1.1 Educational developments and ICT

The districts of Wisconsin consist of 454 local agencies, representing a K-12 student population of approximately 875,000 children age 5-18.



The State of Wisconsin is known throughout the US as a “local control state”. Local control states delegate significant autonomy, authority and leadership to the local school districts. The state education agency, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (WDPI), functions mainly as a policy setting agency that sets rules, guidelines and broad policy that the local districts implement. A good example of local control is in textbook selection. The WDPI does not mandate or select a single textbook that each district must use in any subject area: instead, it sets state standards that each district must reach and allows each district to select a textbook or resources to meet the standards.



While Wisconsin does have a system of local control, the WDPI does undertake initiatives or set policy at the state level for state-wide implementation. In recent years, several of the initiatives aimed at the overall K-12 education system include:

• acceptance as a partner state in the national Partnership for 21st Century Skills organisation (www.21strcenturyskills.org);





• developing K-12 standards for financial literacy;





• increasing emphasis on international education world languages as a priority;





• implementing a Longitudinal Data System project to better monitor and report student achievement and other district data at a state wide level;





• updating the state wide video/voice/data infrastructure including new digital video system used by state government, local governments, K-12 school district and other educational entities.

Primary education

Expanded funding for the State led initiative, “Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE)” programme to lower class size to 15 students per class in Kindergarten through third grade in schools with high concentration of student who live in poverty (http://dpi.wi.gov/sage/). There has also been increased funding and expansion of four-year old Kindergarten programmes to provide baseline readiness for all students who enter the K-12 education system (http://dpi.wi.gov/ec/ec4yrpag.html).

Secondary education

WDPI commissioned a high level report on high school reform (http://dpi.wi.gov/sprntdnt/pdf/hstask_report.pdf) and is currently working with the American Diploma Project (www.adp.org) to review Wisconsin’s graduation standards and 7-12 curriculum.

Integration of ICT/education technology policies in wider education policies

The state is not providing a specific allocation for technology other than the infrastructure (across the state mentioned above. WDPI is beginning to revises it’s Wisconsin Model Academic Standards for Information and Technology Literacy to better align them with similar standards from the Partnership for 21st Century and the International Society of Technology in Education, www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/For_Students/NETS_S.htm.

1.2 Success stories and ICT

The most successful initiative in recent years has been the TEACH Wisconsin Program (1997-2003) coupled with the new BadgerNet Converged Network. Technology for Educational Achievement (TEACH) Wisconsin provided support for investments in educational technology and telecommunications. Wisconsin's schools, libraries, cooperative educational service agencies (CESAs), charter schools, secured juvenile correctional facilities, private colleges, tribal colleges and technical colleges were all served by TEACH. TEACH Wisconsin's innovative, four-pronged approach (www.teachwi.state.wi.us/programs.html) provided access to information technologies and advances improved student learning and teacher instruction.



The four main programmes are:

• Noncompetitive Block Grants for educational technology to public school districts, charter schools, and secured juvenile correctional facilities.


• Telecommunications Access for data, voice, and video distance education connections.


• Competitive Grants for teacher training and technical assistance to cooperative educational service agencies (CESAs) or to collaborations of CESAs, public school districts and/or public libraries.


• Infrastructure Financial Assistance to schools and libraries for the upgrade of computer network and electrical wiring.

At the K-12 level, the TEACH Wisconsin program allowed for inexpensive, high speed access to the Internet and access to infrastructure to establish regional distance education (using two-way synchronous audio and video) networks (www.uwex.edu/disted/waden/).

1.3 Education reform

Beginning on 1 July 2004, the WDPI implemented its “Quality Teacher Initiative”. The new programme moves from a teacher certification program centred on the number of credits earned or courses taken at the university level to a standards-based model (http://dpi.wi.gov/tepdl/standards.html) that ensures teachers demonstration of proficiency with regard to knowledge, skills and dispositions. The measure of what educators must know and do is no longer a list of courses and credits. License renewal occurs on a five-year timeline and uses mentoring for new teachers and professional development plans to foster growth by teachers throughout their career path.

