Jay Matthews Changes his Mind about 21st Century Skills
November 30, 2008
A few weeks ago, I got in an e-mail discussion with Jay Matthews, the education reporter at the Washington Post. At the time, I felt that Matthews attack on 21st Century Skills was unfair, uninformed, and not constructive.
His response to me included this line: “You are the first email I have received that takes your side.”
Well, a few weeks later, Jay Matthews writes:
Now I am forced to calm down, take a breath and consider the possibility that I was wrong about this, because a scholar whose work I admire has produced the first sensible report on 21st-century skills I have read.
I suppose I wasn’t scholarly enough to change his mind, but it is great to see that he is being open-minded about his views on the topic.
(Thanks for the link DJ!)
Update: Here is a link to the report that Jay Matthews.
Defending 21st Century Skills
November 1, 2008
With Andy Rotherham’s approval, Jay Mathews recently wrote a provocative column titled, “Why I Don’t Like 21st-Century Reports.” Long time readers may remember my previous back and forth about standardized testing with the famed Washington Post education beat reporter back in 2006.
Mathews on 21st Century Skills:
The problem I have is that these major pronouncements often seem to have been conceived and written by people who are miles away from real classrooms. Many of the producers and writers, I am sure, have been educators. They know what it is like to work with children for whom the notion of a 21st-century classroom is as inexplicable — and maybe as laughable — as the school janitor coming to work in a spacesuit. But so little of that hard-earned knowledge of the grungy unpredictability of teaching ever finds its way into their big national studies…
Good stuff. I liked all of those suggestions. I had only one question: How in the name of every teacher who has ever contemplated suicide during the unit on fractions are we supposed to make those things happen?
My response:
To make a long story short – you have not done your due diligence on 21st Century Skills. There are countless examples of actual teachers in school districts demonstrating the teaching and learning of 21st Century Skills.
My recommended blog reading:
Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach – http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com/
Will Richardson – http://weblogg-ed.com/The bottom line is that there is an entire subset of education technologists who believe that technology, and particularly the integration of Web 2.0 tools in the classroom, is the best, easiest, most practical, and cost-effective way to teach the range of 21st Century Skills discussed in that report.
The glossy report that you chide has inspired hundreds of schools and teachers across the nation to urgently work towards changing their districts…
My company, Smart Solutions, is committed to building 21st Century Schools and we have used the Partnership for 21st Century Skills as one of our guiding organizations.
The answer to “how do you do it?” is quite complex and we have our own philosophy on the topic.
We believe it requires administrative leadership that is focused on three areas:
Leadership (through strong technology leaders)
IT Management/Infrastructure (through managed services)
Teaching and Learning (through job-embedded professional development)
Jay’s response:
I will remain skeptical until I see it in the classroom, and can see what books and other materials are being used, and what assignments given. I have not seen anything very different in this very large metro area, with 1,200 public schools. I have seen things that say they are 21st century skill teaching, but arent doing anything unique. I know the superintendent in Manassas wants to start something, but hasnt yet. You know of any school in this region that meets your standard, and is doing this with regular kids? Thomas Jefferson can’t be a model for anything. Too selective. Point me to a school and I will check it out. Web site and blogs don’t do it. You are the first email I have received that takes your side. The skeptics, including many educators, are in the majority at least in my emails. They think this is one more fad, a name without a difference. So educate me. I need to see this in action. —jay
Therefore, if you are a teacher or administrator who is demonstrating the teaching of 21st Century Skills (particularly in the Washington area), please comment on this post so that I can send Jay a link!