My school district is currently looking at adopting a baseline of technology skills that all teachers must have. At this point, we are brainstorming ideas and eventually will have a document/checklist in place that will help drive our technology staff development time. My question is: Are there school districts out there that already have such a checklist? If anyone would be willing to share, that would be great. Most searches I have done reveal only state or national standards which tend to be fairly general. We are looking for specific computer/technology skills that teachers need to have to function in today's classrooms.

Tags: standards, teachers, technology

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You might check with a variety of colleges and universities. Districts run the whole gambit of technological assets from not having much, to today's state of the art capabilities. But higher education institutions attempt to keep track of the technology of today and what demands are out there, so that they can incorporate it into their teaching programs. They might be able to provide a better list of what needs there are. This information could be a resource to your own expectations.

John Hoffman
Thanks John! I'll give that a try.

Brad
We have a rubric that teachers revisit each September as they look at their goals for the year. I will attach it here.
All teachers and students have laptops (grade 6 up have their own laptop; students in grades 1 -5 have one laptop per two students) so included in the rubric are basic skills we need to teach to students.
Attachments:
Thanks Pat! Your rubric was exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. I like the idea of linking the rubric to teacher goal setting in the fall.

Brad
That was great! Thanks for sharing!
Why don't you just use the NETS standards for teachers. They may be too lofty or too wordy, but they are good goals. You could modify them for your teachers. I wish I could say the days of 'checking off' basic skill use is a given, but maybe not.

You may also take a look at 21st Century Skills, and rewrite them for teachers. It's much easier to start with a framework than starting from scratch.
Nancy,

Thanks for the link to 21st Century Skills. I haven't visited that one. Our group has looked at the NETS standards, which is a good place to start. We're now working on a more specific, tangible list of items that teachers can use to improve technology skills that they need to function in their jobs.

Brad
Use the same standards as you do for your students. Personally, I believe that teachers should be required to know at least what the students are expected to know (at least 8th grade standards). I also think that the district should be providing the training to get them to these levels, as it is never going to happen otherwise! I also think that something more than a self evaluation should be used. Giving someone a self evaluation form is not going to ensure that they know or possess the skills required. If it does, then why don't we give the forms to the students and save a lot of time and expense! I think some kind of formal assessment is needed, to ensure all staff meet the expected level of expertise.
Good point, Paul! We just spent some time updating student standards. Why not use the same for teachers?
I used to think our teachers had to know how to operate a light switch but we've since made those automatic.

I'd love to work in a district that cared enough to require their teachers to know things. =/
I think the biggest problem with this, is the failure of the administrators to provide proper education (staff development) of staff. It always strikes me as being funny, that an institution that is dedicated to teaching and learning, does not follow up on teaching the staff. What if we applied the same philosophy with students, that administrators do with teachers and staff? "Just tell them it is required, and they need to learn it" Yea, that would work! *LOL*
I've had afterschool programs to teach a technology tool with little participation. (And this was something like showing tips and tricks with Word, or using our STI Gradebook--not anything as "techie" as Audacity or Wikis.) I would only keep them an hour. A lot of teachers just don't WANT to learn. It's a shame.

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