A case study of two 21st century schools: Are we preparing students for the global world?

There is no question that we live in a global society. The ability to compete successfully in the global marketplace is a fact facing our world today as it never has before. American education must prepare students for a world where the opportunities for success require the ability to compete and cooperate on a global scale. The purpose of this intrinsic multiple case study was to describe how two schools are providing the 21st century skills needed in order to produce students who are prepared for the global world we now live. The goal of this research was to be able to apply these outcomes to other schools in order to create globally competitive 21st century learners across our nation.;Case studies of two elementary schools located in a Midwest suburban school district were utilized to investigate the research questions. The two central questions for this study were: (1) What knowledge and skills do teachers need for teaching global competencies and (2) How is the school providing the 21st century skills needed in order to produce students who are prepared for the global world in which we now live?;Data were collected through teacher surveys, document analysis, and interviews with teachers and school leadership. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze surveys and an open-coding process was utilized to analyze documents and in-depth interviews. The results were illustrated using the frequencies of thematic content. The results exposed four dominant themes that ran through all data sets: attitudes, environment, curriculum, and support. This research narrowed the wide range of opinions on what skills are the most important for students to possess in order to be globally competitive graduates, as well as the knowledge and skills teachers need to teach them.