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# Students of the future in for big changes
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/students-of-the-future-in-for-big-changes/
- Published: 2007-03-06T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:11:56.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Education, Downtown, #archive-import

*District prepares for future students*

SMMUSD HDQTRS In 2025, boats could be docking at the pier, a rail line might connect Santa Monica with downtown LA, and George W. Bush will be blowing out 79 birthday candles.

The year 2025 will also be the year that today’s pre-kindergarten students enter the workforce.

Understanding the role that technology will play in the future of the district’s students and the need to honor the 2002 Strategic Plan and close the achievement gap, the Board of Education took a look at how the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District could prepare the students who will begin their careers in 18 years. “2025 is not a program,” said Superintendent Dianne Talarico during a presentation at the school board meeting last Thursday. “It’s a vision, a direction.”

The goal of the presentation was to begin laying the framework for the “21st century learner,” according to Talarico. The future of the district sees elements of the Strategic Education Plan — which identifies educational initiatives to improve the district — implemented in full force.

The 54-slide presentation looked at the college graduating class of 2025 and how technology will be the backbone of classroom instruction and interaction between the student and teacher. The presentation also addressed how the district will need to focus its efforts on science, reading, math and problem-solving in order to make tomorrow’s students competitive in the global market.

> “The Internet has allowed students to become increasingly engaged,” — Talarico said

American students ranked 18th overall among students in other countries in the area of science in 2003, according to Cisco Systems. Students in the United States also ranked 15th in reading, 24th in math and 24th in problem-solving in 2003\. “The product of education in 2025 must be a critical thinker with skills set to compete in the global perspective and grasp what it means to be a good citizen, and is environmentally aware and active in the community,” Talarico said.

The superintendent took the school board through a tour of the future, asking members to imagine a world where the students are engaged in the learning process through technology; a world where the students spend a significant amount of time in the classroom trying to solve environmental and social problems; a world where students transitioning through different schools — like middle school to high school — are required to prepare a digital portfolio as a graduation requirement.

The Internet has changed how students learn in the classroom, with students being able to access course information on class Web pages and interact with their teachers outside of class via E-mail. The future of the district sees teachers using podcasting as an educational tool, and also sees students debating current issues with students internationally through live video streaming over the Internet, Talarico said.

In order to keep up with technology, staff development will be necessary to keep teachers abreast of technological changes. The district cannot expect teachers to keep up with technology just through interaction with the students, she said.

Students should also be prepared for a multilingual workforce. The district should consider adopting Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, French, Arabic, Italian and Portuguese into their curriculum.

School Board member Kelly Pye suggested the district poll all teachers to get an idea of what they feel would be necessary to enhance classroom instruction and what tools will make it easier for them to teach.

“It would be an initial statement about where we go from here,” Pye said.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 6, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/030607.pdf?ref=smdp.com)