The “Seven Survival Skills” and General Learner Outcomes (GLOs) of 21st Century Learning.

21st Century Skills

Tony Wagner’s new book, The Global Achievement Gap, describes seven new habits of mind that illustrate the 21st century skills needed to succeed in the new global economy. Derived from hundreds of interviews with college professors, corporate CEOs, and community leaders engaged in urgently needed civic work, these new indicators are:

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Team-Based Leadership and Leading by Influence
Agility and Adaptability
Initiative and Entrepreneurialism
Effective and High Quality Communication (both oral and written)
Accessing and Analyzing Information
Curiosity and Imagination

Wagner’s work and the leadership of Project cohorts are leading Academy 21 in the direction of several new initiatives aimed at creating and testing performance based outcome measures which support student learning for the 21st century.

The Hawai‘i Department of Education General Learner Outcomes (GLOs)

In working to define, recognize and assess rigor, Academy 21-participating cohorts have found a helpful conceptual and motivational tool that already existed within the Hawai‘i DOE: Hawai‘i’s General Learner Outcomes (GLOs). The GLOs were developed in the early 1990s to ensure that students are prepared for success in work, college, and citizenship in the new economy of the conceptual age:

Self-Directed Learner – the ability to be responsible for one’s own learning
Community Contributor – understanding that it is essential for human beings to work together
Complex Thinker – the ability to demonstrate critical thinking and problem solving
Quality Producer – the ability to recognize and produce quality performance and quality products
Effective Communicator – the ability to communicate effectively
Effective and Ethical User of Technology – the ability to use a variety of technologies effectively and ethically

As Tony Wagner, the State of Hawai‘i Department of Education and Academy 21 all believe, these 21st century skills are central educational outcomes to prepare students for college, career and citizenship.