The Partnership for 21st Century Skills

The Partnership for 21st Century skills is a website dedicated to like-minded members seeking to improve the content and quality of Information and Communication Technologies in the classroom. The site provides portals to online resources and content, articles and news releases on their ongoing efforts and clear explanations of their goals. Various corporations, advocacy groups and charitable organizations have teamed together to work towards the Partnership’s goals of implementing and seamlessly incorporating 21st Century Skills into the current educational framework of core subjects.

Upon perusing the website, I found the information and mission to be quite exciting and inspirational. I was happy to see that various technological companies and education advocacy groups were working together with a common goal of providing a fuller education to our students. As represented by the “Rainbow Framework," the core curriculum subjects are paired with the skills in life and career, learning and innovation, and information, media and technology (The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2004). Support for these curricular goals are provided by the “pools” below the rainbow and consist of many of our traditional educational supports such as professional development and set standards.

I was surprised by the partnership’s support for standardized tests as I feel that standardized tests as they are currently implemented are inadequate for measuring the 21st Century Skills that we are hoping to develop in our students. Upon further reading and reflection, I understand that the standardized tests that would measure 21st Century Skill development would look quite different from the bubble-in standardized tests that our students currently take. I was also surprised that so few states were represented in the Route 21 list of states that had demonstrated the commitment to the cause, and I was disheartened that mine was not one of them. As a lifelong Nutmegger, from Connecticut, I was disappointed that we were not on the list, especially as the New Literacies Research Lab is located at the University of Connecticut (Miners & Pascopella, 2007), I would hope that Connecticut would be represented.

Another aspect of the webpage that surprised me was the copyright date. As I am acutely aware of casting a critical eye on internet sources, especially in light of our course and this week’s discussion of what it takes to be literate whilst navigating online, it seems odd that a site dedicated to 21st Century Skills has a copyright date that is nearly six years old. It is clear that the site has been updated with new information, i.e. new releases and updated MILE guides, but the copyright date remains stagnant. As our Walden course included materials from this site in our resources this week, I am inclined to trust the site, but remain wary of the lack of updates on the copyright. The site address seems like something that is reputable as well. Along those same lines, I was surprised that so many of the links that I found from the Route 21 website went to purchasable items (Route 21, 2007). Though the Partnership’s website is touted as source for online learning materials to support 21st Century Skills, it seemed like a great deal of business and money exchange would take place through the website. I would certainly do my due diligence prior to spending any money or providing information through the site or its offshoots.

I do agree with the fundamental philosophy presented in the site’s mission statement, “[To] serve as a catalyst to position 21st century skills at the center of US K-12 education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business, community and government leaders” (The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2004). I do have some concerns with the excessive amount marketing that I encountered from the Route 21 webpage. I am opposed to the blatant marketing of the page if it is intended as an advocacy group. When exploring most websites, I am able to leave a page with ideas for implementation and examples of what worked in other classrooms. Even when I sorted the information on the Route 21 page to my grade level and/or subject matter, I was unable to find much material that I could immediately put into practice, drew my enthusiasm or inspired my creativity.

The implications for my students and me are that these goals need to be broached in the classroom immediately as we are already behind. 21st Century Skills are necessary for a student to leave school fully educated. I think that the self-assessment checklist included in the MILE guide (The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2004) is a great starting off point for educators. By completing the self-assessment for what we already do, we can identify areas of change and improvement. Initially, I believe that mindfulness of 21st Century Skills is the most important aspect of basic implementation. If we teachers constantly ask ourselves if our lessons and activities bring in the three skill subsets, life and career, learning and innovation, and information, media and technology (The Partnership for 21st Century Skills), we will begin to move forward with our goals. Ultimately, we must act as advocates for our students and ourselves to our administrations, governmental policy makers, and corporations to receive the assistance that we require in realizing these goals.


Miners, Z., & Pascopella, A. (2007). The new literacies. District Administration, 43(10), 26–34.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, (2004). Retrieved November 24, 2009, from The Partnership for 21st Century Skills Website: http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

Route 21, (2007). Retrieved November 24, 2009, from Route 21 Website:
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/route21/index.php