Grades K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

21st Century Themes

Creativity and Innovation

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Communication and Collaboration

Information Literacy

Media Literacy

Flexibility and Adaptability

Initiative and Self-Direction

Social and Cross-Cultural Skills

Productivity and Accountability

Leadership and Responsibility

Global Awareness

Financial, Economic, Business, And Entrepreneurial Literacy

Civic Literacy

Health Literacy

Environmental Literacy

Think Creatively

Work Creatively With Others

Implement Innovations

Reason Effectively

Solve Problems

Communicate Clearly

Access And Evaluate Information

Use And Manage Information

Analyze Media

Create Media Products

Apply Technology Effectively

Adapt To Change

Be Flexible

Manage Goals And Time

Work Independently

Interact Effectively With Others

Work Effectively In Diverse Teams

Manage Projects

21st Century Standards

Assessment Of 21st Century Skills

21st Century Curriculum And Instruction

21st Century Professional Development

Produce Results

Guide And Lead Others

Be Responsible To Others

21st Century Learning Environments

Use 21st century skills to understand and address global issues

Learn from and working collaboratively with individuals representing diverse cultures, religions, and lifestyles in a spirit of mutual respect and open dialogue in personal, work, and community contexts

Understand other nations and cultures, including the use of non-English languages

Know how to make appropriate personal economic choices

Understand the role of the economy in society

Use entrepreneurial skills to enhance workplace productivity and career options

Participate effectively in civic life through knowing how to stay informed and understanding governmental processes

Exercise the rights and obligations of citizenship at local, state, national, and global levels

Understand the local and global implications of civic decisions

Obtain, interpret, and understand basic health information and services and using such information and services in ways that enhance health

Understand preventive physical and mental health measures, including proper diet, nutrition, exercise, risk avoidance, and stress reduction

Use available information to make appropriate health-related decisions

Establish and monitor personal and family health goals

Understand national and international public health and safety issues

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the environment and the circumstances and conditions affecting it, particularly as relates to air, climate, land, food, energy, water, and ecosystems

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of society's impact on the natural world (e.g., population growth, population development, resource consumption rate, etc.)

Investigate and analyze environmental issues, and make accurate conclusions about effective solutions

Take individual and collective action towards addressing environmental challenges (e.g., participating in global actions, designing solutions that inspire action on environmental issues)

Use a wide range of idea-creation techniques (such as brainstorming)

Create new and worthwhile ideas (both incremental and radical concepts)

Elaborate, refine, analyze, and evaluate their own ideas in order to improve and maximize creative efforts

Develop, implement, and communicate new ideas to others effectively

Be open and responsive to new and diverse perspectives; incorporate group input and feedback into the work

Demonstrate originality and inventiveness in work and understand the real-world limits to adopting new ideas

View failure as an opportunity to learn; understand that creativity and innovation is a long-term, cyclical process of small successes and frequent mistakes

Act on creative ideas to make a tangible and useful contribution to the field in which the innovation will occur

Use various types of reasoning (inductive, deductive, etc.) as appropriate to the situation

Use systems thinking

Analyze how parts of a whole interact with each other to produce overall outcomes in complex systems

Make judgments and decisions

Effectively analyze and evaluate evidence, arguments, claims, and beliefs

Analyze and evaluate major alternative points of view

Synthesize and make connections between information and arguments

Interpret information and draw conclusions based on the best analysis

Reflect critically on learning experiences and processes

Solve different kinds of non-familiar problems in both conventional and innovative ways

Identify and ask significant questions that clarify various points of view and lead to better solutions

Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written, and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts

Listen effectively to decipher meaning, including knowledge, values, attitudes, and intentions

Use communication for a range of purposes (e.g. to inform, instruct, motivate, and persuade)

Utilize multiple media and technologies, and know how to judge their effectiveness a priority as well as assess their impact

Communicate effectively in diverse environments (including multi-lingual)

Collaborate with others

Demonstrate ability to work effectively and respectfully with diverse teams

Exercise flexibility and willingness to be helpful in making necessary compromises to accomplish a common goal

Assume shared responsibility for collaborative work, and value the individual contributions made by each team member

Access information efficiently (time) and effectively (sources)

Evaluate information critically and competently

Use information accurately and creatively for the issue or problem at hand

Manage the flow of information from a wide variety of sources

Apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information

Understand both how and why media messages are constructed, and for what purposes

Examine how individuals interpret messages differently, how values and points of view are included or excluded, and how media can influence beliefs and behaviors

Apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of media

Understand and utilize the most appropriate media creation tools, characteristics, and conventions

Understand and effectively utilize the most appropriate expressions and interpretations in diverse, multi-cultural environments

