To the Editor:
The “flak” over 21st-century skills creates a needless dividing line that has already been successfully crossed (“Backers of ‘21st-Century Skills’ Take Flak,” March 4, 2009). Across the country, students in career-themed academies are engaging in project-based learning and experiencing paid internships that combine both academic-content knowledge and work-skills training. Projects that are based on industry-authentic problems and behaviors lead to 21st-century-skill attainment practiced in the internships.
There are hundreds of such academies in the United States, with results demonstrated in a recent MDRC study that found a significant earnings impact linked to career-awareness activities and work internships during high school. The study groups included low-income communities of the type discussed in your article. Furthermore, these academies are graduating students at a significantly higher rate than their nonacademy peers. Academy students take college-preparatory courses augmented with career-oriented courses.
The career-academy model can address 21st-century skills without sacrificing academic rigor. What is needed now is a more robust approach to assessment beyond testing. The National Academy Foundation is piloting a combination of tests and independently evaluated project portfolios that holds great promise for providing a more complete picture of student knowledge and skills.
Andrew Rothstein
Senior Director, Curriculum and Academics
National Academy Foundation
New York, N.Y.
