Teaching for Content and Skills: A 21st Century Perspective

Please allow me to share an important perspective that presents the issue of teaching for content and skills in a clear educational context.

A relevant article appeared in Education Week on April 22, 2009, authored by Richard H. Hersh, on the topic of teaching for content and skills. I would like all of us to reflect on his views and consider several conclusions based upon the thoughtful insight Hersh proposes:

Recent work in developmental, cognitive, and brain-based learning research makes it clear that this is not about content or skills, but content and skills. Learning involves constructing meaning, not just knowing about things; it is about being able to apply what one knows to novel situations. In a knowledge-rich world, being able to access, structure, and use content is crucial. What the New York Times writer Thomas L. Friedman calls a "Flat World"-the global leveling of opportunities resulting from the ways people, in his words, "plug, play, compete, connect, and collaborate with more equal power than ever before"-requires all of the knowledge, intellectual horsepower, rigor, and deep thinking we have traditionally associated with the best of education.

Instant access to 21st-century information technology does not absolve us of the need to master appropriate content. But equally necessary is the ability to connect disparate dots across virtually infinite information-to think critically, apply knowledge, solve problems, and write and speak well (thinking made public). And thus those arguing for teaching "21st-century skills" are also on very solid ground. The debate is not just about the ends of education but, equally important, its means - curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment-and where the emphasis on content and skill acquisition and its measurement ought to be placed, given limited time and resources.

Focusing solely on content learning is not sufficient, because there is ample evidence that content acquisition does not automatically translate into application of knowledge, problem-solving, or critical thinking. And focusing solely on teaching thinking skills devoid of content, as some critics worry, is a vacuous exercise.

Hersh continues: We must move beyond the flawed content-vs.-skills argument and the equally harmful effects of the reductionist learning objectives and assessment measures states have developed in response to the No Child Left Behind Act. We need to focus instead on tightly coupling the high expectations and standards, rich curricula, and pedagogy, and equally rich and appropriate learning assessment. These cannot be treated separately, for the research on effective schools clearly demonstrates that it is the cumulative effects of such coupling that promote significantly greater and better learning.

If teaching for 21st-century content and skills is our objective, what are the consequences of our not getting these linkages right?

I emphatically agree with Hersh. What do you think about this important matter? How does it shape the way you think, teach, or lead? Are there real consequences for not making these connections? Absolutely! I believe that we cannot dispense with either argument but must assimilate the two traditional positions on content vs. skills into one, not treat them separately.

For me, the debate about (content vs. skills) or (content and skills) brings to my mind a profound and beautifully conclusion written in a poem by Robert Frost ("Two Tramps in Mud Time") that with a little stretch of the imagination puts this into perspective for me:

"But yield who will to their separation,
My object in living is to unite
My avocation and my vocation
As my two eyes make one in sight.
Only where love and need are one,
And the work is play for mortal stakes,
Is the deed ever really done."
For Heaven and the future's sakes"

It's all about the future as far as our children are concerned. Educators need to get this right and be thoroughly prepared for teaching both content and skills.

I have enjoyed sharing some of my educational insights with all of you. As I leave my position as Superintendent of Schools for Dinwiddie County in August, I will be posting my thoughts on other websights. In September I will begin a new position as Superintendent of Schools for Hopatcong Borough, New Jersey.

Thank you all for following and reflecting on these pages and for your feedback over the years.

Dr. Maranzano