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“For more than half a century, the United States has led the world in scientific discovery and innovation. It has been a beacon, drawing the best scientists to its educational institutions, industries, and laboratories from around the globe. However, in today’s rapidly evolving competitive world, the United States can no longer take its supremacy for granted. Nations from Europe to Eastern Asia are on a fast track to pass the United States in scientific excellence and technological innovation.”
-—Taskforce on the Future of American Innovation |
The Challenge Before Us |
Journalist Thomas Friedman, in his recent book, The World is Flat, says there is “no turning back,” that technological influences have irrevocably redefined our world. Students graduating from Tahoma School District will be competing for jobs not only with students from Seattle, Atlanta, and New York, but with students from Singapore, London, and Beijing. Statistics from recent national reports provide a snapshot of the challenges and opportunities before our graduates:
- The United States ranked 24th in the international assessment of problem-solving proficiency of 15-year-old students according to a 2003 report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
- A company can hire nine factory workers in Mexico for the cost of one in America. A company can hire eight young professional engineers in India for the cost of one in America.
- The United States ranks 12th among OECD countries in the number of broadband connections per 100 inhabitants.
- In 2005, college graduates earned an average of $51,206, while high school graduates earned $27,915, and those with no high school diploma earned $18,734.
Just a decade into the 21st Century, American policy leaders are recognizing that the human intellect of its youth – the highly developed ability to think, reason and understand in a high-tech, knowledge society – is every bit as important a natural resource as land, energy sources, and capital. It is clear that renewed investments in education are needed to maintain our country’s economic leadership. Students must be engaged in rigorous, relevant academic content that translates into student readiness to succeed in a knowledge society and a high tech, global economy. |
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For over a decade Tahoma School District has been proactively responding to this challenge. The district has formally established a 21st Century vision with the District Outcomes and Indicators. In addition, the district established a visionary “Classroom 10,” as the learning environment students need to achieve such outcomes.
This unique combination of rigorous academic standards with 21st Century concepts and skills has contributed to the high levels of academic achievement in TSD today. |
All TSD schools have made great strides in creating classrooms where every student learns to think critically in their academic studies and acquire habits of mind (e.g., remains open to continuous learning, strives for accuracy, builds on other people’s thinking; works collaboratively, takes responsible risks, etc.) – opportunities and skills that will serve them well throughout their lives in this increasingly fast-paced, high tech world. |
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"Classroom 10 is a learning environment where teachers use content as a vehicle so that students can acquire key concepts, thinking skills, Habits of Mind and Tahoma School District Outcomes."
The vision for Classroom 10 is grounded in the synthesis of academic standards, 21st Century concepts/skills, and the technology access and tools to bring the vision to life. The technology levy will provide an opportunity to strengthen the third prong of the Classroom 10 vision. The Tahoma School District continues to ensure academic rigor in the context of critical thinking, real-world applications, and contemporary tools that truly prepare students to thrive in today’s knowledge society.
Tahoma School District continues a thoughtful, strategic 3-prong rollout of technology for 21st Century learning. |
- First, behind the scenes, the school district is expanding its infrastructure to ensure robust, reliable technology networks to support learning, teaching, administration, and access to resources, and interactive communications.
- Second, the district will strategically focus on the use of technology to support the Classroom 10 vision (e.g., critical thinking and problem-solving across the academic disciplines in support of lifelong learning).
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For example, based on sound research on the importance of visualization to student learning – and the fact that our students live in a highly visual, multimedia world – the district will begin in the fall of 2007 to use visualization to deepen students’ understanding of concepts across the disciplines. |
- Third, Research and Development (R&D) initiatives are being used as “proofs of concept.” This is accomplished at two levels:
- Classroom R&D projects. These projects build on the expertise of the teaching staff, enabling them to conduct R&D in yearlong pilots. Once they are proven to be effective, these projects will be scaled up to ensure that all students have the opportunity to use technology in powerful, meaningful ways.
- System wide R&D projects. These projects are larger scale and pilot innovative technology-based learning approaches that could be broadly scaled to full grade levels or buildings if proven to be effective.
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TSD will bring an exciting new technology dimension to the Classroom 10 vision – with the intent of preparing TSD students to thrive in the high tech, global world in which they live.
The School Board, Superintendent, and staff are committed to wise investments of the public funds the community has allocated for educational technology. The Tahoma School District thanks its community for the public investment in this new direction that will begin transitioning our schools into 21st Century places of learning. |
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Taskforce on the Future of American Innovation. (2005). Benchmarks of our Innovation Future: The Knowledge Economy: Is the United States Losing Its Competitive Edge?”
Friedman, Thomas L. (2005). The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century.
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), PISA 2003 Results. Accessed on 5/1/07 from http://www.pisa.oecd.org.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2005). International Comparisons of Hourly compensation Costs for Production Workers in Manufacturing, 2004. November 18. as reported by Rising Above the Gathering Storm, 2006. pp ES13.
OECD. (2005) OECD Broadband Statistics: June 2005.
Seattle Times July 25, 2006. College Grad Wages Stuck in Slump.
Mayer, R. (2001). Multimedia Learning. Cambridge University Press. |
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