1. Adopt your vision.
2. Create a community consensus.
3. Align your system around these goals.
4. Build professional capacity.
5. Focus your curriculum and assessment.
6. Support your teachers.
7. Improve and innovate.
He said many school districts begin with step three, but articulating a vision and creating a community consensus around teaching the “four Cs” are essential to success.
Kay also identified three key “building blocks” for integrating these skills into instruction: (1) courageous leadership, (2) assessment tied to 21st-century skills, and (3) creating a culture of “laser-like focus” on collaboration and continuous improvement.
Ohio’s Upper Arlington City School District has adopted the four Cs, as well as global citizenship and self-direction, as the 21st-century outcomes it expects students will master before graduating.
Kay cited Superintendent Jeff Weaver’s example as the kind of courageous leadership that is necessary. When Weaver heard concerns that he was putting too much on educators’ plates by requiring these skills to be taught in addition to the core curriculum, he reportedly responded: “No, this is the plate.”
For more news from this year’s CoSN conference, see:
As for assessing students’ mastery of the four Cs, Kay said concerns that this can’t be done simply aren’t true. “There are rubrics for evaluating these skills,” he said.
Kay left attendees with a list of four things they should do in their districts:
• Focus on 21st-century outcomes.
• Create a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement.
• Treat adoption of the Common Core State Standards not as an exercise in compliance, but as a platform for true innovation.
• Fight for a policy environment that supports innovative school districts.
Follow eSchool News Editor in Chief Dennis Pierce on Twitter at @eSN_Dennis.
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