21st Century Education Initiative - "You Should Care..."

Education Secretary Arne Duncan launched a $5 billion proposal Wednesday aimed at improving the teaching profession at every level. It would be modeled after the Race to the Top program.

Parenting is the toughest and most important role most adults will ever have. Yet, far too many feel ill equipped to handle the job.

Advocates say the idea is to promote a better balance in the curriculum, as well as campus offerings before and after school, especially in the era of high-stakes testing in reading and math.

Gateway exercises are a classic example of performance-based assessment, in which students show their understanding not by filling in bubbles on a standardized test but by producing actual work–an essay, a lab report, a presentation, a portfolio, or some other demonstration of competency.

"This is not about the technology," Mark Edwards, superintendent of Mooresville Graded School District, would tell the visitors later over lunch. "It’s not about the box. It’s about changing the culture of instruction — preparing students for their future, not our past."

"It is about empowering children to communicate."

Using this method, proponents say, teachers have the opportunity to help students learn as individuals, and students can learn concepts more quickly.

"By shifting our education system from focusing on inputs such as seat time and the number of days in a school year to focusing on outputs like student mastery of academic skills and knowledge, states could realize gains in student achievement," said NGA Executive Director Dan Crippen. "Transitioning to credits based on mastery could also reduce the costs of remedial education."

The STEAM camps represent a totally new approach to the curriculum, and forge a new beginning in reinventing K-12 education.

"To really lower the dropout rate, d’Entremont argued for early childhood care, like more pre-k and full-day kindergarten, and a better way to monitor which kids are likely to be at high-risk of dropping out–and provide resources in elementary and middle school. ‘We need to focus more on prevention as opposed to intervention,’ he said, explaining that ‘changes that occur at the very tail end of a student’s career’ are least likely to bring change."