Softer skills for ed reform

IT'S NATURAL to worry when policy makers in education start debating the need to promote "21st-century skills" - softer, nonacademic abilities such as global awareness, media literacy, critical thinking, and self-direction. But the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which helped to push the state to the top of the class on national assessments in English and math, has earned the right to make its case.

A new department report, "School Reform in the New Millennium," argues that "straight academic content is no longer enough" to ensure student success in college and the workplace. A 22-member task force headed by board of education member Gerald Chertavian calls for overhauls in teacher training and the state's curriculum guides to accommodate the teaching of softer skills. The authors also call for placing 1,000 artists, scientists, and engineers in classrooms around the state to boost creativity and technological skills.

The worst possible outcome of this report would be a retreat from the state's high academic standards and tough accountability measures, especially the MCAS test that all Massachusetts high school students must pass to earn a diploma. The report calls for instituting "multiple measures" for student assessment, a term that is sometimes code for watering down the rigorous MCAS test.

The authors also urge state education officials to look to West Virginia as a model for implementing 21st-century schools. That gives pause to no-nonsense education reformers like Jim Stergios, the head of the nonprofit Pioneer Institute, who notes that fourth- and eighth-graders in West Virginia rank below the national average on reading and math assessments. Officials here should guard against getting swept away by the still-formative movement toward teaching softer skills.

Education secretary Paul Reville promises that 21st-century skills will complement, not replace or dilute, the state's rigorous curriculum frameworks and testing program. So long as that promise holds, the task force report could serve as a powerful guide for the next stage of education reform.

The authors wisely recommend lengthening the school day by 25 percent in at least 100 schools to make way for more hands-on learning, oral presentations, and class projects. A proposal to evaluate and offer online courses could be a big boost in school districts with a shortage of science or Advanced Placement offerings. And the good intentions of the authors come through in their call to recruit talented young teachers with the desired 21st-century skills, including civic engagement, from Teach for America and similar organizations.

Education officials must frame future classrooms without eroding the intact 1990s foundation.