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"If you've been following public discourse in education over the last couple of years, you have likely witnessed the emergence of a new, ubiquitous catch phrase: "21st century skills." After some time and considerable debate within and among organizations like ISTE/NETS, enGauge, and The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, a general consensus has emerged on definitions of the term. Many for-profit and not-for-profit organizations advertise their curricula to potential school and district clients, touting the alignment with 21st century skills with whatever they are pitching. The vast majority of these, from the traditional "drill and kill" to the more reformed, constructivist and project-based approaches, have adopted the rhetoric (if not the practice) of the new millennium. What is still lacking in the landscape of 21st century education, however, are examples of 21st century student work. While there is no shortage of discourse around the term or end to the lists qualifying the kind of work that students need to be engaged in as part of their 21st century education, there are precious few examples of actual 21st century work."

21st century skills as outlined by The Partnership for 21st Century Skills.

Future assessment for 21st century skills.

Summarized 21st century skills as described in a book by Tony Wagner - The Global Achievement Gap.

When assessment drives instruction, students learn more and become more confident, self-directed learners. Assessing Projects helps teachers create assessments that address 21st century skills and provides strategies to make assessment an integral part of their teaching and help students understand content more deeply, think at higher levels, and become self-directed learners.

Another example of how a group defines 21st century skills. PDF white papers linked on the right.

"This article considers three essential challenges for education leaders who are grappling with the challenges of fostering 21st century skills: the assessment gap, the teaching gap, and the leadership gap."

This article considers three essential challenges for education leaders who are grappling with the challenges of fostering 21st century skills: the assessment gap, the teaching gap, and the leadership gap.

"A novel public school in New York City has taken the video game as its model for how to teach. Students use video games and design them as part of their classes. As Quest to Learn is wrapping up its first year, those behind the program say game-based learning is integral to 21st century literacy. "

Project Based Learning (PBL) is a great way to teach students content, 21st century skills, and engage them in something fun and educational. This article gives some teacher tips and lesson examples for PBL.