Organizational Realignment: Mission Shift for the 21st Century

Abstract

A teacher preparation program sought to explore the role that their organization could play in equipping students for a successful entry into the 21st century labor market. The organization recognized a disparity between their current teacher preparation model and the educational experiences students need to be adequately prepared. This paper surveyed key stakeholders and reviewed extant literature to gain perspective on how the organization should pivot to better meet students’ 21st century learning needs. Key findings included students having inadequate access to technology, a lack of aligned instruction for students and teachers, the organization’s short teacher tenure, and stakeholders viewing 21st century learning as a set of advanced skills as opposed to an approach to learning and problem solving. The paper recommends that the organization implement a teacher preparation program of study focused on training teachers how to implement 21st century learning in their classrooms, establishing partnerships to adequately supply partner schools with high caliber technology, develop alumni pipelines to keep alums in the region, and using select models to implement an effective change initiative.