Karalyn Reidhead District Speech Therapist Certification Earned Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC³)   Certiport Center Holbrook Junior High School Location Holbrook, Arizona

In her own words: "I recommend IC³ to everyone I come in contact with."

IC³ Certification Boosts Potential and Opportunities for Students, Teachers, and Parents at Northern Arizona Junior High School

School establishes academic requirements and devises innovative ways to encourage students, teachers, and parents to earn valuable computer literacy credential

Last year, the Holbrook Unified District School Board instituted new computer literacy requirements for 8 th graders at Holbrook Junior High School. Students are now required to pass a basic computer literacy course and have consequences for not passing the Key Applications module of the Certiport Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC³®). Fortunately, enthusiastic computing teacher Joy Burroughs is available with tips, tools, and tricks to help them succeed. Students, school district teachers, and parents are now pursuing IC³ via Burroughs’ night course for adults and their children. The result of her efforts is motivating. Indeed, pride, self-worth, and future opportunities have increased significantly among the residents of a small city in northeastern Arizona.

BACKGROUND
With a population of 5,000 people, Holbrook, Arizona, is located along the Little Colorado River in the Painted Desert of northeast Arizona. At Holbrook Junior High School, 420 students attend 6 th, 7 th, and 8th grades. Of the 110 8 th graders in Joy Burroughs’ IC³ class, 65 percent are Native Americans from impoverished Navajo County. In total, 80 percent of the Native Americans in the area don’t have electricity or indoor plumbing in their homes; only 20 percent of Burroughs’ students have access to computers at home, and only 15 percent have Internet access.

Considering the very limited access to computers her students have, Burroughs wondered how she could expect them to learn about the machines. Then, last year at a conference she met Bruce Alper, who was serving as President of SkillsProUS, a Certiport approved vendor of IC³ courseware. As Alper explained the value of IC³, Burroughs grew excited. “I thought, ‘I have to have this,’” she recalled. “I always wanted something relevant to offer my students. IC³ may result in college credit or the opportunity to get a job. My students are always asking, ‘Why do I need to know this?’ This time I had a good answer: ‘Because it’s going to help you.’”

Burroughs presented the IC³ program to the principal of Holbrook Junior High School, who agreed it was a great solution to meet the needs of their students. The school board also agreed, dictating that all 7 th grade students are required to take a keyboarding class, which serves as a prerequisite to Burroughs’ IC³ course. The board stated that all 8 th grade students are required to take and pass Burroughs’ class. If students do not pass the Key Applications IC³ module, they are required to study Basic Computer Literacy again at Holbrook High School.

“We held an open house to explain the new IC³ course to parents,” Burroughs said. “They were excited for this great opportunity offered to their children.”

PROCESS
Burroughs’ students began the school year by taking a pre-assessment test to determine their current knowledge of computing. “I knew they wouldn’t know a lot,” Burroughs explained. “But I believe this assessment prepares them to learn. They gain a mindset as to where we’re going.” Burroughs said she pointed out vocabulary words in the pre-assessment like “ROM” and encouraged students to watch for them to reappear in their coursework throughout the school year.

Using Achieve IC³ courseware available from SkillsPro, along with vocabulary quizzes; flashcards; and creative games; Burroughs helped students work through IC³ exam objectives at their own pace. She created practice tests and organized a family JEOPARDY! night at the school, at which families played a modified JEOPARDY! game created by the students featuring computing answers and questions, enjoyed refreshments, and won prizes. At the game night, Burroughs took the opportunity to announce she would be holding study groups for students before school, after school, and on Saturdays. She also encouraged families with computers and the Internet at home to use online courseware to prepare for IC³ exams.

Burroughs began offering a free night class for parents to learn more about computing and earn IC³ certification as well. Soon other teachers in Holbrook Unified District asked to attend the night course to help meet professional development goals. “About seven adults attended. One woman brought her daughter, who was in my junior high class. I watched their interaction; the daughter was teaching the mother. It was great.” Burroughs soon began encouraging the other adults in the class to bring their children. “It was magical,” she said. “Students were teaching teachers—and parents—and it was all sticking in their heads. The chemistry in the class is so amazing!”

