Dennis Wright, Professional Technology Education Instructional Specialist Certifications Offered IC³ Certification   Certiport Center South Kitsap High School Location Port Orchard, Washington

In his own words: "From what I see, IC³ is a prerequisite to technical and desktop certifications."

Save Yourself Time, Money, and Tears

BACKGROUND
Before IC³ certification became available, South Kitsap High School was offering certifications in desktop applications. However, many South Kitsap High students and teachers—particularly those not involved in the Professional Technology Education (PTE) program—did not have fundamental computing skills. When Dennis Wright, PTE Instructional Specialist, attended an IC³ demo by Certiport, Inc. at a conference, he was thrilled. He immediately recognized IC³ as the key to equipping teachers and students with fundamental technology skills and an internationally recognized certification to prove it.

PROCESS
To establish a pool of trained, certified teachers and build demand for certification as the norm, Dale Green, Director of PTE for South Kitsap School District, and a team of teachers applied for Carl Perkins Federal grant money for the PTE program. Rather than asking for funds to update equipment, Green asked for funds to train and certify teachers in IC³ competencies by offering release-time training.

"When you understand technology and can use the tools, you save yourself time, money, and tears," says Green. “Gaining fundamental computing skills in high school is essential to success—whether in the workforce or in post-secondary education—and teachers are an essential part of the equation."

CERTIFICATION SOLUTION
Dennis Wright cites two reasons for choosing IC³: “First, we were looking for national standards on which to base coursework, and IC³ is endorsed by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), the worldwide leader in vendor-neutral computer certifications. And second, we wanted a certification partner like Certiport with a proven track record."

Wright says people need IC³ as their introduction to technology from a ‘How-do-I-use-it?' point of view, so he realigned part of the PTE curriculum to match IC³ standards. “From what I see, IC³ is a prerequisite to technical and desktop certifications," he says. PTE offers “a channel through which technology students get a head start with the fundamentals of IC³ and move on to gain additional computing skills and certifications, but students who are not in the PTE program also need the fundamental computing skills." Wright's goal is to equip all students with IC³ “to prepare them to compete in the workforce and college environments."

RESULT
Wright recognizes multiple benefits of certification. For starters, teachers have embraced the program. In fact, Wright reports that 100 percent of teachers at South Kitsap who have taken the certification exam have passed. “Teachers who become certified are more confident in the classroom," he says. “They use technology to enhance their teaching and help students use it to enhance their learning. Students can see the steps along the path, and they want to follow the program, knowing where it will lead."

He adds, “Even if a teacher does not pass the exam, the experience of taking it is valuable because teachers see the ‘endpoints' of what we're offering to students and can advocate the certification program to them. Each teacher who has taken the exams has said it's worthwhile and that ‘now I know what to teach.'"

Students who take the exam may also save money because the American Council on Education (ACE) has recommended IC³ for one unit of college credit in general education and computer literacy. Dale Green adds, “IC³ fulfills our need for a standard that not only measures basic computing skills but also provides students with a résumé-building credential recognized worldwide."

South Kitsap High School is a pilot site in the national Career Cluster Initiative, in conjunction with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) in Washington State, to establish technology-education program standards based on industry certification. (For information about this initiative, click http://www.k12.wa.us/CareerTechEd and then click Pathways.)

After launching the program at South Kitsap High, Wright presented the teacher-training-and-certification model at a conference in Spokane, Washington and will present it to 40-50 school districts in Washington, encouraging them to raise their technological proficiency and requirements.

And South Kitsap High practices its own message by planning to require that teachers become certified in a topic before or during the first class that they teach in it, before their students take the certification exam. Wright expects to administer certification exams to 50-60 students every trimester (60 days).

Wright concludes that South Kitsap High School could have let another school adopt IC³ first, but “we decided not to wait. We decided to do something for ourselves. A lot of schools are hesitant to do something that isn't tried and true." With the CompTIA endorsement of Certiport, however, he felt confident in proceeding and says to other districts, “Just jump on it; make it happen!"