As noted in the literature review, proponents of 21st century learning believe schools
have an ethical responsibility to provide students with intellectually stimulating experiences
and opportunities to think creatively, innovatively, and collaboratively. Those working on
incorporating 21st century skills in the classroom, such as the administration and teachers at
Rolling Meadows, demonstrate that actual implementation means facing a myriad of obstacles
in how teachers conceptualize these new skills and use them in their classroom practice.
Creating engaged, informed, and participatory global citizens is a central goal that the school
shares with many of the proponents of 21st century skills. At both the micro and macro levels,
however, key obstacles such as collaboration with teachers have shown to hinder
implementation. Just as some of the groups promoting 21st century skills are made up entirely
of businesspeople, at Rolling Meadows those mainly in charge of changing the professional
development are those whose job has less to do with the day-to-day teaching and learning that
goes on with students.