21st Century Skills

FACT: The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) mandated that all students be technologically literate by the eighth grade. However, digital literacy is not factored into the law's accountability provisions, and most states do not administer tech literacy tests. A 2006 survey of 400 of the top Fortune 500 companies conducted by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills found that even the best-educated university graduates were deficient in the skills necessary for the workplace.

QUESTION: How would you improve digital literacy and 21st Century skills of K-12 students?

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FACT: The federal E-Rate program, one of the nation's universal service programs, has made it possible for schools and libraries in America to get and stay connected to the Internet. Today, more than 95% of schools and public libraries are connected to the Internet compared with 14% in 1996.

QUESTION: What would you do to ensure that schools have continued access to a vital and relevant E-rate program?

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FACT: The United States, which invented the Internet and was once the leader in broadband communications, continues to fall behind other nations in broadband subscription. And in other countries, such as Japan, South Korea and Iceland, consumers get much faster Internet service for the price Americans pay. Millions of families in American live in homes without broadband; many have only one provider or none at all, and pay more for their service than families in other parts of the world do.

QUESTION: What would you do to stimulate broadband deployment and ensure that it is equitably available to children in the United States?

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The Children's Partnership is a nonpartisan organization that neither supports nor opposes any political party or candidate for election.