Journal of the Effective Schools Project, Volume 18, 2011 Page: 32
79 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Instructional Changes to Meet 21st Century
Expectations
Sue Erwin and Pam Winn
The U.S. has fallen behind less affluent countries in educational
achievement at the same time American workers are losing jobs to tech-
nology and outsourcing. To maintain competiveness, American schools
are tasked with redesigning curriculum to meet 21st century expecta-
tions. Compounding the difficulty of improving instruction, American
teachers are encountering a new type of student: the digital native. Char-
acteristics of digital native cohorts are presented and recommendations
for instructional changes are suggestedGlobal academic and economic
competition have raised stakes for
US public education. Compound-
ing these obstacles, educators face
unique instructional challenges
associated with children reared in
the digital, information age. Glob-
al and technological changes
threaten the effectiveness of cur-
rent classroom instruction. Educa-
tors must utilize more effective
instruction if their students are to
meet global challenges of the 21St
century.
Global Challenges
Results of the 2010 Programme for
International Student Assessment
(PISA) released in December of
2010 rekindled American's frustra-
tion with the state of U.S. public
school instruction. While Shang-
hai, Korea, Hong Kong, Singa-
pore, Finland, Canada, Japan, and
New Zealand ranked in the top
seven, the U.S. ranked 25th on an
internationally standardized as-
sessment of 15-year-old math stu-
dents (Guria, 2010). PISA rank-
ings take into account differences
among culture and economic sys-
tems, providing benchmarks that
measure existing differences while
providing countries flexibility in
setting goals that meet their condi-
tions. Among lessons to belearned from these discouraging
results is Americans cannot rely on
relative economic supremacy to
maintain its former public educa-
tion advantage. As global competi-
tion intensifies and productivity
patterns change, the U.S. will need
creative reform of attitude and
strategies to maintain an edge.
Furthermore, because countries
with limited resources consistently
outperformed U.S. students, more
money alone is not the solution.
In addition to increasing educa-
tional competition, the U.S. faces
growing international competition
for jobs. Pink (2006) suggests ma-
terial abundance has shifted social
emphasis from survival to a greater
emphasis on American's "self'
development in terms of beauty,
spirituality, and emotion. In con-
trast, Asian countries have focused
more directly on economic devel-
opment. Graduating huge numbers
of degreed workers willing to work
for less income, Asia has rapidly
absorbed outsourced American
jobs. Simultaneously, American
white-collar jobs are lost through
rapid improvements in automation
and online technology.
Economic sustainability is reliant
upon a competitive work force.As global competition
intensifies and productiv-
ity patterns change, the
U.S. will need creative
reform of attitude and
strategies to maintain
an edge.32
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Tarleton State University. Effective Schools Project. Journal of the Effective Schools Project, Volume 18, 2011, periodical, 2011; Stephenville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth201694/m1/36/?rotate=270: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Tarleton State University.