ICT (Information, Communications, and Technology) literacy

Use technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate, and communicate information

Use digital technologies (computers, PDAs, media players, GPS, etc.), communication/networking tools and social networks appropriately to access, manage, integrate, evaluate, and create information to successfully function in a knowledge economy

Apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information technologies

Adapt to varied roles, job responsibilities, schedules, and contexts

Work effectively in a climate of ambiguity and changing priorities

Incorporate feedback effectively

Deal positively with praise, setbacks, and criticism

Understand, negotiate, and balance diverse views and beliefs to reach workable solutions, particularly in multi-cultural environments

Set goals with tangible and intangible success criteria

Balance tactical (short-term) and strategic (long-term) goals

Utilize time and manage workload efficiently

Monitor, define, prioritize, and complete tasks without direct oversight

Be self-directed learners

Go beyond basic mastery of skills and/or curriculum to explore and expand one's own learning and opportunities to gain expertise

Demonstrate initiative to advance skill levels towards a professional level

Demonstrate commitment to learning as a lifelong process

Reflect critically on past experiences in order to inform future progress

Know when it is appropriate to listen and when to speak

Conduct themselves in a respectable, professional manner

Respect cultural differences and work effectively with people from a range of social and cultural backgrounds

Respond open-mindedly to different ideas and values

Leverage social and cultural differences to create new ideas and increase both innovation and quality of work

Set and meet goals, even in the face of obstacles and competing pressures

Prioritize, plan, and manage work to achieve the intended result

Focus on 21st century skills, content knowledge, and expertise

Build understanding across and among key subjects as well as 21st century interdisciplinary themes

Emphasize deep understanding rather than shallow knowledge

Engage students with the real-world data, tools, and experts they will encounter in college, on the job, and in life; students learn best when actively engaged in solving meaningful problems

Allow for multiple measures of mastery

Support a balance of assessments, including high-quality standardized testing along with effective formative and summative classroom assessments

Emphasize useful feedback on student performance that is embedded into everyday learning

Require a balance of technology-enhanced, formative, and summative assessments that measure student mastery of 21st century skills

Enable development of portfolios of student work that demonstrate mastery of 21st century skills to educators and prospective employers

Enable a balanced portfolio of measures to assess the educational system's effectiveness in reaching high levels of student competency in 21st century skills

Teach 21st century skills discretely in the context of key subjects and 21st century interdisciplinary themes

Focuse on providing opportunities for applying 21st century skills across content areas and for a competency-based approach to learning

Enable innovative learning methods that integrate the use of supportive technologies, inquiry- and problem-based approaches and higher order thinking skills

Encourage the integration of community resources beyond school walls

Highlight ways teachers can seize opportunities for integrating 21st century skills, tools, and teaching strategies into their classroom practice — and help them identify what activities they can replace/de-emphasize

Balance direct instruction with project-oriented teaching methods

Illustrate how a deeper understanding of subject matter can actually enhance problem-solving, critical thinking, and other 21st century skills

Enable 21st century professional learning communities for teachers that model the kinds of classroom learning that best promotes 21st century skills for students

Cultivate teachers' ability to identify students' particular learning styles, intelligences, strengths, and weaknesses

Demonstrate additional attributes associated with producing high quality products including the abilities to:<ul><li>Work positively and ethically</li><li>Manage time and projects effectively</li><li>Multi-task</li><li>Participate actively, as well as be reliable and punctual</li><li>Present oneself professionally and with proper etiquette</li><li>Collaborate and cooperate effectively with teams</li><li>Respect and appreciate team diversity</li><li>Be accountable for results</li></ul>

Use interpersonal and problem-solving skills to influence and guide others toward a goal

Leverage strengths of others to accomplish a common goal

Inspire others to reach their very best via example and selflessness

Demonstrate integrity and ethical behavior in using influence and power

Act responsibly with the interests of the larger community in mind

Help teachers develop their abilities to use various strategies (such as formative assessments) to reach diverse students and create environments that support differentiated teaching and learning

Support the continuous evaluation of students' 21st century skills development

Encourage knowledge sharing among communities of practitioners, using face-to-face, virtual, and blended communications

Use a scalable and sustainable model of professional development

Create learning practices, human support, and physical environments that will support the teaching and learning of 21st century skill outcomes

Support professional learning communities that enable educators to collaborate, share best practices, and integrate 21st century skills into classroom practice

Enable students to learn in relevant, real-world 21st century contexts (e.g., through project-based or other applied work)

Allow equitable access to quality learning tools, technologies, and resources

Provide 21st century architectural and interior designs for group, team, and individual learning

Support expanded community and international involvement in learning, both face-to-face and online