Why should we assess? What's the big deal?

The world is always moving and changing. It doesn’t stop; it is a constant moving force, and educators must constantly move or be left behind.  Not only is the world continuously progressing, our technology is moving forward at an alarming rate. As educators, we must strive to keep afloat. Our students are capable of much more than we give them credit for. Is that because we are not keeping up with the times? The students’ knowledge of our world is sometimes more advanced than our own, but it doesn’t have to continue to be that way.

The state of Texas, as well as the United States, takes the time to assess school teacher’s technology leadership and skills every year.  This is an outstanding means of seeing if our state staff is up to date. Educators must maintain their state certification; would it really be a far stretch for our educators to also gage their skills in technology. We are no longer in an industrial age; we are now in the technological age.

According to Texas’ Long Range Plan for technology, all learners will master the technology TEKs by the eighth grade. This is a wonderful way to prepare our future generations for the workplace. Not only will the learners be capable of performing tasks with the most recent versions of applications, but they will continue to be challenged with high level thinking. The most important skill that any teacher can coach a child to have is problem solving.

Problem solving with get a person to where they want to be in life.  When it comes to researching, our students have many more options in where they can obtain information. Cybersmart.org (http://www.cybersmart.org/) even suggested that if we took a student from the seventies and placed them in today’s classroom, they would be astonished at the nearly infinite opportunities to find information.

The only drawback to the nearly limitless prospects is that the students must be taught strategies on what information is accurate and usable.  This is why we must assess and evaluate teachers and learners to see where their skill levels lie. If our teachers aren’t knowledgeable, our students won’t be given the chance to succeed. It is a never-ending circle where all involved are affected. Let’s leave a lasting, positive impact on our future generations.