Embracing globalization and 21st century skills in a dual language immersion school

The United States stands unfavorably to other nations on the educational level, as many schools in the U.S. do not acknowledge the skills and knowledge that students need to succeed as global citizens with the increasing global and economic changes. Though some schools in the U.S. have already sounded the alarm and implemented changes to integrate 21st century skills into their existing curriculum, it is unclear how they are integrating these global skills and how effectively the programs are responding to the dynamic changing world. The purpose of this study was to identify the programs and practices that promote the acquisition of 21st century skills at a K-12 school. A qualitative, descriptive single case study was used as the primary research method for this study. Three themes stood out during data analysis: (1) Global Consciousness, (2) Embrace Chinese and (3) Responsibility and Adaptiveness. Leadership style and organizational culture were also observed and discussed through Bolman and Deal's (2003) four frames, which emphasize the importance of collaborative teamwork, competent leadership, strategic planning and biliterate charisma. This study is part of a thematic group research project on the same topic. By combining and synthesizing the common themes that emerged through data analysis in each of the nine individual school case studies, this project will shed some light on how schools can better prepare students for 21st century.