Partnership for 21st Century Skills

After looking at the website for the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, I was surprised that so few states are partnered with this organization. Upon further exploration I found that the standards for becoming a recognized partner are quite stringent including having high-profile leadership, aligned standards with 21st Century Skills, an overhaul of assessments, and an "aggressive" implementation strategies. It seems that those states that have become partners, though few in numbers, are quite motivated to elevate the level of education in anticipation of  the skills and habits of mind that students will need to be competitive in this century's workforce. I applaud them.

My home state of Ohio has recently joined the list but my current state of New York is not among the few. This is not a surprise to me. Working in Ohio I found language related to 21st Century Skill already imbedded in curriculum and starting to creep in to influence school funding decision at the local level. New York's state standards have little reference to technology at all. We are so far behind.