Between tasks in Algebra 2, Valari Jacobsen checks her grades in the class. Accessing her personal page on the school鈥檚 computer system, she sees she has a 71 percent in course content. She knows she needs to step that up.
But she鈥檚 doing really well in collaborating with her peers: Her score is 100 percent. And in oral communication, she has a 135 percent.
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Unusual as it may seem, Jacobsen, an 18-year-old senior, is being evaluated on oral communication and on how well she works with other students in her mathematics class at . Those interpersonal skills are among 10 鈥渓earning outcomes鈥� students here must master as they progress through all their academic subjects. The outcomes are embedded in complex projects designed to build those skills as well as course-content knowledge.
The approach to learning is one response to national concern among policy and business leaders that teenagers are emerging from high school without the set of skills they need to thrive in college and the workplace. Some experts refer to those competencies as 鈥渟oft鈥� or 鈥渁pplied鈥� skills. Some call them 21st-century skills.
In an increasingly global, technological economy, they say, it isn鈥檛 enough to be academically strong. Young people must also be able to work comfortably with people from other cultures, solve problems creatively, write and speak well, think in a multidisciplinary way, and evaluate information critically. And they need to be punctual, dependable, and industrious.
鈥淭his skills set is the ticket to economic upward mobility in the new economy,鈥� says Ken Kay, the president of the , a Tucson, Ariz.-based coalition of business and education groups that advocates infusing such skills into education.
Work Ethic
Jacobsen鈥檚 grade depends not only on her mastery of algebraic concepts and applications, but also on her skill with technology, critical thinking, written and oral presentation, and whether she鈥檚 demonstrated a good work ethic on project teams with other students.
Students in her Algebra 2 class spent weeks researching the relative economies of gas-powered and hybrid vehicles. Each team of students chose one of 11 models available in both engine types. Using gasoline prices, the cars鈥� price tags, and their mileage capabilities, the students calculated what the gas and hybrid version of each model cost per mile.
In an increasingly global, technological economy it isn鈥檛 enough to be academically strong.
They had to convert those findings into algebraic equations, and graph them. They used various computer applications to incorporate their findings into formal presentations that they gave before a panel of parents acting as undecided shoppers. They used their data to analyze and discuss the monetary benefits and drawbacks of the two versions of each model.
Tim Hebert, the teacher who oversaw that project, used the students鈥� calculations to grade them on mathematical content, and their final presentations to evaluate them on oral and written communication. Their discussion with the panelists helped him judge their critical-thinking skills, and seeing how they used computers informed his evaluation of their technological literacy.
He also graded their 鈥渃itizenship and ethics鈥� and collaboration by watching how they conducted themselves, individually and in groups, throughout the project, from showing up on time to making quality contributions to their teams.
Part of the collaboration grade came from students. As project-team members, they were to decide what they needed to research and when various steps of the project needed to be completed. At the end, they evaluate one another鈥攁nonymously.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like, is someone always e-mailing when they should be working? Are they off-task? Are they completing assignments?鈥� Jacobsen says.
Combining Subjects
Projects and classes are often cross-disciplinary at Sacramento New Tech, reflecting a growing consensus among business leaders that jobs increasingly demand thinking that encompasses multiple subject areas.
A recent project in a geography and English course for freshmen, for instance, required the students to research a bill before Congress proposing a timeline for withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. They bolstered their knowledge of the war and the region with introductory resources provided by their two teachers, and had to build a case for why Congress should or should not approve the measure. As usual at New Tech, each team of students divvied up key tasks among its members, relying on one another to keep up and do their jobs.
鈥淒oing it this way is good for me, because in the future when I have an internship, or work, I can see better what a group needs to do, and what my part in it is,鈥� says Anthony Ramirez, 14, during a brief break in his work.
Project-Based Learning
Project-based learning offers the best way for students to acquire the range of skills the modern economy demands of them, says Bob Pearlman, the director of strategic planning for the , a Napa, Calif.-based group that supports Napa New Technology High School, which opened as a model for the project-based approach in 1996.
The foundation now supports the design鈥檚 use at 24 additional schools, including Sacramento New Tech High, which is in its fourth year. All schools also feature intensive, advanced use of technology. (The foundation鈥檚 work is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which helps underwrite Diplomas Count.)
鈥淔or kids to master 21st-century skills, you need a system which embeds the skills in the projects they do, and they need to be assessed on them,鈥� Pearlman says. 鈥淐ollaboration is important, so you鈥檝e got to work in teams. You don鈥檛 get critical thinking unless you have complex projects that go in a lot of directions and have very serious content and rigor.鈥�
You don鈥檛 get critical thinking unless you have complex projects that go in a lot of directions and have very serious content and rigor.鈥�
Learning to teach that way isn鈥檛 easy. Pearlman says it takes at least a year or two of training and support for teachers to get the hang of designing projects with enough depth to incorporate all the academic and soft skills and those in state standards, and the power to engage students. At Sacramento New Tech High, teachers meet in weekly 鈥渃ritical friends鈥� sessions to discuss and refine their projects. Teachers more experienced in the method help the newer ones along.
