Every district will be required to show evidence that "all" 8th graders are technologically literate by the fall of 2006. I have been serving on a state committee that is working on defining what "technology literacy" means and how that can be measured. Several of the team members are from large urban districts and it is clearly a concern to them that we have to assess "all" 8th graders- so consequently, the documents that we have developed so far use the ISTE Tech Standards (NETS) and a checklist of sorts that suggests that if a kid can do one thing within each standard, they are considered tech literate.
Here is the dilemma- do we make the tech literacy assessment easy enough so that all students have a change at being proficient, or do we make it rigorous enough so that it truly indicates competence in tech literacy? On the one hand, we don't want to be out of compliance because of tech literacy, but on the other hand, we would like enough "teeth" in the assessment to make sure kids are getting the training they need in technology. It is the feeling of many of the members of the state committee that we go with the assessment that let's all kids succeed. I have mixed feelings because I think that if we leave it too easy to be proficient, we are doing a disservice to our kids. - I would be interested in your comments.
Anyway, these documents will be shared with the districts within the year -or districts can create and use their own. You will want to work with your school improvement team to make them aware of this requirement.
Call if you have questions, Nancy
----- Nancy Movall School Improvement & Instructional Technology Consultant Prairie Lakes AEA 8 Storm Lake Regional Office 824 Flindt Drive, Suite 105 Storm Lake, IA 50588 866-503-4636 (IA) 712-732-2257 x52
Van: Bldg#117, Rt. 4
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