Before long, Burroughs’ junior high students asked to attend the night class. “They must have a chaperone or other adult come with them,” she said. “The junior high students are really an asset to my evening class.” Burroughs used the same lesson plan for both her junior high class and the night class. “When students attend, they are repeating what they did that week in class. It’s a great review.”

Karalyn Reidhead, a Holbrook Unified District Speech Therapist, enrolled in Burroughs’s night class with her nephew. “I work a lot with computers, and my nephew is in the IC³ class at Holbrook Junior High. I started taking the evening class with him to help him. It’s been the best class—much better than other computing classes I’ve taken. We work at our own pace and the tutorials are great. The biggest benefit for me has been learning the language of computers. I’ve found that figuring out the vocabulary of computers helps me at work as I help other teachers with computing and work with my own students to teach computer basics.”

Practice tests are available to give Burroughs’ students more experience with the certification exam format. Shortly before the first Holbrook Junior High student was ready to take his first IC³ exam, Burroughs earned her IC³ credential. “I wanted to experience the exams myself,” she said.

Burroughs said Holbrook Junior High’s Technology Director is writing a grant to obtain funding for the course and IC³ exams for both the junior high and night classes. They also leverage Northern Arizona Vocational Institute of Technology funds. “We hope to help people feel more confident with computers,” she said. “They want to learn. I remember not knowing what a floppy disk was. I tell my students, ‘I will learn with you, I taught myself. I learned. I will help you.’”

CERTIFICATION
To date, 33 Holbrook Junior High students have passed the Key Applications IC³ module, 14 have passed the Living Online module, and 4 have passed the Computing Fundamentals module. Three students have earned the IC³ credential. In addition, six of the adults in Burroughs night class have passed Key Applications and one has passed Living Online.

“One of my students passed all three exams and earned his IC³ certification in only four months,” Burroughs reported. “I made arrangements for him to start attending a computing course at Holbrook High School. He started high school this fall, and already he’s a year ahead! He gives great support to his junior high classmates. He says, ‘You guys can do it. Just try.’”

Both Reidhead and her nephew have passed the IC³ Key Applications and Living Online modules. “I recommend IC³ to everyone I come in contact with,” Reidhead said. “I’ve advised other teachers and the school secretary to earn this certification.”

RESULT
The rewards of IC³ certification at Holbrook Junior High are both tangible and intangible. On the tangible side, Burroughs awards her students a 32MB ThumbDrive® when they pass their first IC³ exam. When they pass all three IC³ exams, she upgrades them to a 64MB drive. “To the students that aren’t motivated by that, I offer a $5 cash reward,” she said. “I also buy them lunch.” Holbrook Junior High students are presented two unofficial certificates when they pass an exam—one to post at school and one to take home. In addition, they are recognized at an awards banquet at the end of the school year.

On the intangible side, Burroughs has witnessed increased personal pride and self-worth in her students. “When the junior high students attend the night class they are impressed with themselves because they are showing their parents something new. The adults then put their new skills to use by practicing at home and at work.”

Reidhead said she has seen changes in her nephew since attending the IC³ class with him. “It completely changed him around. He went from thinking it was a dumb class to being competitive. It changed his attitude and motivated him to finish the class and pass the exams. He’s now in an advanced class at the high school and skipped the high school’s beginning computing course. He’ll probably go beyond the advanced course because the IC³ experience boosted his self-confidence so much. We help each other, and it’s strengthened our relationship.”

IC³ certification and Burroughs’ course are also preparing other students to take additional computing courses at Holbrook High School. “My students are eager to continue learning, even right up to the last day of the school year,” Burroughs said. “They can walk away from junior high with a certification that will give them college credit or a job someday. It prepares them for additional computer classes. They need these basic computing skills and they don’t want to repeat this material in high school.”