Question: What are your top three insights about the challenges facing your prospective students in the 21st century, both globally and in your community?
Upon graduation, students are expected to be prepared to enter the local and global marketplace and maneuver through the ever-changing digital landscape. The society in which they will exist will be more culturally diverse and economically disparate. And while our students reflect some of these shifts, they are not equipped to meet the demands of that dynamic world.
To gain insight into what students felt would be their biggest obstacles after high school, we conducted interviews throughout our district. Three big insights emerged: a perceived lack of preparation, choice, and relevancy.
The Partnerships for 21st Century Learning (P21.org) highlights some of the key skills that students need to be able to do, including entrepreneurial, financial, and health literacy. However, our current model of high school does not address the framework well enough. Students we interviewed felt unprepared to tackle the demands required in order to find success in these areas. This lack of preparation is due, in part, to a lack of choice and relevancy.
With little access to specialty electives and post-high school connections, students in traditional school feel like they are unprepared for life after high school and have no say in their education. Our students regularly cited a lack of options available to them in the traditional high school setting. They lack choice — choice regarding courses, curriculum, access, and pathways.
Along with a lack of choice, students don't see the relevancy between what they are learning and how it can apply to life after high school. In traditional high school, students do not have opportunities to synthesize the accumulation of their learning experiences.
Preparing students through choice and relevance is key to a successful education.
Upon graduation, students are expected to be prepared to enter the local and global marketplace and maneuver through the ever-changing digital landscape. The society in which they will exist will be more culturally diverse and economically disparate. And while our students reflect some of these shifts, they are not equipped to meet the demands of that dynamic world.
To gain insight into what students felt would be their biggest obstacles after high school, we conducted interviews throughout our district. Three big insights emerged: a perceived lack of preparation, choice, and relevancy.
The Partnerships for 21st Century Learning (P21.org) highlights some of the key skills that students need to be able to do, including entrepreneurial, financial, and health literacy. However, our current model of high school does not address the framework well enough. Students we interviewed felt unprepared to tackle the demands required in order to find success in these areas. This lack of preparation is due, in part, to a lack of choice and relevancy.
With little access to specialty electives and post-high school connections, students in traditional school feel like they are unprepared for life after high school and have no say in their education. Our students regularly cited a lack of options available to them in the traditional high school setting. They lack choice — choice regarding courses, curriculum, access, and pathways.
Along with a lack of choice, students don't see the relevancy between what they are learning and how it can apply to life after high school. In traditional high school, students do not have opportunities to synthesize the accumulation of their learning experiences.
Preparing students through choice and relevance is key to a successful education.
