Teaching to the test is a mistake, Harvard's Tony Wagner reminded the audience of his Nov. 18 keynote address to the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), because it interferes with transmitting the seven "survival skills" every student should acquire before graduating.

Wagner's remarks came during a forum organized in Washington, D.C., as one way to advance the 10-point "Action Plan" SETDA had issued the day before.

As the Obama administration prepares to take over in the nation's capital, SETDA and similar groups are offering advice on how federal policy makers and state and local education leaders can transform education and help students obtain 21st-century skills with the help of technology.

"With this summit and with the release of our Action Plan, we hope to figure out how to make the steps of crucial change more scalable," said SETDA Executive Director Mary Ann Wolf.

Wagner, co-director of the Change Leadership Group at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education, said economic change will come as soon as classroom and national practices involving instruction change as well.

"A lot of people think the skills that students need to learn for the workforce and the skills they need to learn to be a good citizen are two separate sets. But they're not. What makes a student successful in the global workforce will make a person successful at life," he said.

Wagner said he hears two things repeated constantly by today's employers: "We need people who can ask good questions, and we need people who can engage others in thoughtful conversations."

"When I asked them whether or not they needed students to know the latest version of software, they said no," he added. "They told me that technology moves so fast that it's hard to keep up with. [From] the time students graduate to when they get the job, it's usually changed anyway. . . . [Employers] . . .don't mind training employees in technology--but you can't teach someone how to think."

Wagner, who consults for public and independent schools, districts, and foundations across the country and internationally, said his visits to some school districts have highlighted why state standards need to change--and why teaching to the test is not the way to achieve success.

"I went to visit many science labs in these districts," said Wagner. "Some of them were great, achieved great test scores, and most of their students went on to postsecondary education. But some weren't so great, and here's why: I was watching a group of high school students in a science lab. One group had a problem, and the Bunsen burner was smoking. But they weren't doing anything about it--just waiting for the teacher to come by and fix it. But the teacher wasn't looking, so I went over, and I asked: ‘What's going on?' One of the kids said, ‘Don't know, not working.' So I looked at them and I said, ‘Well, what's your hypothesis?' They all stared blankly. Finally one said, ‘Oh yeah, a hypothesis, that was one of our vocabulary words the other day, but I don't know what it means.'"