Assessment Reflections

After completing the two assessments it became obvious to me that both the staff at my school, and I, have a command of the basics of technology usage. However, our school lags behind when using technology to build student skills on proficiency in reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies. For example, the technology application inventory indicates strength in both the communications and foundations domains but a lesser grasp of the solving problems and information acquisition, skills most likely to be utilized by students in the classroom.
The State Educational Technology Directors Association assessment survey reveals a deficiency regarding campus/district monitoring of effectiveness and the impact of technology on student achievement. While there is abundant technology available to staff and students at my school, there is essentially no data collected (outside of the Star Chart for teachers) to indicate whether technology is positively affecting student’s 21st Century skill development. The district encourages technology literacy, requiring six hours technology update each year, which involves staff development on topics such as imbedding video, web research lessons, and the use of data projectors in each room. Each teacher is afforded the use of a personal computer. and lesson plans and grading are done electronically.
When it comes to student technology literacy the school falls short. Only one technology credit is required for graduation. There is no system in place to evaluate the effectiveness of what little technology is being used by staff with the students. Although my staff and I are proficient in the use of technology as indicated by the two assessments, the Knowledge and Skills outlined by state curriculum guides is vague and somewhat limited pretty much to understanding how technology has impacted society. Furthermore, innovative uses of technology are not widely shared by staff. To improve the utilization of technology on my campus, staff development that focuses on practical classroom uses and a clear instrument for analyzing its effectiveness must be developed. Additional technology must also be acquired for teachers to have access for their classes.