July 2004 — SETDA
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South Dakota: A South Dakota Report Card: Results From the ISTE/LOFTI Teacher Profile
By Gloria Steele, Education Technology Specialist for Technology & Innovations in Education and LOFTI Evaluation Team Member
The South Dakota LOFTI (Learning Organizations for Technology Integration) Project, a Technology Innovation Challenge Grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education is a K-16 collaboration involving an array of education partners, including local school districts, school consortia, educational cooperatives, public universities, regional education centers, the South Dakota Department of Education and Cultural Affairs (DECA), the South Dakota Board of Regents, and Technology & Innovations in Education (TIE).
LOFTI was initiated in response to a growing need in South Dakota to invest in professional development that would increase the technology skills of classroom teachers and help them find meaningful ways to use technology to enhance student learning. The goal and objectives of the project were grounded in the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers published in 1997 and revised in 2000. These Standards define fundamental concepts, knowledge, skills and attitudes for applying technology in educational settings in the following six areas:
- Technology operations and concepts
- Planning and designing learning environments and experiences
- Teaching, learning and the curriculum
- Assessment and evaluation
- Productivity and professional practice
- Social, ethical, legal and human issues
These six identified ISTE standards and 23 indicators for measuring specific teacher behaviors became the framework for LOFTI activities. The LOFTI Steering Committee (www.usd.edu/sildl/lofti/members) used them to guide statewide program design, while local districts, school consortia and public universities used them as the basis for annual LOFTI work-plan development focused on the redesign of preservice curriculum. In addition, the South Dakota Department of Education used them for assessing teacher certification issues, while TIE used them for planning the delivery of professional services to schools across the state.
The ILTP Study Emerges
During the first three years of LOFTI, the K-12 sites used a variety of processes to gather data regarding teacher performance relative to the ISTE standards. In order to standardize the data collected from K-12 sites for comparisons to be made, however, LOFTI launched the ISTE/LOFTI Teacher Profile (ILTP) Study. The study had two purposes: First, the data would be used to help shape the LOFTI project evaluation. Second, the results would be used for LOFTI project improvement and decision-making. In addition, project evaluators envisioned the study as a professional development opportunity for participants, helping them to develop new skills and build their leadership capacity.
The Process
The ILTP study sought to answer the overarching question 'How do LOFTI participants perform relative to the 2000 ISTE Standards?' Planning for this study began in the spring of 2000 and a draft survey and interview tool were piloted in June 2000. Project evaluators designed and tested several instruments, resulting in a final tool organized into three sections:
