Partnership for 21st Century Skills and State Partners Launch Common Core Toolkit at Institute.21

STOWE, Vt., July 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21), a broad coalition of education, non-profit and business leaders, in conjunction with stakeholders from P21 Leadership States, are gathering Friday, July 15, at Institute.21 to share promising ideas, policies and innovations in the assessment of 21st century teaching and learning.  The focus of P21's 5th annual best practices forum will be on aligning 21st century skills and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Institute.21, a day-long summit and best practices awards ceremony, precedes the Council of Chief State School Officers' 2011 Summer Institute and will culminate with the launch of P21's new Common Core Toolkit, designed to support state education leaders in implementing CCSS within P21's comprehensive 21st century skills framework.

As the majority of states work to design and improve curricula that align with CCSS, the coming months represent a unique opportunity for education leaders to implement learning models that integrate core academic content mastery (the 3 R's)—and the complex skills required for student success in school and the workplace—critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration, communication, and creativity and innovation (the 4 C's)—into schools across the country.

This substantive conversation will showcase the important work being done at the state and national level on 21st century readiness and is led by Julie Walker, executive director of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) and chair of P21; Tim Magner, executive director of P21; and Terry Holliday, Ph.D., Kentucky Commissioner of Education and chair of the P21 State Advisory Committee. Armando Vilaseca, education commissioner for the State of Vermont; Stan Heffner, Ohio interim superintendent of Public Instruction, as well as several state education chiefs, deputies and notable education research scientists will present at the Institute based on their work.

"By bringing a broad contingent of education leaders and innovators together, this year's Institute.21 will generate new ideas and a shared vision for ensuring that students graduate with the cognitive and social skills they need to succeed in college and today's workforce, while giving states the tools they need to implement the Common Core," said Walker.

"We are very excited to be part of P21 and developing this important work," added Dr. Holliday. "In Kentucky we are already working with teachers on integrating the P21 Framework alongside Common Core standards, and this Toolkit will provide a great opportunity for teachers to see what 21st century skills look like in the classroom."

Institute.21 will deliver the leadership and guidance necessary for states to uncover the intersection of Common Core and 21st Century Learning, as well as a timely opportunity to fuel innovative and effective thinking around the future of teaching and learning.

About Partnership for 21st Century Skills: P21 is a national organization that advocates for 21st century readiness for every student. As the United States continues to compete in a global economy that demands innovation, P21 and its members provide tools and resources to help the U.S. education system keep up by fusing the three Rs and four Cs (critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration and creativity and innovation). While leading districts and schools are already doing this, P21 advocates for local, state and federal policies that support this approach for every school.

21st Century Skills Leadership States: Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Wisconsin and West Virginia.

Member organizations: Adobe Systems, Inc., American Association of School Librarians, Apple Inc., Blackboard, Inc., Cable in the Classroom, Cengage Learning, Cisco Systems, Inc., The College Board's Advanced Placement Program (AP), Crayola, Dell, Inc., EdLeader21, EF Education, Education Networks of America, ETS, Ford Motor Company Fund, Global Scholar, Goddard Systems, Inc., Hewlett Packard, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Intel Corporation, JA Worldwide, KnowledgeWorks Foundation, Learning Point Associates, LEGO Group, McGraw-Hill, Measured Progress, MHZ Networks, Microsoft Corporation, National Academy Foundation, National Education Association, netTrekker, Oracle Education Foundation, Pearson, Project Management Institute Educational Foundation, The Walt Disney Company, and Verizon.

Organizations and states interested in joining P21 may contact [email protected].

For more information please visit http://www.p21.org/ and connect with P21 on Twitter @P21CentSkills.

SOURCE Partnership for 21st Century Skills