Technology Assessments for all.

     Education is evolving at a rapid pace.  Teaching practices that worked 5 years ago are “old school” today.  The cost of technology has come down, availability has gone up and students are born into it. Teachers must stay abreast of these changes in order to effectively guide students into an education.  Accessing the educators’ technology skill levels gives the campus leadership the opportunity to develop appropriate professional development and training opportunities. 

    No Child Left Behind legislation requires that all students be technology literate by the time they leave 8^th grade.  If our educators are not technology literate, they will not be equipped to provide integration of technology into the learning environment?  Technology can be taught in a specialized class, but the skills should be incorporated into every classroom.

     In my district, 8^th grade students are given a Technology Skill assessment in the spring. The resulting data is not used for high school course selection.   The passing rate, at some middle schools,  for the Technology Skills test is below 50%.  That does not meet the requirement, yet those students move on the high school technology illiterate.  The “next step” is missing.  It has been my recommendation that the test be given in the 7^th grade and the data used to place students in a course that will give them the skills they need.  An alternative would be to utilize 5^th grade test data by a campus to enroll students in a technology classes during the middle school years.