The status of Ohio Technology Academic Content Standards in Ohio school districts

by Houtz, Debbie M.

Dr. Mitchell Henke, Advisor Technology affects our lives on a daily basis. It is constantly changing and evolving. American citizens must be technologically literate in order to react to these changes efficiently and effectively. A technologically literate person should be able to use, manage, assess, and understand both the nature of technology and how it affects society (ITEA, 2000). In December, 2003, Ohio adopted Technology Academic Content Standards (ACS). The Ohio Technology ACS include seven different standards that have corresponding benchmarks for each grade level. The problem of this study was to describe both how Ohio school districts are meeting the Ohio Technology Academic Content Standards and the context in which they are being met. To assess the implementation of these standards, a descriptive survey was sent out to Superintendents in the state of Ohio. The researcher designed the survey to find out if the each standard had been implemented and if it had been, to also find out which academic departments and grade levels cover the standard. The researcher went further to discover if the standard was not implemented then what were the future plans of the district. The survey was sent out to 603 Superintendents, 111 responded. The study had an 18.41% response rate. The data that was collected showed that of the respondents, a mean percentage of 21.34% implemented the standards. This is the first step for the Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio Technology Education Association to assess the implementation of these standards, and they can use this data to plan future evaluations and assessment of the implementation of these standards. iv I would like to dedicate this to my mother Betty, my father James (Bub), my sister Stacy, my grandparents Jim and Mary Houtz and Frank and Sarah Burgess, and all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. v