Searching for Global Literacy: Oregon's Essential Skills Movement and the Challenges of Transformation

Abstract

In January 2007, the Oregon State Board of Education mandated a new Oregon diploma that strengthened high school graduation requirements with the aim of improving student readiness for college and career. Among the major changes was a requirement that students demonstrate proficiency in nine “essential skills” that included the expectation that students must “demonstrate global literacy.” This article examines the process through which Oregon developed and plans to implement the essential skills and compares its conceptualization of global literacy with alternate models of global education in other states and nations. The authors identify political and institutional factors influencing the shape and direction of those efforts and offer recommendations regarding a potential framework for defining, implementing, and assessing global literacy in Oregon high schools.