Pearlman says the school鈥檚 modest size鈥�365 students鈥攊s also important to its function, because it helps build the collegiality among students, and between staff and students, that lends itself to teamwork.
A small scale also enables staff members to coach students on additional real-world skills. Since students know their teachers and their principal so well, it鈥檚 harder for them to get away with behavior that wouldn鈥檛 get them far in the world beyond high school.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 stand when kids spend more time looking at the tops of their shoes than in my eyes when we are talking,鈥� says Sacramento New Tech High Principal Paula M. Hanzel. She and her teachers often remind students to make eye contact when speaking. To Hanzel, such interpersonal skills will prove just as important to her students鈥� futures as writing a great paper.
鈥淭his is about understanding the written and unwritten rules of the world,鈥� says the down-to-earth former math and social studies teacher. 鈥淪ome of the access to that world is through comportment.鈥�
The result of all this coaching, Hanzel hopes, will be 鈥渞ound鈥� students who can thrive in a changing world.
And they will enter that world with digital portfolios showing what they can do. For four years, students build and refine those, adding samples of work that show their mastery of course content, critical thinking, collaboration, and the other learning outcomes. Portfolios include a r茅sum茅, a personal statement, and letters of reference. Students can burn copies of the portfolio onto DVDs to give to potential employers or college-admissions counselors. Soon, they will be available online from any computer.
The need to build a wide range of soft skills necessary for success in work and college has been discussed in policy circles for years. A by the , called the SCANS report, called for many of the same competencies that educators and business leaders have been urging in a flurry of reports during the past year.
Scholars who have watched the rise and fall of the 鈥渟oft skills鈥� agenda say it lost visibility and momentum in the massive national push for better academic performance, driven by the standards movement and the federal No Child Left Behind Act. They attribute its resurgence to a renewed cycle of concern about competitive pressures on the United States in an increasingly global economy.
鈥淲hat really needs to happen is to bring these [two agendas] back together,鈥� says , who worked on the 1991 report and is the director of the . 鈥淭hey never should have been separated in the first place.鈥�
鈥楽urvival Skills鈥�
More schools are recognizing the need for both, and trying in varying ways to respond. At University Park Campus High School in Worcester, Mass., classes feature a lot of written and oral presentations and collaborative projects. At in Sykesville, Md., students build professional portfolios of their work during their four years. In their junior year, they prepare intensively for a week of mock interviews with representatives of local businesses, who grill them as if they were real job candidates and give them feedback.
Even straight-A students can鈥檛 always rely on academic skills. They need to learn to present themselves.鈥欌��
鈥淲e know these students need these soft skills as survival skills,鈥� says Bonnie McElroy, South Carroll High鈥檚 academic facilitator and one of the organizers of the career-readiness event. 鈥淓ven straight-A students can鈥檛 always rely on academic skills. They need to learn to present themselves.鈥�
District leaders in the , in northeast Indianapolis, solicited feedback about their graduates from the local business community six years ago. They learned that the young people needed to be better creative and critical thinkers, and become self-starters鈥攕howing enough smarts and initiative to get things done with a minimum of oversight.
Lawrence Township built into its strategic plan a set of 21st-century skills such as higher-order thinking, technological literacy, self-direction, and global awareness. Teachers have spent three years learning how to build those competencies into projects for students, says Leona Jamison, the 16,000-student district鈥檚 director of professional development.
Back at Sacramento New Tech, English teacher Christine Coit is planning the next project for her freshman Geo-Lit students.
For their reading of Lord of the Flies, they鈥檒l help her turn the classroom into an island, plastering huge palm fronds and vines everywhere. They鈥檒l act out scenes from the book, stopping in midscene to discuss what makes the characters behave the way they do. Invited by a mock gallery, the students will create artwork linked to the novel鈥檚 message about the inherent good or evil in man, and write artists鈥� statements explaining their work.
It鈥檚 a complicated undertaking, trying to weave and 21st-century skills into an engaging project, Coit says. But she ticks them off on her fingers: She鈥檚 covering symbolism and figurative language, reading and responding to literature, and characterization鈥攕everal of the state standards.
Working in 鈥渟urvival groups鈥� to probe the characters鈥� motivations will help students develop collaboration skills, and the art exhibit will hone their critical-thinking, writing, and oral-presentation skills, forcing them to analyze and connect concepts and symbols in the book and be able to write and talk about them. All the work, combined, will build their English-content literacy. And immersing themselves in all that鈥攚ell, Coit hopes that part is just plain fun.
It鈥檚 the sort of work that epitomizes the school鈥檚 mission, says Mark Morrison, the director of leadership development of the New Technology Foundation.
鈥淚t maps to what the world is today,鈥� Morrison says on a visit to the Sacramento school. 鈥淲e need round people, systems thinkers. We can鈥檛 just tinker around the edge of school reform. This kind of work is what鈥檚 going to make the difference.鈥�
