Assessment and evaluations
Continuous assessment of teaching, learning, and leadership and evaluation of the use of ICT and digital resources
What is it?
To gauge the progress and success of technology integration within a system, leaders need to continually assess how effectively the technology is applied at all levels. This includes evaluating the effectiveness of:
The technology itself
- How are digital technologies and resources applied in the classroom?
- Are they useful for achieving educational goals and learning objectives?
Those who use the technology
- Are teachers successfully applying technology in the classroom?
- Are students able to use technology to enhance their learning?
- Are leaders successfully using technology and supporting its use in the classroom?
Why is it important?
A systemwide technology initiative requires a deep investment of time and resources. Technology evaluation provides a feedback loop to inform course corrections and allows leaders to measure return on investment, while deployed assessments of teachers, students and leaders help track the system’s progress toward meeting the ISTE Standards benchmarks. Together, ongoing evaluation and assessments provide a holistic picture of the initiative’s success and help administrators pinpoint areas of weakness that need to be addressed.
What does it look like?
To accurately assess and evaluate technology use within a system, leaders need clearly defined goals and metrics for measuring success as well as a process for applying the findings through a continuous feedback loop. Each measurement should serve a clear purpose and be used to ensure continual improvement and progress toward the program’s goals.
When determining whether assessments and evaluations are effective in practice, ask the following guiding questions:
- To what extent has technology impacted student assessment practices and achievement?
- Are metrics for measuring the technology’s impact on student learning built into the system?
- Are teachers’ needs assessed to uncover skill gaps that prevent effective use of technology?
- Are teachers meeting the expected outcomes outlined in their professional development plans?