"There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny."
Historian, economist, demographer, and author Neil Howe uses that 1936 quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt to sum up the expectations and potential of the kids who currently populate our classrooms. His ASCD Annual Conference General Session presentation offered perspectives on the educational implications of teaching a generation of students he calls “the Millennials.”
The first Millennials were born in 1982, he said, and graduated high school with the Class of 2000. “Remember “Baby On Board” stickers on minivans?” Howe asked. These are those babies, growing up now in a high-pressure world and thriving in ways that seem alien to their Baby Boomer and Generation X parents—and teachers.
“They don’t mind the pressure,” Howe said, “as long as they feel like they’re getting somewhere.” Educators can help Millennials by recognizing that these boys and girls have unique characteristics. Know them and you’ll know Millennials.
“Seven core traits mark this generation as different from Boomers and X-ers,” Howe said. “This generation is special, sheltered, confident, team oriented, conventional, pressured, and achieving. All of this has implications for school reform and school curriculum.”
Because Millennials consider themselves special, educators should:
- Encourage parental involvement. “Get the helicopter moms on your side,” Howe joked.
- Ask the public and media to support efforts to improve education. They want to.
Millennials are sheltered – they are used to being watched over, and expect it. That means educators should:
- Emphasize school safety and accountability.
- Take a fresh look at class and school sizes. Smaller will be perceived as better at providing “structured communities that let no one fall through the cracks,” Howe said.
Since Millennials are confident, they are “collectively optimistic about their economic prospects. The new idea is that every child is college ready, not just job-ready,” he noted. Educators should:
- Stress positive outcomes for everyone.
- Use contextual and project-based environments.
- Craft personal progress plans to guide students’ learning and growth.
Millennials’ are team orientation may be their most notable quality. “They like groups, they like applying their energy to community projects,” Howe said. “They use technology to plug into the group, through instant messaging and user groups and e-mail.” To tap that collective goodwill:
- Teach team skills.
- Build community service into the curriculum.
- Provide opportunities for students to help other students.
Millennials have relatively conventional hopes and dreams. “They define their life goals in terms of career, work-life balance, citizenship,” Howe said. “They plan ahead. And they trust big institutions in ways that Boomers haven’t.” For educators, this characteristic invites a back-to-basics approach:
- Create core curricula that every student is expected to master. “Make sure that every task is achievable with directed effort,” he said.
- Celebrate progress.
- Continuously monitor, assess, and redirect learning. “The best schools for Millennials instantly detect—day to day—the progress of every student,” Howe said.
Millennials are pressured. Structured activities fill most hours in their days, but they generally respond well to pressure. To take advantage of that skill while minimizing burn-out, educators can:
- “Stress long-term life planning and guarantees over short-term opportunities and risks,” Howe advised. Forget learning from mistakes; “Millennials don’t want to make any mistakes,” he said.
- Structure learning around goal mastery.
- Reverse engineer curricula, starting with where you want students to be at the end of the year. “A sense of destination is what Millennials want in their curriculum,” Howe said.
Millennials are achieving; they embrace educational challenge and want higher standards. Three-quarters say they want to attend four-year colleges. Acknowledging that penchant for high achievement, educators should:
- Build challenging curricula.
- Emphasize achievement over aptitude and effort.
- Incorporate cutting-edge computer technology into the curriculum.
- “Finally, encourage teachers to set an example themselves of professional achievement and lifelong learning,” Howe said.
“This generation is going to define the 21st Century much like the G.I. Generation defined the 20th Century,” Howe said, recalling the cohort that weathered the Great Depression and won World War II. “They are going to face many burdens as they grow older: geopolitical, environmental, fiscal, economic. When you look at this generation—protected, team-playing, confident, collectively optimistic—you see some of the traits that we saw in their grandparents.”
ASCD has announced the public release of the report, 
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