Gateway to 21st Century Skills

Businesses can underscore their commitment to creating partnerships that will support a 21^st century workplace and workforce by providing opportunities for students to develop 21^st century skills. Content providers can reach education leaders to partner with them in the creation of aligned resources, assessments and curriculum integrated with 21^st century skills, tools and educational systems.

21^st Century Partnering Skills

• 21^st century citizens build interpersonal and collaborative skills by demonstrating teamwork and leadership; adapting to varied roles and responsibilities; working productively with others; exercising empathy and respecting diverse perspectives.
• 21^st century citizens are self-directed through monitoring their own understanding and learning needs, locating appropriate resources, and transfering learning from one domain to another
• 21^st century citizens demonstrate acountability and adaptability by exercising personal responsibility and flexibility in personal, workplace and community contexts, by setting and meeting high standards and goals for themselves and others and by tolerating ambiguity.

Spotlight on Partnering Resources

• Helios Education Foundation
  

  Text from the Web site: “At Helios Education Foundation, we believe education opens minds and opens doors. It creates opportunities for success and improves the quality of life for individuals and communities. As a non-profit organization serving Arizona and Florida, the Foundation’s vision is to ensure every individual with the desire to attend postsecondary education has the opportunity as well as the personal, financial and academic support they need to succeed. We are committed to being actively engaged in the education arena, investing our knowledge, expertise and resources to enrich lives and improve the education system overall.”

• Foundation for Comprehensive Early Literacy Learning
  

  The Foundation for Comprehensive Early Literacy Learning provides professional development designed to help teachers strengthen their teaching of reading and writing. Research-based teaching methodologies that implement the findings of the Report of the National Reading Panel (2001) are organized into a framework for classroom instruction. Comprehensive Early Literacy Learning (CELL) (PreKindergarten-Grade 3) training emphasizes that the instructional focus in the primary grades is to teach reading and writing. Extended Literacy Learning (ExLL) (Grades 3-8) training focuses on reading and writing in the content areas while recognizing that some students in the intermediate grades are still struggling readers. Second Chance at Literacy Learning (Grades 6-12) training supports secondary English, content area, reading and special education teachers with both a classroom best practices model and small group intervention.

• The Annie E. Casey Foundation
  

  Established by UPS founder Jim Casey and his siblings in honor of their mother, the aim of the Annie E. Casey Foundation is to foster public policies, human-service reforms, and community supports that more effectively meet the needs of today’s vulnerable children and families. In pursuit of this goal, the Foundation makes grants that help states, cities, and neighborhoods fashion more innovative, cost-effective responses to these needs. In general, the grant-making of the Foundation is limited to initiatives in the United States that have significant potential to demonstrate innovative policy, service delivery, and community supports for disadvantaged children and families.