“Sure, everything is better when it’s evidence-based!” I agreed.
“Yep, we’re flipping that old anti-evidence paradigm,” he said. “Too many people in schooling have an anti-data mindset. You know how we all used to have those signs that said, ‘In this house we believe in science’? Well, turns out that some people didn’t have those signs! Now, it’s time for everyone to be pro-science and on Team Data—not Team Anti-Data.”
I nodded.
He continued, “It’s time to merge 22nd-Century Skills with lots of evaluations, metrics, and PowerPoints. This is about using 21st-Century data to show how 22nd-Century Skills can work for 23rd-Century citizens.”
“Whoa!” I said. “I assume the research types like this?”
“Well, at first, some who aren’t part of the 22nd-Century Skills community yammered about research designs and validity and other jibber-jabber,” he allowed. “But I reminded them we had kids to save and money to spend and that they could get with the program or get a ride to the airport.”
“I love how you mesh evidence and urgency,” I said.
“Some researchers knew what we were looking for from the get-go,” he said. “The good folks at Data4Justice, for instance, totally get 22nd-Century Skills. They draw on several of them, such as leveraging a mastery of “street data” to sketch a vision of next-generation, equitable, decolonized, transformational data collection. We committed $3 million on the spot. Those are my kind of researchers!”
“Sounds like things are cooking,” I said.
“Hey, this kind of quality research is a win-win,” he explained. “Remember that great study showing that every dollar spent on 22nd-Century Skills saves ten dollars later? Talk about ROI! One Wall Street guy read about that last year, rang me out of the blue, and gave $11 million—he said he loved the idea that he was buying $100 million in free impact.”
“That’s some good math!” I enthused.
“What can I say?” he said. “We believe in evidence, and evidence believes in us,” he reminded me, flashing his trademark confidence. “After all, we’re Team Data!”
“Can you offer an example of how your data collection will work?” I asked.
