Just wanted to echo/add to what Andy wrote earlier. Led by Common Core, nearly 30 leaders (including Checker) signed onto a statement today that strongly criticizes the program put forth to states by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, known as P21. P21 focuses on reshaping standards and assessments around skills like collaboration, creativity and problem-solving.
Here are a few bits of the statement: "Skills are important and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) has identified skills that all children need," it reads. "But P21's approach to teaching those skills marginalizes knowledge and therefore will deny students the liberal education they need."
Later in the statement, the leaders argue: "Attempts to teach skills apart from knowledge have failed repeatedly over the last century because they do not work. Unless it is fundamentally revised, the program put forth by P21 also will fail. In the meantime, it is undermining the quality of education in America."