The CCR is pleased to announce that the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority has joined as a Partner organization.

Robert Randall, ACARA‘s CEO, stated: ““We look forward to supporting your Center… as you pursue this very significant and global undertaking…”.

The CCR also looks forward to fruitful exchanges with ACARA.

On April 22-24, 2013 the CCR hosted its “21^st Century Mathematics” conference in Stockholm, Sweden which attracted numerous influential participants from over twenty countries.  The final agenda is given here.

The CCR is grateful to the Confederation of Swedish Enterprises and the OECD for their partnership, as well as to the Gates Foundation, the Nellie Mae Education Foundation and the Moser Foundation (Geneva, Switzerland) for their generous support.

The conference presentations are available below:

• Greetings and Introduction: Charles Fadel (CCR & BIAC)
• Presentation: “Why should we fix this urgently?”  Åke Svensson (CEO – Teknikföretagen)
• Short remarks on importance to OECD countries – Dirk Van Damme (OECD/CERI)
• Presentation: Why Curriculum Redesign? Why Maths? Exponential technologies and their impact on humankind – Charles Fadel (Center for Curriculum Redesign)
• Presentation: “Mathematicians’ reluctance to embrace uncertainty (zero, probabilities, incompleteness)” Michael Kaplan (author, “Chances are”)
• Presentation: Neuroscience and Cognitive Psychology of Mathematics -  Jon Star (Harvard University)
• Presentation: Mathematics standards of PISA countries – William Schmidt (Michigan State University)
• Presentation: Why do we teach Mathematics? (CCR to facilitate)
• Presentation Katz ; Presentation Dauben:  The History of Mathematics teaching; the tension between practice and theory – Joseph Dauben (City University of New York)
• Video: Teaching Complex Dynamical Systems at Ross schools
• Presentation: Mathematics and PISA’s future – Dirk Van Damme (OECD/CERI)
• Presentation: Mathematical Thinking – Keith Devlin (Stanford University)
• Presentation: Mathematics and the drift towards Purity – Sverker Lundin (University of Gothenburg)
• Presentation: Stop Teaching Calculating, Start Teaching Maths – Conrad Wolfram (Wolfram Research)
• Presentation: Mathematics and 21st century skills: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration (Michael Pearson, Mathematical Association of America)
• Presentation: The importance of Computational Thinking – Maggie Johnson (Google)
• Presentation: The Power of Visualizations – Staffan Landen (Karolinska Institutet and www.Gapminder.org)
• Presentation: Many Eyes – Irene Greif (IBM)
• Presentation: “Street-fighting” Mathematics for Everyone – Sanjoy Mahajan (MIT & Olin College)
• Presentation: Workplace Mathematics – Arthur Bakker (Freudenthal Institute)
• Presentation: What Mathematics does the workforce really use? – Merrilea Mayo (Kellogg Foundation)
• Conclusion: “The Stockholm Declaration: Mathematics for the 21st century” (All participants, led by CCR)

“Man and Machine: the Impact of Technology on Employment” was the theme of the second CCR economists’ colloquium (see Agenda).  Several leading economists (Participants), among whom MIT’s David Autor and Frank Levy, debated the potential impact of technology, and reaffirmed that in an age of search and Artificial Intelligence, “21^st Century Skills” such as Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication and Collaboration were all the more essential.

The advances of technology were presented by Charles Fadel (CCR – presentation) and Rob Nail (Singularity University – presentation).  David Autor presented the latest curves on the US economy-wide changes in job task content (presentation, page 24 in particular).

Other presentations were given by: (alphabetically)

• Paul Beaudry – University of British Columbia (presentation)
• Robert Gordon – Northwestern University (presentation)
• Gad Levanon  – The Conference Board (presentation)
• Frank Levy – MIT (presentation)
• Stephen Rose – Georgetown University (presentation)

Quite notably, and echoing CCR’s Futurists’ colloquia, Frank Levy highlighted the importance of versatility of knowledge and skill as a wise response to uncertain economic times.

The Center for Curriculum Redesign is grateful to the Hewlett Foundation, the US Council Foundation and the McGraw-Hill Research Foundation for their support of the research and the event.

The presentations made at the “Futurists and Educators II” meeting at Harvard on September 20-21 are now available:

• Jillian Darwish – KnowledgeWorks Foundation: “Four drivers of change”
• Charles Fadel – CCR: “The impact of Technology (abridged)”
• Robert Plotkin – Attorney: “The automation of invention“

The preparatory reading materials were:

• Albright on Past Forecasts
• Nagy on Wright vs Moore’s law
• Vinge on the The Singularity and schools
• Pentland on Big Data

Many sincere thanks to all presenters and contributors.

