Think about the skills students must have to succeed in postsecondary education or to earn a decent living. They should be good problem solvers, be able to share their knowledge with others and listen to others’ ideas, and be able to take a problem assigned by a professor or work supervisor, analyze it, and develop a solution or propose a range of options for solving the problem. Without question, those are the skills we want to see in our workforce and in our higher education institutions. In March 2012, The Council of State Governments appointed a Deeper Learning Focus Group comprised of state legislators, leaders of state boards and departments of education, educators and other experts in the field of education policy. Their charge was simple: Advise which policies and practices need to be in place to support the kind of deeper learning outcomes just described. During multiple meetings, the members provided a policy and practice framework that provides legislators and other state policymakers a menu of options to create schools where deeper learning takes place. The attached framework is the product of their work.
