Office of Curriculum, Technology, & Assessment

Program Title: Bridging the Achievement Gap through 21st Century Skills: Practical Research-Based Learning Solutions that Work

Presenter: Cheryl Lemke

Program Length: 2 Hours

Delivery Method: Stream Video

Program Provider: USDLC-Keynpte Addresses 1

Audience: Teachers, Administrators, Adults

Additional Material: http://www.usdlc.org/pathways/morekeynote106.jsp

Overview: Today's society is characterized by significant economic, political and social shifts due to technology. It should be no surprise that what students learn—as well as how they learn it—and how often they must refresh these skills sets is changing.

Today's students need more sophisticated skills that will serve them throughout their lives. They need skills such as self-direction, visualization, teaming; AND dispositions toward global awareness, curiosity, risk-taking, and high productivity with 21st century tools. These skills DO increase academic excellence—but only within learning organizations that embed them in meaningful, rigorous academic content. On this the research is clear.

This session will present the 21st century skills important to students, parents, community, and business and industry. Consider what this means for education. Take a look at examples of student work that exemplify those skills. Think about how best to bring these skills into your school(s). The session will address the tension between the call for 21st century skills and the high-stakes emphasis on standardized testing of academic content—providing participations with concrete, realistic steps to bringing 21st Century skills into learning activities across the curriculum.

Dr. Cheryl Lemke is President and CEO of the Metiri Group, a consulting firm dedicated to advancing the effective use of technology in schools, and serves as the Practice Leader for the Metiri Group Policy Consulting. Prior to launching the firm, she was the executive director of the Milken Exchange on Education Technology for the Milken Family Foundation. Cheryl specializes in public policy for K-12 learning technology, working at many levels with governors, legislators, superintendents, business leaders, and teachers. She currently works with both the pubic and private sector in states across the county and at the national level. Last year she facilitated public hearings in Silicon Valley, CA and Atlanta, GA for the Web-based Education Congressional Committee. She has also been working with several states on leadership in technology initiatives and most recently authored the definitive work on 21st century skills that was published by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory and the CEO Forum. Her 25-year career in the public sector and her work with the Metiri Group have included projects related to assessing the impact of technology on learning, gauging the progress states, districts, and schools are making in bringing technology to the learning process, conducting surveys and focus groups, convening national experts in discussions on policy issues and designing and prototyping frameworks. As an associate superintendent for the Illinois State Board of Education, she managed a center for learning technology with over 100 staff, translating the $50 million annual budget into a new State backbone, professional development centers, community-based technology planning processes for Illinois schools and online curriculum projects that helped students learn. She oversaw the development of state learning technology plans for both Illinois and Washington. Recognized nationally as a proactive leader in learning technology, and sought after as a consultant, speaker, and writer, she has designed policy in the State house that translates into sound educational practice in the schoolhouse.

NSDC Standards for Staff Development

Context Standards
Staff development that improves the learning of all students:

• Organizes adults into learning communities whose goals are aligned with those of the school and district. (Learning Communities)
• Requires skillful school and district leaders who guide continuous instructional improvement. (Leadership)
• Requires resources to support adult learning and collaboration. (Resources)

Process Standards
Staff development that improves the learning of all students:

• Uses disaggregated student data to determine adult learning priorities, monitor progress, and help sustain continuous improvement. (Data-Driven)
• Uses multiple sources of information to guide improvement and demonstrate its impact. (Evaluation)
• Prepares educators to apply research to decision making. (Research-Based)
• Uses learning strategies appropriate to the intended goal. (Design)
• Applies knowledge about human learning and change. (Learning)
• Provides educators with the knowledge and skills to collaborate. (Collaboration)

Content Standards
Staff development that improves the learning of all students:

• Prepares educators to understand and appreciate all students, create safe, orderly and supportive learning environments, and hold high expectations for their academic achievement. (Equity)
• Deepens educators' content knowledge, provides them with research-based instructional strategies to assist students in meeting rigorous academic standards, and prepares them to use various types of classroom assessments appropriately. (Quality Teaching)
• Provides educators with knowledge and skills to involve families and other stakeholders appropriately. (Family Involvement)

NOTE: Each site must audio mute upon connecting to the session to prevent voice activated moving of the cameras from site to site.

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