Assessment of student skills and knowledge is essential to guide learning and provide feedback to students, teachers, and parents on how well students are achieving set standards. In moving to design assessments to measure 21st century skills, the NEA states that a comprehensive approach to assessment, involving measurements that assess 21st century skills, is necessary to ensure accountability of schools in the 21st century. The P21 initiative recommends:
-Assessment systems be based on multiple measures of students’ abilities that include 21st century skill.
-Assessment of 21st century skills should be listed as an integral part of the academic assessments in math, reading and science.
-Reporting requirements should be expanded to include information on whether the student is achieving 21st century skills.
-Funds should be made available for pilot projects that examine that use of assessments that measure 21st century skill competencies in high school students.
-Funds should be allocated for an international benchmarking project that allows U.S. high school students to be compared to their international peers in terms of competencies in 21st century skills.
Learning.com’s 21st Century Skills Assessment instrument measures and is aligned to the ISTE NETS-S 2007 standards. The assessment is aligned to all 24 standards in six strands: creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, research and information literacy, critical thinking, problem solving and decision- making, and technology operations.