measures
45
40
(5/10)
S-M
Student
Measures
Smarter
Balanced &
other valued
summative,
formative,
standardized
and non-standardized
measures
To prepare every
student for
learning, life, and
work in the 21st
O-P
Mission
century.
Building &
District Practices
District or
building
level
plans or
strategies
A-P
Professional
Learning
Practices
Job
focused
& aligned
with
45
5
40
10
S-P
Instructional
Practices
CC/21CS
goal
aligned
teaching
methods
&
strategies
Domain Two
Professional Learning
Domain Three
Organizational Learning
Goals
Mission
Leadership
Practices Focus Measures
G = Goals P = Practices M= Measures Jonathan P. Costa S= Students A = Adults O = District/Building

29. Teachers
As
Student
Coaches
Data
Supporting
Reflective
Practice
Data
Supporting
Reflective
Practice
Data
Supporting
Reflective
Practice
Administrators
As
Instructional
Coaches
District
Staff
As
Administrator
Coaches