Transition Brief: Thriving in the 21st Century

The Partnership Offers Recommendations to Help the Obama White House Forge a 21st Century Workforce

Organization Publishes Presidential Transition Brief Aimed at Ensuring Americans Thrive in the 21st Century

TUCSON, AZ — Nov. 18, 2008 — At a time when America faces unprecedented challenges to its economy, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills has released A Transition Brief: Policy Recommendations on Preparing Americans for the Global Skills Race, which offers broad proposals for forging a workforce and creating an education system that will thrive in the 21st century.

The brief notes that the current economic challenges cannot be adequately addressed without focusing on America’s competitiveness, which is intrinsically tied to the ability of Americans to effectively compete in the new global economy. Consequently, the next administration must concentrate on helping every American obtain the skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving and effective communicating, that are required to be successful.

“Fundamental changes in the economy, jobs and businesses have reshaped industry and the nature of work, and are driving new and different skill demands,” said Paige Kuni, worldwide manager of K-12 education for Intel Corporation and chair of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. “Competing nations understand that the key to economic prosperity is creating a flexible, adaptable workforce with diverse 21st century skill sets. We must focus our attention on closing this international achievement gap.”

While the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) attempts to address the achievement gap between minorities and low-income students and their more affluent peers, the 21st century skills achievement gap between American students – even top performers – and their international counterparts is widening, according to the brief.

To ensure that the American economy is strong and viable and students graduate high school capable of prospering in college and the 21st century workplace, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills offers the following recommendations to the next administration:

→ Lead: Advocate 21st century skills as a major theme of this presidency, beginning with the Inaugural Address and a White House Summit on 21st Century Skills in 2009.

→ Mobilize: Coordinate the policies and actions of federal agencies in promoting and creating an aligned, 21st century public education and workforce development system, including the reauthorization of ESEA and other federal legislation.

• Establish a senior advisor for 21st century skills and workforce development at the White House.
• Form an Office of 21st Century Skills within the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Education at the U.S. Department of Education.
• Create an Office of 21st Century Skills within the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Labor at the U.S. Department of Labor.

→ Empower: Support states and communities with investments to build a strong infrastructure and capacity for preparing students, workers and citizens with 21st century skills.

• Create a significant Global Competitiveness Research and Development Fund for U.S. education, and target a quarter of the funding to innovation in 21st century skills.
• Make the assessment of 21st century skills a priority.
• Support states’ ability to meet accountability requirements and foster 21st century skills.
• Ensure that schools are equipped with a 21st century technology infrastructure and 21st century technology tools.

“The Partnership’s work in states and districts around the country has succeeded because of our unique collaboration among business, education and policymakers. We need to bring this same spirit of partnership to the federal discussion of 21st century skills,” said Ken Kay, president of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. “We offer this transition brief as a constructive starting point for what we imagine will be a tremendously positive dialogue with the incoming administration on the future of 21st century skills and American education. We are prepared to help in any way we can to support the Obama administration in making education policy a central part of our U.S. competitiveness policy.”

The brief is located at the Partnership for 21st Century Skills web site.