0.2 Newell, p. (march 2010). technology disconnected: teacher  (Page 4/10)

The message to us was universal: good jobs will increasingly depend on people who can put knowledge to work. What was found was disturbing: more than half our young people leave school without the knowledge or foundation to find and hold a good job…Two conditions that arose in the last quarter of the 20 ^th Century have change the terms of our young people’s entry into the work of work: the globalization of commerce and the explosive growth of technology on the job. The developments have barely been reflected in how we prepare your people for work or in how many of our workplaces are organized.

In addition to linking education and technology to the workplace, SCANS called for “World Class Standards” for educational performance and identified five competencies believed essential to job performance:

1. ability to use resources
2. interpersonal skills;
3. ability to acquire, evaluate, organize, and interpret information;
4. understanding systems; and
5. using technology.

Additional personal qualities of effective workers identified in the report were strong basic skills, thinking skills, and a sense of personal integrity and responsibility (Cassidy, 2004).

Involvement of national organizations

From the concerns initially voiced in A Nation At Risk about American high school graduates lacking the necessary skills for work developed a new era of education reform promoting national economic prosperity in a global, technological age as the primary goal of schooling. National groups (with international reputations) underscored the need for technology integration in schools. In 1995 the National Academy of Sciences report Reinventing Schools: The Technology is Now! focused on the use of technology to advance student-centered, project-based approaches to learning.(Starr, 1996) As the years after 1995 would show, although many pundits saw the technology as ready to be implemented (“Now!”), in 1995 the money and necessary infrastructure was not yet ready.

In that same year the 166-page Kick Start Initiative, prepared by a task force commissioned by President Clinton that was co-chaired by Ed McCracken of Silicon Graphics, Inc., proposed that state and local governments foot the bill for educational technology and raise billions through tax increases, bond measures, and other revenue-generating plans like lottery subsidies (rather than asking for federal funding for information technology for schools) (Bryant, 1995). In the wake of this Initiative receiving a cool reception by those it asked for funding, President Clinton launched his Executive Order which made information technology and the training of educators to use it a high priority for the nation. In order to explain to the voting populace the need to devote so much energy to information technology in schools, Clinton issued an Open Letter to Parents in October of 1995. In it he stated

In order for us to ensure that all our children have their shot at the American dream, we need to empower them with the technological literacy they’ll need to succeed in a new and ever-changing information economy. By 2000, 60% of the new jobs in America will require advanced technological skills. Unfortunately, only 20% of our workforce possesses these skills today.