Technology Assessments

Technology Savvy Teachers VS Students – Closing the Gap

Assessing students’ needs is the motto of modern school systems. Assessments, either formal or informal, are the core of the education systems of today. Standardized assessments constitute the most important element in assessing student knowledge by the system, if not by the teachers. Students are tested in all content areas, but seldom in their technology skills. We know their skill level mostly because they are able to teach us in the matters of the digital world.

Even though teachers are also being held increasingly more accountable than in previous decades; we are still far from knowing what their needs are regarding technology. Due in part to the fact that more than half the teaching population of the state does not know their own skill level and even refuse to improve their knowledge, refuting arguments with phrases such as: “In my days we did not have a computer, we wrote it all by hand…”

There is an embedded value in having access to the knowledge and skills of both teachers and students. Both for the individual and for the organization, this value increases exponentially with the accuracy of assessment results. When and if, assessment provides reliable results, we can easily determine the real needs of students and teachers, as well as target those needs and improve upon the base results. Accessing the technology knowledge and skills of teachers and students alike is somewhat of a blessing and a way to jumpstart our engines to the journey into the digital future. Education systems should be able to know where to start, but is the information we are obtaining from these assessments reliable?

Technology Assessment, as it is used in the State of Texas, could be improved for accuracy. The STaR Chart is a source for reliable data provided every teacher that submitted the chart understood and objectively answered the survey. As I recall answering it every year, there is always a co-worker asking for clarification on a term or a question. Do we really know what we are being asked? Are we capable of total objectivity when submitting our responses? 

I believe online-based self-assessments should be preceded by a short overview and discussion of the questions at hand. Every school should hold a small group session where every teacher can reflect on the questions before answering them to avoid confusion and the misuse of terminology. 

We cannot reach a middle ground between what teachers and students’ needs are without accurate assessment results. To close the gap between the knowledge and skills of a teacher and those of her students, we need to be able to compare and contrast accurate data. We, as teachers, can administer formal and informal assessments of our students, but we surely don’t ask them to self-assess their own knowledge. Who is watching us; Administrators? In few instances they are themselves technology savvy. 

It is easy for administrators and school officials to provide the infrastructure necessary for technological advancement, but can they provide and monitor the knowledge required by teachers to implement technology? I believe we need better methods of measuring knowledge and skills of technology among teachers. We have a good first step, but it can surely be improved.