This is an article from the Coloradoan.

Principal: Children to hone 21st century skills to brave world

Future to include using technology and other emerging content skills

BY HALLIE WOODS • HallieWoods@coloradoan.com • January 8, 2009

Education of the future will need to prepare children to become intelligent global citizens, said Shepardson Elementary School Principal Mary Kay Sommers on Wednesday.

Sommers, who spent a year as the president of the National Association of Elementary School Principals, delivered her remarks at a special presentation at Fort Collins High School about the future of education.

The future will include using technology and other emerging content skills to turn out adults with the necessary 21st-century skills to brave a changing world.

“We do know that (children) have to be globally competitive. They have to be global problem solvers and they have to be innovative thinkers,” Sommers said.

Evan Bode, 10, a fifth-grade student at Shepardson, is already learning to be a global citizen by joining the school’s O Ambassadors group.

The organization allows children at Shepardson to help solve real-world problems.

“I think it’s important because the Earth has a lot of problems, and that’s the only way we can fix them,” Bode said after Sommers’ talk.

Suzanne Harbour, an English Language Learner teacher at Shepardson, said she believes Fort Collins schools are already recognizing the importance of global participation.

“We need to prepare them for global awareness, and teachers are trying to do that,” Harbour said. “We need thinkers, and we have children who have those capabilities.”

But competition is constantly increasing because of a steadily changing economy.

“The schools that are ready to mobilize quickly are the ones that find the most success,” she said.

Poudre School District recently implemented four learning goals to help students graduate with 21st-century skills. Those goals include reading proficiency by third grade, achieving annual academic growth, being post-secondary ready and successfully transitioning between grade levels.

Technology will be an integral part in education and bridging the gap between children’s learning abilities.

But in the United States, technology is often used more frequently at home and less in the classroom, she said.

“Schools are often slow to adopt new technology,” Sommers said.

Shaun Cornwall, a sixth-grade teacher at Shepardson, said he uses some technology in the classroom to offer a more creative approach to learning. Instead of using a math test to measure knowledge, for instance, he implemented a math project using different software programs.

“They become more engaged because I have given them tools,” he said. “It allows them to think more, and it’s not limiting.”

Sommers also said schools will become more autonomous and may need to even seek funding from new sources such as nonprofits and businesses.

“The money is the hard part because the money is probably not going to come in great lumps from the state or the federal government,” Sommers said.

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