Oregon Elementary Schools Can Test Students' Digital Skills for Free
Next
year, every Oregon school district will be
able to evaluate the technology skills of their fifth-graders at no
cost to
themselves.
Through
a partnership between the Oregon Elementary School Principals Association (OESPA) and Learning.com, a
Portland-based
software developer that helps schools give their K-12 students the
digital
skills they need, districts will be able to use the latter's
TechLiteracy
Skills Inventory for free.
"While
today's students may know how to tap,
swipe and Google, it is also critical that they have the skills
necessary to
use technology for learning," said OESPA President Ericka Guynes, who
is also a
principal at Earl Boyles Elementary School. "I hope that all Oregon's
elementary
schools will consider taking advantage of this great opportunity."
The
assessment tool is designed to determine whether
students have the technology skills necessary to successfully complete
online
tests. The Web-based tools can determine, for instance, whether
students have
the ability to use spreadsheets, word processing, databases and the
Internet.
It can also deliver reports on the skills of specific students,
classes,
schools and districts so that administrators and teachers can adjust
their
teaching programs to help the students.
"It
is projected that by 2020 technology skills
will be needed in more than half of all jobs, so it is crucial that
students
begin to develop those skills as early as possible," said Learning.com
CEO
Keith Oelrich.
Oregon
teachers can go online until February 19 to
enroll their fifth-grade classes for the assessments that can be
administered
any time between January 4 and June 17. All Oregon administrators and
teachers
will be able to participate in a free training webinar that will
explain how to
deliver and interpret the skills inventory.
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.