Assessment Call to Action a paper and a study

21st century learning a learning styles is something that is brought up by teachers who are engaging in these tech literacy and pedagogical shifts in their schools and communities. The need and desire to get technology in the forefront of our thinking and lesson planning has been talked about quite a bit in recent years. What hasn't been done is the leaders in the industry addressing these issues directly and telling our schools what they think these learners should look like and what they are expecting when their education is completed.

This is a quote from a study/paper began in January 2009
Partners in Education Transformation (Cisco, Intel and Microsoft)
Transforming Education: Assessing and Teaching 21st Century Skills

"In the 21st century economy and society, the memorization of facts and implementation of simple procedures is less important; the ability to respond flexibly to complex problems, to communicate effectively, to manage information, to work in teams, to use technology, and to produce new knowledge is crucial. These capabilities are rarely taught in schools or measured on typical assessments.
The ability to respond flexibly to complex problems, to communicate effectively, to manage information, to work in teams, to use technology, and to produce new knowledge is crucial to economic success."

What can we do as educators? We can help the data collection, assist in the sharing of ideas and help to educate and inform teachers that want to learn more, but don't have the questions in front of them yet. Here's their tips on getting involved. Read the article, get involved if you can.

How you can get involved
In the context of the Project’s goals, structure, and activities, we are looking for:

• Assessment experts, researchers, business leaders, policymakers, and non‐governmental organizations—especially those who have been working in this area—to help identify and specify 21st century skills in measurable ways.
• Assessment experts, researchers, educators, software developers, and ministry officials to develop, collect, and share exemplary ICT‐based assessment tasks and scoring rubrics.
• Assessment experts, researchers, and software and network engineers—especially those who have been the leaders in experimenting with ICT‐based assessment—to share their experience and expertise, identify and address the barriers to ICT‐based assessment, and develop breakthrough technologies and analytic methodologies.
• Policymakers and ministry officials who are interested in having their countries help shape and refine the efforts of the Project and participate in the implementation and pilot testing of the new assessments.
• Businesses, foundations, and government agencies to co‐fund these important efforts in private‐public partnership.

My question is what is this going to tell us? Will their study end more credibility to the teachers trying to create this shift and style?