Assessing Students’ and Teachers’ Technology Skills: NETS-S as Benchmarks — 10:00 AM (Doug)

Executive Summary
A nice overview of free and (relatively) low-cost student technology assessment tools. This session was light on the standards themselves and heavier on assessment platforms.

Details

Current Assessments

• PBS TeacherLine — Tim Lum




• 130 courses in math, language arts, science, instructional technology, and instructional strategies


• Funded through grant from US DoE


• Research-based on PD practices that lead to “highly qualified” instructors


• Aligned to NCLB, state, local, and professional standards


• Capstone Program




• Three courses that lead to an ISTE NET-S Certificate of Proficiency as well as a portfolio of work that teachers can use in the classroom


• Geared toward teachers with several years of experience in integrating technology in the classroom


• Multimedia-rich with samples and library of resources


• Facilitators with at least a master’s degree provide support and feedback to participants




• In the state of Virginia, a mandate exists to require at least one technology coordinator for each 1,000 students




• State Education Technology Directors’ Association — Mary Wolf




• Federal 8th-grade proficiency requirement does not mandate the collection of data from students; however, DoE is now requesting that states provide data on how many students were assessed and how many passed




• Learning.com — Alia Jackson




• Technology literacy curriculum


• Elementary (grades 3 – 5) and middle school (6 – 8) versions, grade-3 and grade-6 reading levels, respectively


• Multiple-choice as well fully interactive questions (hands-on demonstrations of student proficiency in solving problems with software)


• Standards based on Angoff standard-setting method


• Statistical computation of ratings to compute cut scores


• Enables teachers to assess and respond to technology strand needs




• Certiport — Anita Brooks




• Based on IC3 standard


• Assessment mode provides feedback on proficiency and feeds into Mentor mode


• Mentor mode provides a year-long subscription to materials to support technology proficiency

New Assessments

ATTAIN

• Achievement Through Technology and Innovation (ATTAIN) Act
• Introduced in House, soon to be introduced in Senate; stronger wording over EETT standards ("must" versus "should")
• Aims to make significant improvements to the federal Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) block-grant program
• Read the U.S. House bill
• Read CoSN (key supporter) news release