21st century skills

This report, one in a series to be released by Accomplished California Teachers (ACT), a group of National Board Certified Teachers, examines teacher evaluation.

This report offers our recommendations on making teacher evaluation a more useful tool to advance the quality of teaching...

In this paper, Linda Darling-Hammond and Beverly Falk describe evidence of how student-performance assessments support teachers' learning from the United States and around the world, particularly in countries that have been recognized for their high-performing educational systems. The authors...

This research brief describes practical and measurable indicators of career as well as college readiness that the state and districts can look to as they develop accountability plans. The report includes specific information about how performance assessment can be used to measure student...

In this paper, Bae and Darling-Hammond propose three types of performance indicators for use in California's redesigned accountability system to measure and support career and college readiness. The report includes specific guidance for the use of performance assessment to measure both college...

This brief identifies three strategic practices to be taken collectively by schools, districts, and communities to mobilize around preparing students for college and career success:

• Collectively articulating and aligning a set of student outcomes that prioritize 21st century skills
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This brief outlines how the California's Linked Learning District Initiative is supporting 10 school districts across California. Students enrolled in a Linked Learning pathway enter into a four-year program of study that integrates academic content with technical and 21st century skills within...

Envision Schools uses performance assessment as a key tool for supporting student learning. In this graduate follow-up study, Envision Schools puts its model of “Rigor, Relevance, Relationships, and Results” to the test, examining the results of a longitudinal tracking study to measure the...

This paper by Raymond L. Pecheone and Stuart Kahl describes efforts by states to use performance assessment in large-scale state accountability systems and highlights promising practices that can a basis for broadening how the nation approaches assessement and accountability. Lessons from...

The purpose of this paper is to present findings regarding the reliability and validity of the performance based assessments used in the state pilot, including the results of three sets of studies: 1) Generalizability studies; 2) Regression analyses to ascertain the relationships between...

In this paper, David Conley and Linda Darling-Hammond describe how two multistate assessment consortia are being designed to measure how well students achieve the goals of the Common Core State Standards. As planned, the new consortia assessments should be a significant advance over most states...

This resource focuses on the importance of adopting multiple policies to adequately help schools focus on “21st century skills,” deeper learning competencies—the ability to use knowledge to think critically and solve problems, to communicate effectively, to collaborate, to reflect on learning—...

This report describes key skills that increase deeper learning, college and career readiness, student-centered learning, and higher order thinking. This includes such skills as critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, effective communication, motivation, persistence, and learning to...

In 2012, states within the Innovation Lab Network (ILN) defined college, career, and citizenship readiness as a function of the interdependence of knowledge, skills, and dispositions. The ESD Developmental Frameworks were created in recognition of the many discipline-specific resources for...