As the previous chapter indicates, there has been a significant shift in advanced economies from manufacturing to information and knowledge services. Knowledge itself is growing ever more specialized and expanding exponentially. Information and communication technology is transforming the nature of how work is conducted and the meaning of social relationships. Decentralized decision making, information sharing, teamwork, and innovation are key in today’s enterprises. No longer can students look forward to middle class success in the conduct of manual labor or use of routine skills – work that can be accomplished by machines. Rather, whether a technician or a professional person, success lies in being able to communicate, share, and use information to solve complex problems, in being able to adapt and innovate in response to new demands and changing circumstances, in being able to marshal and expand the power of technology to create new knowledge, and in expanding human capacity and productivity.
Research during the last decade has shown how new social practices evolve due to increased use of new digital technologies, especially among young people (Buckingham and Willett 2006 ) . Such practices create reconceptions of key competencies and skills, not defined from a systems level but from the everyday lives of people in our societies. One example is research done on computer games and online communities (Gee 2007 ) , where problem solving is defined as a key component of such practices. Such experiences of problem solving among young people need to inform us in the way we design assessment tasks and define key competencies. Hence, new standards for what students should be able to do must replace the basic skills and knowledge expectations of the past. To meet this challenge, schools must be transformed in ways that will enable students to acquire the sophisticated thinking, flexible problem solving, and collaboration and communication skills they will need to be successful in work and life. New conceptions of educational standards and assessment, the subject of this chapter, are a key strategy for accomplishing the necessary transformation. Such standards and assessment can both focus attention on necessary capacities and provide data to leverage and evaluate system change. Technology too serves as both a driver and lever for the transformation.