21st Century Skills

One of the best resources on global education is a "Partnership for 21st century skills" - our State of Massachusetts is one of the P21 Leadership States in the  US. "The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) is a national  organization that advocates for 21st century readiness for every  student. 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 the 3Rs (core  academic subjects and 21st century themes) and 4Cs (critical thinking  and problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity and  innovation). P21 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".

"P21 Releases Framework for State Action on Global Education Framework"

State Framework on Global Education

THE FRAMEWORK'S SIX ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS AND ACTION STEPS:

ESSENTIAL ELEMENT 1: Adopt Global Competency Standards for Students and Teacher

• Adopt definitions of student and teacher global competency to anchor state and district global education agendas
  

ESSENTIAL ELEMENT 2: Effective and Scalable Teacher Support, Resources, and Tools

• Provide  content for teachers to embed global themes and  problem-based learning  that focuses on global issues, with a priority on the core subjects.
• Implement a recognition system - such as badging - for teachers, principals, and school district instructional support personnel to support and inspire professional development on global issues and competencies
• Require teacher preparation institutions to include preparation for infusing instruction with global content and competencies
  

ESSENTIAL ELEMENT 3: A New Approach to Language Instruction

• Institute a statewide dual language/immersion plan that begins in elementary school and continues through high school
• Refocus traditional high school credit world language courses to include a greater emphasis on the study of global and international affairs and the economies, societies and cultures of other nations and on survival language skills
  

ESSENTIAL ELEMENT 4: Whole-School Models

• Develop new school models focused on international education that would include, but not be limited to, internationally-themed schools,  transformation models for low-performing schools, virtual  schools-within-a-school and, regional dual language/immersion schools
• Recruit  business, foundation, and nonprofit partners to support and assist  school districts with the implementation of new school models
  

ESSENTIAL ELEMENT 5: Networking and Recognizing Districts, Schools and Educators

• Create a network of districts, schools and educators to drive implementation and innovation
• Institute  a recognition (designation) program for students, teachers, principals,  schools and districts that provide incentives for educators and educational leaders to adopt innovative global education, practices
• Identify an existing or develop a new leading partner outside government to drive the global education agenda
• Partner the state departments of education and commerce (and other relevant agencies) to develop county- or community-level profiles of international assets
  

ESSENTIAL ELEMENT 6: Global experiences for Students and Educators

• Provide global experiences by teachers, administrators, and students, including inbound teacher exchange, outbound educational travel and exchange for teachers and students, virtual classroom-to-classroom exchange, and global Academic competitions”