The digital universe has grown by 1,000 percent over the past five years. By 2014, one in four of the world’s workers will be Indian. Many of the top jobs in 2012 didn’t exist in 2002 — social-media strategist, sustainability manager, elder-care coordinator — just as many jobs of the future don’t exist today.

A litany of such future-oriented fun facts kicked off an update on the new “21st-Century Learning” initiative at the Newberg School District Board Meeting last week. Superintendent Kym LeBlanc-Esparza will soon begin gathering input from staff, students, parents and community members on what skills students should be learning in this rapidly changing world.

Many people assume “21st-century learning” means “we’re going to teach kids how to use computers,” said LeBlanc-Esparza, while in fact, character traits such as creativity, innovation, cultural awareness, communication and other interpersonal skills will be at least as important.

With computers providing more information at higher speed, “we need to teach kids how to evaluate information,” LeBlanc-Esparza said. As one of the fun facts in the short opening video noted, “Google handles about 1 billion queries every single day (or about 115,740 in the time it took you to read this).”

Students will need to know whether the online answers to those requests are reliable.

A comprehensive schedule of meetings with staff and parents from all district schools, as well as with former students, higher-education institutions, community groups, senior citizens and business leaders will begin next week when LeBlanc-Esparza meets Oct. 8 with staff at Mountain View Middle School. The first parent meeting will be from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Oct. 11 at Newberg High School.

For more information, or a complete schedule of meetings, go to www.newberg.k12.or.us/district/join-conversations-21st-century-learning

Among other items last week, the school board:

• Appointed an Achievement Compact Committee that will monitor the district’s progress toward the targets it set for student achievement in 2012-13, and will recommend achievement goals for 2013-14.
• Adopted goals suggested by LeBlanc Esparza which will form the basis of her performance evaluation for the 2012-13 school year. The goals included building relationships with families and community members; increasing the graduation rate and improving student achievement; building a vision for 21st-century learning; ensuring high-quality instruction for all students every day; and managing resources effectively.
• At the beginning of the meeting, four students who traveled to Washington D.C. last June through the migrant program gave rave reviews of the experience. One said the Library of Congress was “the most amazing place I’ve ever been.” Another noted the difference between Oregon’s two U.S. senators — Ron Wyden sent them to talk with an assistant while Jeff Merkley met with them personally for a long time, even when an aide tried to pull him away. And Antonio Jose Saavedra passed around pictures of the trip, as well as some grass blades he’d picked from the White House lawn, encased in a clear plastic container. At least one of the students had never left Oregon, so was thrilled to fly across the country.