Twenty-first Century Learning Skills are those
that are required for students to succeed in the workforce and halls
of academia in the coming decades.
Those skills specifically include:
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Taking initiative in their learning and becoming "lifelong learners"
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Working successfully on a team
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Communicating effectively
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Thinking critically
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Managing and planning for short- and long-term goals
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Presenting and defending what they have produced
Tech Valley High School's partnerships with leaders from area businesses, technology companies, higher education and organized labor and government helps foster these skills. The partners were involved in shaping the school and continue to be participants and collaborators in the educational program and are helping develop the project-based learning experiences, in cooperation with educators.
Below is an example of how grades are developed taking into account 21st century skills:
| Learning Outcome | % of grade | Short Description |
| Content | 30-60% | This grade reflects the student’s mastery of the core content at the commencement level as required by the State of New York. |
| Collaboration | 5-25% | This grade reflects a student's ability to work together with peers in project teams and with community partners in project implementation. |
| Communication | 5-25% | This grade reflects a student's ability to express ideas and views effectively, in written, visual, and verbal form, and to convey ideas with reason, confidence and purpose to a target audience. |
| Critical Thinking & Innovation | 5-25% | This grade reflects a student's
ability to use analytical and systems thinking to solve
problems and generate new ideas in the process of addressing
problems. |
| Information Literacy | 5-25% | This grade reflects a student's
ability to locate, gather, and evaluate information from
diverse sources as well as differentiate between reliable
and misleading data sources. |
| Self Direction | 5-25% | This grade represents a student's
ability to set goals, plan, and make appropriate choices. |
| Technological Literacy | 5-25% | This grade reflects a student's
ability to design, construct, use, and evaluate appropriate
technology. |
| Citizenship | 5-25% | This grade reflects a
student’s ability to demonstrate an understanding of the
interdependent global community. |
