1 Cisco/Intel/MS Education Sync Meeting The Cisco-Intel-Microsoft 21 st Century Skills Assessment Project Robert Kozma, Kozmalone Consulting Project Consultant Barry McGaw, University of Melbourne Executive Director

2 Why is this project needed?  Profound economic and social changes require new skills  Many initiatives have focused these 21 st Century skills BUT: –Lack connection between 21 st C classroom practices and national and international assessments. –Growing consensus on what 21 st C skills are but little agreement on measurable definitions. –There are many methodological and technological issues that need to be addressed.  Need private-public, international, multi-stake collaboration: –Major national and international assessment agencies that include OECD/PISA and IEA. –National Education Departments and Ministries –Education reform organizations and projects –International researchers –Corporations

3 Goals of the project  Identify and address issues in five areas: –Connect assessments and 21 st century classroom practices and environments to increase scalability. –Define 21 st Century skills in measurable ways. – Address methodological issues related to rigor and validity. – Address technological barriers related to networking, security, scale, software applications. – Connect assessment reform and education reform policy  Indicators of success –Acceptance, recognition, and participation by stakeholders –Problems identified, solutions developed, and widely available. –ICT-based assessment of 21 st c skills incorporated into national and international assessments.

4 Project structure  Executive Director: Barry McGaw, University of Melbourne  Management Team and Working Groups –John Bransford (University of Washington) and Marlene Scardamalia (University of Toronto), Connection with learning environments and formative assessment. –Senta Raizen (WestEd), 21 st Century skills definition in measurable form. –Mark Wilson (University of California, Berkeley), Methodological and analytic issues. –Beno Csapo (University of Szeged), Technological issues and opportunities. –Linda Darling-Hammond (Stanford University), Policy issues.  Founding Countries: – Australia, Finland, Portugal, Singapore, United Kingdom  Partners: –OECD, IEA

5 Action Plan  Phase 1 Planning, April-September 2008 – Project conceptualization – Action plan drafted – Corporate commitment  Phase 2 Organization, October 2008-January 2009 – Exec Director on board. Introduced to working groups – Management Team in place – Call to Action and Action Plan finalized – Project announcement at Learning and Technology World Forum, London  Phase 3 Implementation, February – Building working group teams – Identifying participating countries –First annual working conference: San Diego April (80 participants from around the world) – Draft white papers (Summer 2009); Final (Fall 2009) – Fund and implement solutions ( ) – Annual conferences ( ) – Implement in national and international pilot tests (TIMSS 2011 (optional study), PISA 2012, SITES 2013, PISA 2015)

6 How to get involved Or contact: