Transcript Slide 1

Assessing 21st Century Skills with
Service-Learning as the Instructional
Approach
Shelley H. Billig, RMC Research
Kay Davenport, Smyrna West Alternative School, TN
Sally Broughton, Project Citizen, Bozeman, MT
Stuart Kahl, Measured Progress
JoAnn Henderson, ECS
Agenda
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Welcome and overview
Service-learning and 21st Century skills
Common outcomes and measures
Examples of promising practice
Taking on the service-learning critics
Pillars of success
Ideas for performance measures
Creating political will
Q/A
Wrap-up
Framing: What are 21st Century Skills?
• Many definitions but most have the following in
common:
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Learning and innovation skills/inventive thinking
Effective communication
Digital-age literacy/technology skills
Productivity
Critical thinking/reasoning
Academic knowledge and skills
Contextual skills and awareness
Teamwork/collaboration
Sample Indicators (21stcenturyskills.org)
• Learning and Innovation
– Uses a wide range of idea creation techniques
(such as brainstorming)
– Creates new and worthwhile ideas (both
incremental and “radical” concepts)
– Elaborates, refines, analyzes and evaluates
own ideas to improve and maximize creative
efforts
Sample indicators (21stcenturyskills.org)
• Works creatively with others
– Develops, implements, and communicates new ideas
to others effectively
– Is open and responsive to new and diverse
perspectives; incorporates group input and feedback
into the work
– Demonstrates originality and inventiveness in work and
understands the real world limits to adopting new ideas
– Views failure as an opportunity to learn; understands
that creativity and innovation is a long-term, cyclical
process of small successes and frequent mistakes
Sample indicators (21stcenturyskills.org)
• Critical thinking and problem solving
– Reasons effectively using various types of reasoning
appropriate to the situation (inductive, deductive, etc.)
– Uses systems thinking, analyzing parts of the whole
and their interactions
– Makes judgments and decisions based on the best
analysis and reflects critically on learning processes
– Solves problems, including nonfamiliar problems, in
conventional and non-conventional ways
– Identifies and asks significant questions that clarify
various points of view and lead to better solutions
Service-learning and 21st Century Skills
• There is great promise in examining
service-learning as an approach to helping
students acquire 21st Century skills
• ACTIVITY:
– What is the difference between servicelearning and community service?
– How does service-learning relate to 21st
Century skill acquisition?
Common Outcomes of ServiceLearning
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Prevalence
Academic outcomes
Civic outcomes
Social-emotional learning outcomes
Career-related outcomes
Other links to 21st Century skills
Examples from the Field:
Smyrna West Alternative School
• Smyrna West offers an option to expulsion.
• The school serves grades 6-12, enrollment ranging from
70-150 students.
• Students participate in a level system, a positive
motivational system for behavioral improvement.
• Service-learning and a level system support SWA school
goals and are used to make positive changes.
Service Learning at Smyrna West
• Service-learning methodology is implemented throughout
the curricular
• Teachers are TN Highly Qualified and trained in Lions
Quest: Skills In Action
• Service-learning has positive impact on student
achievement, attitude, attendance, and civic efficacy
• Smyrna West works closely with community partners
Rotary Partnership
• The Rotary Club of
Smyrna has adopted
SWA.
• Students job shadow and
interview Rotarians.
• Careers and community
needs are discussed.
• Rotary meetings provide a
platform to present
service-learning projects.
Action Plan
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SWA Action Plan
Date Started______Date Completed______
Need:
Plan:
Action:
Who Will Do What -By When -Resources Needed
Reflection/Comments:
SWA 2009 State Test Results
Smyrna West Alternative
2009 Read To Succeed School of the Year
Click for Video and Rap
Commercia
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Service Learning Compilation
Examples from the Field
• Project Citizen
The Potential of Service-Learning
• If it is so good, why doesn’t everyone
implement it?
– ACTIVITY
– Debrief
The Need for New Measures
Potential to raise student achievement
significantly
• formative assessment
• 21st century skills
For either of these to be effectively
addressed, many big changes have to take
place in our schools.
The Need for New Measures
A little history – performance assessment
• authentic assessment of the ‘90s
• criticisms
 technical
 content-related
The Need for New Measures
Must haves:
• close connection to content standards
• good measurement
• rigor with respect to both
The Need for New Measures
Service learning
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• is part of
project-based learning.
The Need for New Measures
Some more (recent) history –
Core Knowledge
vs.
21st Century Skills
The Need for New Measures
One Core Knowledge rep on project-based learning:
“… such methods … are difficult for teachers to
put into place …. There’s a reason teachers have
been taught for 75 years to do projects and they
don’t do them.”
The Need for New Measures
Another Core Knowledge rep:
“You don’t want to waste a lot of time, particularly for
disadvantaged kids, on teaching things they already know
and omitting things they don’t know.”
The Need for New Measures
We’re creating another “either/or” situation
in education, when we have to choose both
– and not just the easiest one.
The Need for New Measures
What a “merger” might look like:
• in the classroom
• in accountability testing
How to Create Political Will
• How do we create the political will to
promote the idea that all schools should
adopt service-learning and change their
orientation to 21st Century skills and their
assessment?
– Panel
– Audience
Q and A
• Other questions/issues that you would like
to discuss