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8th-graders participate in technology assessments
By VALERIE JONES
Recently, the Texas Education Agency has been required to report on the progress of districts receiving funds from No Child Left Behind, Title II, Part D to the federal government. This section of NCLB addresses enhancing education through technology. The hope is that all students be technologically proficient by the eighth grade.
The TEA asked school districts to turn in reports on the technology proficiencies of all eighth grade students.
A school district may choose their methodology to assess students as long as it complies with requirements laid out by the state.
At a Klein ISD Board of Trustee meeting, Sept. 9, Ann McMullan, the district’s executive director of educational technology, presented results to the Board.
McMullan said the district had already been assessing students’ technological literacy for three years as a means to help educators better teach students.
“We implemented technology assessment because we wanted to measure our own curriculum and progress over time,” McMullan said. “This is the third year for Klein ISD to assess.”
The district used Technology Literacy Assessment (TLA) which is produced by Learning.com to gauge students’ abilities.
McMullan presented a bar graph that showed the average assessment of all KISD eighth-graders (07-08) in all subjects was higher than the national average. Comparisons showed that the district’s averages in May 2008 were higher than those in May 2007, meaning that the district improved from last year.
McMullan explained to the Board that the assessment is not application-sensitive, but conceptual and they measure learning by looking at data and research.
The only subject that didn’t show an increase and was equal to last year’s average was database. McMullan said the district is evaluating the areas that are not clear to students and working to teach it in a way where students can better comprehend it.
“We tweaked the curriculum a little,” she said. “We still need to conceptually work on the idea of database some more.”
Overall, it appeared that Klein ISD eighth-graders were in a good position regarding technological proficiency, being comparably higher than the national average.
The district needs to report to the TEA on the status of 2007-2008 eighth-graders by Nov. 30.
The TEA asked school districts to turn in reports on the technology proficiencies of all eighth grade students.
A school district may choose their methodology to assess students as long as it complies with requirements laid out by the state.
At a Klein ISD Board of Trustee meeting, Sept. 9, Ann McMullan, the district’s executive director of educational technology, presented results to the Board.
McMullan said the district had already been assessing students’ technological literacy for three years as a means to help educators better teach students.
“We implemented technology assessment because we wanted to measure our own curriculum and progress over time,” McMullan said. “This is the third year for Klein ISD to assess.”
The district used Technology Literacy Assessment (TLA) which is produced by Learning.com to gauge students’ abilities.
McMullan presented a bar graph that showed the average assessment of all KISD eighth-graders (07-08) in all subjects was higher than the national average. Comparisons showed that the district’s averages in May 2008 were higher than those in May 2007, meaning that the district improved from last year.
McMullan explained to the Board that the assessment is not application-sensitive, but conceptual and they measure learning by looking at data and research.
The only subject that didn’t show an increase and was equal to last year’s average was database. McMullan said the district is evaluating the areas that are not clear to students and working to teach it in a way where students can better comprehend it.
“We tweaked the curriculum a little,” she said. “We still need to conceptually work on the idea of database some more.”
Overall, it appeared that Klein ISD eighth-graders were in a good position regarding technological proficiency, being comparably higher than the national average.
The district needs to report to the TEA on the status of 2007-2008 eighth-graders by Nov. 30.
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