New Brunswick 21st Century Learning Model: a three year plan

I was reading David Warlick's blog post on New Brunwick's technology plan for schools and was impressed, but not suprised to see some very common themes. You can view a PDF of the plan if you want to see the details. They have also produced a video outlining what 21st century learning would look like in New Brunswick, as seen above. They have outlined a three year plan, central to which are clearly defined 21st century competencies. They are not unlike what I have proposed in my classroom, the ischool in NYC or the NETS. New Brunswick's new competencies are:

1. critical thinking and problem solving


2. collaboration


3. communication


4. personal development and self-awareness


5. global citizenship

The report goes on to give 13 objectives to create a 21st century learning model. (the bracketed number represents my ranking of my board on that objective) They are:

1. to ensure provincial curricula include clearly defined outcomes and 21st century competencies with related performance standards. (1)


2. to ensure performance standards provide a continuum from which educators identify individual learner needs (1)


3. to ensure educators are highly skilled in 21st century pedagogy and have a deep understanding of the overall essential learning outcomes (1)


4. to ensure instructional practice reflects engaging, personal learning experiences and includes relevant cross-curricular connections (1-3)


5. to incorporate authentic assessment practice with high quality standardized testing to ensure assessment is systematicaly balanced (1)


6. to ensure a balance of technology enhanced, formative and summative assessments are used to measure student mastery of 21st century competencies (1)


7. to ensure schools and classrooms are ICT-rich environments with adequate technical support and infrastructure (1)


8. to ensure schools have flexible physical spaces and organizational structures (1)


9. to ensure opportunities are provided for personalized anytime/anywhere learning for students and teachers (1)


10. to ensure professional learning throughout the province is focused, personalized, effective and standards-based (1-3)


11. to ensure leadership capacity is built individually, locally and provincially (1)


12. to ensure school communities across the province share a common understanding of practices leading to school effectiveness and these are in place in every school (1)


13. to ensure school communities districts and the department have access to rich data sources and expertise for data analysis (1-2)


14. to ensure school districts enhance and sustain processes to maintain effective school practices consistent with provincial standards (1)

For fun, I decided to rank my school board and province on each of the above. I am proud to be a teacher in this school, this board and this province. That doesn't mean I think we don't need to work hard to change! My rankings are just my opinion and may not represent reality! They do presently represent mine! For what it's worth, I am working hard to promote similar objectives in our school, our board and our province.

I used a three point scale; "1" is not yet meeting, "2" is meeting and "3" is exceeding! My scores are in brackets beside the objective. My school board and province scored between 14 and 19 out of a possible 42 points!

How does your organization rank?! What are you doing to promote such objectives within your school, your board and your province?