ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was
to examine the process used to
implement 21
st
century skills in
secondary school
s by secondary school
administrator
s. The rationale of the study wa
s to
document how secondary schools implement
ed
21
st
century skills according to Tony Wagner’s
framework, the Seven Survival Skills,
and t
he multilingualism component of the Partnership for
21
st
Century Learning’s framework,
in order to prepare students in the United States to compete
in a gl
obal society.
This study used a qualitative research approach
to analyze
:
1) how school
administrato
rs ranked the implementation of 21
st
century skills through a behavioral indicator
performance task,
2)
the system esta
blished by the secondary school administrators in
implementing 21
st
century skills
, 3
)
the evaluation process secondary administrators us
e
d
to
evaluate the implementation
of 21
st
century skills
,
4
)
the types of professional development
provided to teachers in order
for them
to successfully implement 21
st
century skills
inside the
classroom
, and 5
) to provide a framework for schools aspiring
to implement 21
st
century skill
s
.
The researcher interviewed
six
secondary school
administrators
and evaluate
d
internal
documents distributed to the school staff
, students,
and parent community.
Data analysis for this
study focused on
six secondary scho
ols with an API of 700 or greater
,
as measured by
California’s standardized assessment
,
that had begun to implement 21
st
century skills
learning
.
The data
was
analyzed
by
comparing the interview responses with the internal documents
collected from the sch
ool sites in order to determine the degree of validity and discrepancies in
the research. The data was
examined
within the school sites and across school sites to
consider
similarities and differences in implementation patterns.
General
findings
denoted
that
technology and project
-
based learning are the most frequently used methods for implementing
21
st
century skills
in secondary schools
.