Gina Flanagan- East Longmeadow High School

Friday, November 13, 2015


 in Education

     All throughout the history of public education in America, there has been a plethora of best practices for teaching and learning and initiatives that have come and gone.   In today's educational landscape, we are seeing several consistent themes nation-wide.   Just as the 1957 Russian launch of Sputnik prioritized the need for more rigorous science education in the United States, we are now seeing the need for the U.S. to remain on top of the global economy.  This has caused a national focus on preparing students to be creative problem solvers in the work force.  You've probably heard the term "21st Century Learner" a great deal.  Put simply, 21st Century Learning focuses on providing students as many opportunities as possible to apply critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creative skills in "real world" scenarios.  The hope is that this focus applied to all content areas will develop students who have a firm grip on global awareness, business and financial matters, active citizenship, use of technology and promote innovative thinking.

Here are some other "buzz" words floating around the world of education these days that you may be curious of their meaning:

College & Career Readiness:  Due to what has been seen as a gap between what students are being asked to do in the classroom and what they asked to do in the workplace, schools are now focused on developing more real world applications.  This is closely related to "21st Century Learning Skills" that are defined above.

Common Core Standards:  Springing from the need to push for stronger college and career ready students, state leaders from across the nation developed the CCS  to provide standards to define what all U.S. students should know and be able to do in order to maximize their fullest potential.  These standards are guidelines to help schools and educators develop effective direction for teaching and learning (curriculum guides) in there districts.

PARCC: In line with the development of the Common Core Standards (which sets guidelines of the content and skills that all U.S. students should know and be able to do), many state educational leaders felt there was a need to develop a common assessment that provided consistent feedback to help educators identify strengths and needs of their students.  To date, eleven  states have adopted the PARCC as their standardized state assessment.  While Massachusetts initially seemed in line to adopt the assessment to replace the current state standardized assessment (MCAS), they are now looking to create a different and new state assessment that would blend PARCC and the current MCAS assessments (Next Generation MCAS).  This assessment would be aligned to the Common Core Standards.

BYOD:  One of the elements of 21st century learning involves developing strong technology and information skills in students.  To that end, many schools are working to integrate technology in o the learning process on a regular basis.  Due to the high costs involved with providing more technology in schools, many districts have initiated "Bring Your Own Device" programs to encourage more technology in the classroom.  Students utilize their own laptops, pads and other technology tools to engage in all sorts of research, writing, reading and problem solving skills.