CCR Releases “4D Framework” 1.0, the First of Its Kind Which Outlines 21st Century Skills, Character and Meta-Learning, and Partners with Global Curriculum Leaders

The Center for Curriculum Redesign (CCR) is pleased to announce the release of it CCR Framework Rev 1.0, the first of its kind which outlines a deeply researched, explicit and consistent structure for 21st century education of Skills, Character, and Meta-Learning (aka “21st century skills” or social-emotional learning(SEL)).  The framework expresses these dimensions through 12 Competencies, their 60 Subcompetencies, and a lexicon of 200+ associated and related constructs.

The intent of the 4D framework is to provide jurisdictions, organizations, municipalities and schools with a blueprint for a curriculum that transforms 21st century competencies into daily practice, helping teachers and students in developing relevant skills, character, and meta-learning qualities, all to be expressed through Knowledge disciplines. These competencies are much needed to update K-12 curricula around the world, to make 21st century education a lot more relevant. The framework is propagating rapidly to a growing number of organizations globally, notably among them both the Mastery Transcript Consortium™ and Atlas as announced herein.

Charles Fadel, founder of CCR, and co-author of 21st Century Skills, Four-Dimensional Education, and Artificial Intelligence in Education, adds, “the Framework was created at a cumulative investment of approximately $6M over the past 6 years.  We are releasing the tip of the iceberg at this stage, and will soon announce several other high-profile partners. The framework was painstakingly developed as an elaborate synthesis of 75+ other frameworks worldwide, with clear design goals of actionability: comprehensiveness, compacity, orthogonality, abstraction and global relevance. This will allow learners to thrive in an innovation-driven yet problem-challenged world, one that is shifting to learning-based societies where fulfilled citizens will not only generate knowledge but also know how to apply it, how to behave and engage in the world, and how to reflect, adapt, and “learn how to learn.” 

Notable Partners announced today:

The Mastery Transcript Consortium™(MTC) is made up of a growing network of public and private member high schools who are codesigning the Mastery Transcript, a high school transcript that supports mastery learning and reflects the unique skills, strengths, and interests of each learner. In the coming years, the MTC hopes to change the way students prepare for college, career, and life.

Stacy Caldwell, CEO of MTC, stated, “MTC is pleased to see strong alignment between the work of our member high schools and CCR’s deeply researched framework. The CCR model offers to schools a blueprint for organizing mastery credits in ways that support the range of higher-order thinking skills and social-emotional learning needed for today’s world, and we look forward to offering it as an option for our member schools.”

Atlas, a subsidiary of Faria Education Group, is a leading international education company that provides curriculum management platforms for K-12 schools. As the trusted choice for over 6,000 schools in 120 countries, Atlas allows schools around the world to initiate, revamp, and continuously refine and improve their curriculum process.  

Bernard Merkel, Director of Client Services at Atlas, stated, “We’re excited to work with CCR to provide the 4D framework as an option for our schools to use in Atlas as it adds another tool in our teacher’s pockets to continue to refine and deepen their curricular work.”

CCR is a non-profit global organization dedicated to improving education and openly propagating its recommendations and frameworks on a worldwide basis, via answering this question, “What should students learn for the 21st century?” CCR’s focus on relevance in education brings together international organizations, jurisdictions, academic institutions, corporations, and non-profit organizations including foundations. For more information, please Contact Us.

@CurrRedesign @MasteryTranscript @PlanOnAtlas @MastTranscript#4DEdu #21stCenturySkills #AIED