Partnership for 21st Century Skills

Before anything should be said, The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, or "P21", is an enormous website with an unbelievable amount of information at the fingertips of the viewer.  I looked through this site for well over an hour and felt like I barely scraped the surface all of the options and pages available to view.  I do find it interesting that the gap between what is being taught and what is actually needed to work in today's world is so big.  This site is dedicated, or acting as a "catalyst" as the mission statement says, in an attempt to fix this monster problem.  I find the "3 R's and the 4 C's" to be an interesting concept to look more into; the graph that accompanies this idea is also very accurate.  While New York state is not listed in the state initiatives section, there is so much to learn and read about it is truly a wonder why New York is not listed being a major city in this country (and world).

After looking through the main branches of the page, I found the "videos21", in the tools and resources section to be one of interest.  There are so many videos to view (I viewed some of the "most viewed" ones to get an idea of what to expect), relating to many different ideas.  I also found the FAQ page under the overview section to be a great place to start when trying to learn more about this program. 

It is hard to really disagree with anything on this website as everything included makes so much sense.  What is being taught in schools today is far from what is needed to be successful in this world.  Our curriculum's are often based on what was relevant many years ago...not what is relevant for the future (aka modern day students in the next 8-10 years).   It is also somewhat difficult to personally look at a way to implement this into a classroom without other teachers collaboration and the school backing you, financially and academically.

There is no way to say if P21 will really take off or fall by the way side.  It does pose some excellent ideas and concepts with the framework to support it.  Even though I am just one educator, I would love to see the great state of New York join in this program and find a way to implement some of the basic ideas.

Attached is the link to the Partnership for the 21st Century Skills
http://www.p21.org/index.php