“Ohio's designation as a Leadership State, coupled with our state’s new education plan, will ensure that 21st century learning is infused into our classrooms and curricula,” said Strickland. “Ohio is committed to providing every student with the skills and knowledge that will helpthem succeed after graduation in a fast-moving world where jobs areconstantly advancing.” — Governor Ted Strickland, announcing Ohio as the 14th 21st Century Leadership State

"Together we’ll make Ohio among the first states to place 21st century skills like creativity, problem solving, communication and leadership at the center of its curriculum." — Governor Ted Strickland, 2009 State of the State Address

While the Governor's Education Plan and the actions of the state legislature gave an enormous and necessary boost to the incorporation of 21st century skills into the state's curricula, the Ohio Department of Education, the Ohio Board of Regents, and the Ohio Resource Center (ORC) have combined efforts over the years to emphasize those skills that students will need for success in the 21st century. In one project which emphasizes inquiry-based instruction, educators are exposed to lesson template, teaching tips, and guidance for formulating and practicing problem-based/project-based instruction. Students come to understand that skills such as teamwork, critical and creative thinking, communication, and other processes are a means to engaging the content standards, themselves.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, a national organization that focuses on promoting skills for our time and beyond, recognizes that the shift to 21st century skills will not happen overnight, nor as the result of a mandate or law. Each state community must bring its various elements together to focus its educational system on those skills that will be important to success. To that end, the Partnership has produced the "2009 MILE Guide: Milestones for Improving Learning & Education," which is available on its website.

Whether Ohio begins with its own revision of the Academic Content Standards, as it will in social studies and science, or whether it begins with the Common Core of State Standards Initiative, as it will in mathematics and English language arts, educators will find that 21st century skills will be at the center and should begin to familiarize themselves with them.