Cover Story - High Schools

In High Schools, Computers Are a Required Course

There is a perception that teenagers today are able to dismember, re-assemble and configure any high-tech gadget blindfolded or in their sleep. While it’s true that today’s teenager has never known a world without computers or the Internet, there are still some whose tech skills are surprisingly weak. But that is changing thanks to newly implemented requirements for high school graduation in North Carolina.

In 1998, the State Board of Education approved a Computer/Technology Skills Standard Course of Study as a component of the ABCs of Public Education program. Graduates of the Class of 2001 were the first to be fully covered under the new program, which established competency goals that include not only hands-on computer use, but also such topics as ethics and the impact of technology on society. The requirement is met by passing a series of two exams. First, a 70-question multiple-choice test covers everything from copyright norms to the Boolean logic used for web searches. Then there’s a performance test that asks students to handle a broad range of word processing, spreadsheets and database tasks. Testing is offered from the eighth through 12th grades. N.C. was the first state in the nation to require passage of the computer competency test for graduation.

“These aren’t college skills — they’re life skills,” says Al Bishop, a technology teacher at South Brunswick Middle School in Southport and past president of the North Carolina Technology Educators Association. According to Bishop, having strong technology skills means more than simply a working knowledge of standard office applications such as Microsoft’s Word and Excel. “The most important skill we can give them is the capacity to teach themselves new programs on their own.” Those heading for college will likely encounter discipline-specific programs they have to learn independently, he explains. Much the same will be true when they enter their chosen professions. “Every occupation now uses some specific type of software,” Bishop says.

In addition to those competencies covered under the state requirement, Bishop advises students to learn presentation software such as MS PowerPoint and to know how to design basic web pages. “Many students are now posting their own digital portfolios on the Internet as a way of promoting themselves in the job market,” he says.

The state’s computer competency requirement appears to be making headway. College administrators now notice that arriving freshmen appear to be better prepared technologically than their recent predecessors. “We’re finding most students come in with good basic navigational skills and a greater degree of familiarity because they’re now required to use these skills in high school,” explains Tom Canepa, associate vice chancellor for enrollment services at Western Carolina University. In 1998, the university began requiring students to own a personal computer, just as they do textbooks and notepaper. “Kids are better prepared than they were even three to five years ago.”

For college students in need of sharpening their computing skills, most campuses offer ample support and training. WCU’s “Jump Start” program, offered each fall, helps students get up to speed with their PCs, get connected to the campus network and get comfortable with other learning technologies. In addition, its ResNET program places tech savvy upperclassmen in residence halls to help resolve student computing problems. “Just as we offer our students assistance in areas such as math and writing, we make sure they have ready access to good technical support,” Canepa says.  -- Lawrence Bivins

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