Leading the Shift to 21st Century Schools

This book is the latest in a series of books written and published by the 21st Century Fluency Group, headed by Ian Jukes and Lee Crockett. This book will focus on how to lead the shift to a 21st century school. It will delve into gaining community, parental, and staff support around the concept of why change is needed and how that change occurs. The book will focus on implementing whole school reform, starting with small teams of teachers to build capacity. It will explain how to make the shift no matter the level of technology available to schools and emphasize how the IT departments in schools must change their perspective and their role in this change. It will also consider schools through different lenses-i.e., what schools are presently and what they could and may be in the future (e.g., virtual high schools like the largest school in the country, Florida Virtual High School; and online universities such as the largest university, Phoenix). A running theme throughout the book will be attention to maintaining a focus on short term goals (NCLB, interim assessments, remediation) while planning for long term goals (21st century fluencies so that students become college and/or career and life ready) and aligning the short term with the long term. It will also show how to align resources such as staff development, money, time, and personnel to support learning that focuses on both sets of goals. A practical book, it will offer numerous strategies, suggestions, tips and templates to support school leaders in making the shift to 21st century learning.