Three-Year Local School District/Charter School Technology Plan Template
(2010-2013)

HELP – Technologically Literate by the End of Eighth Grade

PROCESS:

Districts are asked to describe the PROCESS for preparing students to be technologically literate by the end of eighth grade.
The description of the PROCESS must include how the assessment is envisioned to occur and how the students will be tracked.  Also, indicate how the information will be aggregated by the district to be reported to the state (NJ School Technology Survey/Report Card).

CONSIDERATIONS:

The school district or Charter School is responsible for:
Assessing students for Technology Literacy
Tracking the students
Documenting efforts of those technologically literate
Reporting to the NJDOE

1. Districts should begin with understanding why the data is requested.

One of the NCLB, Title II-D goals is that every student will be technologically literate by the end of grade eight.  One of the essential reasons for this goal is the fact that students will undoubtedly live and work in an environment where technology permeates every aspect of their lives.

Just as important is the focus, nationally as well as locally, that educational technology should become a natural part of instruction and that it is available when students need it!

“Educational Technology” is the effective implementation of technology across all curriculum areas in a learner centered environment to support students and teachers in the learning process.  It enables students to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to be productive, informed citizens, and self-directed lifelong learners. It requires teachers to develop teaching strategies that lead to academic success for each student. It supports higher-order thinking skills such as information-gathering, information-organizing, evaluating, problem solving and decision making, and allows collaboration and the development of communication skills.

2. Districts should gather together the involved stakeholders in the development of a formal district-wide process to assess and report technological literacy.  Districts that are on the receiving end of a sending-receiving relationship with other districts should also be part of the collaborative effort to develop the formal district-wide process of their sending schools.
   
   
3. Districts should align the current lessons across all core curriculum areas to the NJCCCS 8.1 Educational Technology standard. Please see:
   
   
• Standards http://www.nj.gov/education/cccs/2009/final.htm
• Searchable website on standards (TBA)
  
  
4. Review the current status of educational technology usage within each classroom.  Once the alignment occurs, it will be easy to see how technological literacy is currently addressed in the classrooms, but not recorded.  How will this information be recorded?
   
   
5. Clearly explain any anomalies in the assessment process and the reported results for 8th grade literacy.

Assessment

The Latin root assidere means to sit beside. In an educational context, it is the process of observing learning; describing, collecting, recording, scoring, and interpreting information about a student's or one's own learning. At its most useful, assessment is an episode in the learning process; part of reflection and autobiographical understanding of progress. Traditionally, student assessments are used to determine achievement of learning objectives and grades.
 
Authentic Assessment

It is assessment strategies that require students to directly reveal their ability to think critically and to apply and synthesize their knowledge.

Evaluation

It includes both qualitative and quantitative descriptions of student behavior, plus value judgments concerning the desirability of that behavior.  It also requires using collected information (assessments) to make informed decisions about continued instruction, programs, and activities.

NOTE:  All above definitions are from:  serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/assessment/glossary.html

The district or school may choose any type of assessment measure such as:

• Knowledge Based Assessment  - already happening as part of classroom instruction
• Performance Based Assessment (PBA) - PBA does not occur as part of instruction, it is the assessment once the content has been taught
• Portfolio Based Assessment  - archived representative samplings of student work
• Project Based Assessment - course work to be done over time to learn the content
• Combination of the above

 Additional considerations: 

1. If developing rubrics for portfolio-based, project-based or performance-based assessments – first have a group of teachers review a sample of student work to develop the rubric(s) to ensure clarity, fairness and objectivity for the student.
   
   
2. Determine the population to be assessed as part of the plan to ensure all students will be technologically literate by the time they END eighth grade.  A student should not be expected to learn all of the skills in one grade, but should learn them over time from grade to grade.  Consider benchmarking students at a particular grade level, content area or across all grades.
   
   
3. Schools may use any one available tool or a combination of tools that meet their needs:
   
   
1. Commercial Products
2. Locally-developed
3. “Buddy up” with existing instruments developed by school districts
4. Free web-based instruments
5. Combination of the above
   
   
4. There are a number of resources and tools online that are free and some that are fee-based.  Below are only a few resources are helpful in developing a process to assess technological literacy.

• http://rtecexchange.edgateway.net/cs/rtecp/view/rtec_str/9
  Toolkit for developing a process
• http://www.cited.org/index.aspx?page_id=107
  How to assess student work?
• http://www.edutopia.org/assessment
• Edutopia information on assessment
• http://www.learndoearn.org/TechnologyChallenge/index.asp
  General tools

5. Remember to include how teachers are supported in the process.  Considerations may include:
   
   
1. Determination of the technological literacy of teachers
2. Professional development for integration of technology into classroom instruction
3. Administrators evaluation of the teachers’ EFFECTIVE use of technology in the classroom
4. Professional Development for the key assessors on how to assess technological proficiency.

Reporting

Schools with eight graders enrolled will report the following questions for only the eighth grade students on the School-based Educational Survey in the spring of every year.

1. Method of assessment used by the school district to determine proficiency
2. Number of students assessed
3. Number of students NOT assessed and why
4. Number of eighth grade students who are technologically literate

The schools without eight grade students enrolled will not submit any data in this area.  The fields must remain blank.

Track and Aggregate Data by school

This activity must be done on a school basis.  Assessment data must be tallied and evaluated to determine if the student is literate. The data may be tracked by student and then aggregated by grade for reporting by school. The expectation is that 100% of the eighth grade indicators have been met to achieve technological literacy.  The number of students that are technological literate is tallied and then reported.  The list of tools used to determine literacy is recorded for reporting purposes.  The number of students not assessed and, if needed, the reasons why 100% of eighth graders are not technologically literate are recorded for reporting purposes.