It is with great pleasure that we announce a supportive funding grant from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation (NMEF) in support of the CCR. Nicholas Donohue, President and CEO, stated in his letter of support: “…producing clearer, more appropriate renditions of educational outcomes is central to steering educational systems…”.

The NMEF is a vocal supporter of integrating skills and knowledge: “Through student-centered approaches, learners are actively engaged in authentic tasks that develop both a solid base of knowledge in traditional subject areas and “new basic” skills – problem solving, critical thinking and communication. Learning opportunities can be tailored to the learner’s needs and interests.”

We are pleased to announce the vibrant vote of confidence (see announcement) of New South Wales (Australia) in its joining of the Center for Curriculum Redesign.  Minister of Education Hon. Adrian Piccoli stated: “By joining with you on this initiative we will… promote a new and shared global understanding of curriculum issues”.  NSW is the seventh key PISA jurisdiction to join the CCR.

CCR members and invitees gathered on June 4-6 at the OECD in Paris for its first plenary meeting.  The event was sponsored by the Fondation Henri Moser, BIAC and the OECD, to which CCR is most grateful.

Here’s the agenda, the list of participants, and the synthesis paper of the meeting.

Most of the presentations can be found linked below:

• CCR Plenary intro - Charles Fadel (CCR)
• Skills strategy – Andreas Schleicher (OECD)
• What does it mean to Redesign? – Jennifer Groff (CCR)
• Impact of technology – Charles Fadel (CCR)
• Why standards/curricula? – Keri Facer (Bristol U.)
• CCR Jurisdictions: Alberta, Finland, Ontario, Singapore – sharing progress to date, concerns, difficulties.
• The importance of  Character – Attilio Oliva (BIAC, TreLLLe)
• The Oivallus project: what do employers want and need? – Marita Aho (BIAC)
• What do economies want and need? – Charles Fadel (CCR)
• PISA’s development – Andreas Schleicher (OECD)
• Why Robotics? – John Abele (Founder, Boston Scientific and Former Chairman, FIRST Robotics)
• What Mathematics do people really use? – Merrilea Mayo (Mayo LLC/Kellogg Foundation)
•  Innovating the Curriculum – Dirk Van Damme (OECD/EDU)
• Stop Teaching Calculating, Start Teaching Math – Conrad Wolfram (Co-Founder, Wolfram Research)
• Why Journalism? – Esther Wojcicki (VP Creative Commons)
• What does Neuroscience tell us about What should be taught? – Jennifer Groff (CCR)

CCR very sincerely thanks all the participants for their significant contributions, and looks forward to continued joint work and progress.

The OECD’s Skills Strategy official launch includes CCR’s invited blog submission, which can be found at:  http://oecdeducationtoday.blogspot.fr/2012/05/what-should-students-learn-in-21st.html

Further, the OECD’s Yearbook 2012 features a CCR article on Skills and Innovation:  www.oecdobserver.org/yearbook2012

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, said: “Skills have become the global currency of 21st Century economies. They transform lives and drive economies. Governments must invest more effectively in the education and skills that people will need in tomorrow’s workplace. They need to deploy their talent pool more strategically so that these investments translate into better jobs and better lives. Achieving this is everyone’s business, and employers and unions have a central role to play.”

CCR founder’s seminal book “21st Century Skills” (Wiley, 2009) is now available in Chinese (classical and simplified), Korean and Russian, further reflecting the global interest in the topic.

On May 1 – 2, 2012 a small working group of neuroscientists, educational researchers and designers, and practitioners convened to explore the curricular implications of leading research in the learning sciences.

The participating group discussed the implications of language development and multiple language acquisition, as well as mathematics development, implications of technology, meta-learning, and more. Please see the synthesis produced from the discussion, along with the agenda. Charles’s presentation can be found on the Slideshare CCR site.

On February 29, 2012, The Conference Board and the Hewlett Foundation hosted a meeting dedicated to discussing the development of a “Workforce Readiness Barometer”.  The attendee list (bios)included representatives from Boeing and IBM, and the dinner presentation on workforce readiness was given by Gad Levanon, director of macroeconomic research at The Conference Board.

The following presenters were featured (see Agenda):

• CCR founder Charles Fadel – also senior fellow, human capital at The Conference Board – presented first the next morning (see his presentation on the CCR Slideshare site).
• Dr Merrilea Mayo, founder, Mayo Enterprises, presented on the ground-breaking skills assessments work she is doing under a grant from the Kellog Foundation.
• Leslie Beller, Chicago Public Schools, presented on the incorporation of Skills and their assessments in the public school system in Chicago.
• Mary Wright, Associate Director at The Conference Board, presented a proposal for a Workforce Readiness Barometer.

Bernie Trilling and Charles Fadel, co-authors of best-seller “21st Century Skills“, will be producing a report which will be posted here (watch for this link to become active).