8th Grade Technology Literacy Assessment

So May is ushering in our next go-round with the 8th Grade Technology Literacy Assessment. We’ve got to test our 8th graders to make sure that they are where they need to be with the skills and applications outlined in the Tech App TEKS.

I completely agree that we need to be sure that our kids are technologically literate, but I am concerned about the addition of one more test to the educational pantheon of ridiculous examinations that are the complete antithesis of what we say assessment should be. We all blog on and on about differentiated instruction, inquiry-based learning, and student created media…and then we give them a really long, boring multiple choice test that has nothing to do with what we claim are best practices. (Hello TAKS). And now…we need to prove technology literacy….so we’ve got another test.

Granted, the sample tests I’ve seen and the one we use is application. But it’s still a test. And the kids didn’t take it seriously the first time. The average completion time was something like 26 minutes. Uh, yeah – the scores reflected that too.

So then we looked at included a technology product combined with the assessment to get a total score for the kids. But then you’ve got to decide what product and who’s going to assign it and grade it? We are trying to integrate one product into each of the four core classes. Note the word trying.

I guess my real beef with this is that the test is concerned with skills only. So are we going to start seeing districts teaching to this test. I can see lab pull outs before the test where kids are dragged into a lab and given an assignment with spreadsheets or databases or word processing applications to complete so we can make sure they have the skills. While that is not necessarily bad, I think it has the POTENTIAL to be incredibly detrimental to the efforts of Instructional Technologists everywhere who are trying to teach the use of technology WITHIN the curriculum. Pulling kids out to teach JUST technology sets a precedence for technology to be viewed as a separate entity from our curriculum. It implies that there has to be somebody on campus who can teach this – rather than teachers who just USE this. It implies that we can train kids to pass the test without TEACHING kids practical applications for these technologies and without modeling their uses every day in class.

Now…before you get your theoretical panties in a wad and start flaming me let me say that I don’t think all districts would do that. Nor do I believe that the assessment and real, relevant integration can’t exist in the same environment. I’m just worried that with one more test to report on, with the added stress of being held accountable for student performance on skills our own teachers can’t master…that some districts (a LOT of districts) will do what they have to do. But will that be what is best? I don’t know.

I think the only way to really ensure that our kids are able to master the 8th Grade Technology Literacy Assessment is to make technology use such an integral part of their daily classes and activities that they acquire the skills they need without realizing that they are learning technology. They’ll learn technology in the guise of science lab reporting, essay writing and revising, and math formula creation in spreadsheets. They’ll develop problem solving skills that help them decide whether to use a presentation, a podcast, a video, or an essay….and they’ll learn how to use those technologies in the classes that asked for those products.

I’m probably over-reacting to the negative comments of tired, over-worked teachers and administrators….but maybe I’m not.

Rant: Ended

Resolution: None