2.1 Sharing of ICT responsibilities



State Level

The WDPI provides guidance through policy setting and information sharing to the regional education service agencies and the local school district. For example, the WDPI published "Model Academic Standards for Information and Technology Literacy" (http://dpi.wi.gov/imt/itls.html and http://dpi.wi.gov/imt/pdf/infotech.pdf) in 1998 and then provided at multiple sites around the state workshops on the standards and how to integrate them into the local curriculum.



Another example is the Information and Technology planning. Each school district is required to have a tree-year Information and Technology Plan and the WDPI provides guidelines about plan content and resources (http://dpi.wi.gov/imt/tekcert.html). In both examples, the local district have the autonomy and authority to implement each example into their unique and local circumstances as they see fit, using the WDPI guidelines.

Regional Level

The State of Wisconsin is divided into 12 regional Cooperative Educational Service Agencies (CESA’s). Each CESA provides specific services, such as professional development programmes, school social work, cooperative purchasing and others, to the school districts in their respective areas. The CESAs have played an important role in ICT/educational technology implementation by providing various services to their respective districts that the WDPI could not do at a state level.


Some services and programmes include:

• organising/providing online classes to school districts;


• collaborating or acting as a central organizer for the CESA on grant projects;


• providing some IT department functions for small districts which do not need full time IT staff;


• organizing purchasing collaboratives for software, hardware and some professional development activities;


• providing ICT/instructional support to teachers and/or providing professional development to local school personnel to perform this function.

2.2 Overall ICT policy

ICT/Education Technology policy is currently undergoing a change in Wisconsin. The state has entered into a collaborative effort with the Partnership for 21st Century to align Wisconsin curriculum and standards with the 21st century skills set espoused by the Partnership for 21st Century. The WDPI is in the process of revising its Information and Technology Literacy Standards. WDPI sets forth guidance through general policy setting and information sharing.



There are several exceptions:

• the US Federal Government requires districts to “develop internet usage and practice policies” to receive certain federal funds;


• to receive E-rate or discounted telecommunications access, district are required by the Federal Government to “filter” internet access to limit access to inappropriate material to minors;


• the Federal Government requires each district to ensure that all Grade 8 students are technologically literate, but allows each district to determine what constitutes technological literacy.

2.3 Policies to promote digital literacy

Digital/media/information literacy in Wisconsin is designed by WDPI to be infused or integrated into each of the content (language arts, maths, science, etc…). Thus, each district has been instructed to take our "Model Academic Standards for Information and Technology Literacy" and correlate and integrate them into those curricular areas. WDPI has provided federal money to districts to assist in this process and to assist in training teachers and administrators in this effort. One way WDPI have assisted local districts to accomplish this is to provide a document that aligns/correlates the Information and Technology Standards to the content standards (http://dpi.wi.gov/pubsales/tchlgy_5.html).

2.4 Policies to promote eInclusion

Wisconsin requires that each local district have a local policy that mandates students with special needs (not just special education students) will have access to technology for learning. Each district must analyze this topic in its three-year Information and Technology Plan that is submitted to WDPI.



The Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative (www.wati.org) has been created to ensure that every child in Wisconsin who needs assistive technology will have equal and timely access to an appropriate evaluation and the provision and implementation of any needed AT devices and services. A primary goal is to improve the outcomes and results for children and youth with disabilities through the use of assistive technology to access school programmes and curriculum. The project is designed to increase the capacity of school districts to provide assistive technology services by making training and technical assistance available to teachers, therapists, administrators and parents throughout Wisconsin.

2.5 Infrastructure policy

At the state level, in 2005, the initial statewide k-12 network infrastructure was upgraded and the BadgerNet Converged Network (BCN) was implemented. The State of Wisconsin (with assistance from WDPI) contracted services to provide services for an enterprise network designed to converge data and video onto one IP MPLS network with video communications via H.323/264 to serve state and local governmental units, K-12 school districts and other entities. The BCN, like the TEACH programme before it, allows K-12 school district inexpensive, high speed access to the Internet and access to infrastructure to establish regional distance education networks.



Wisconsin has no formal initiatives to implement a 1:1, whiteboard or PDA initiative as of November 2007. These types of initiatives do occur in Wisconsin, but are left to the local school district to develop and implement at the local level rather than at the state level.

2.6 Policies to promote new learning environments

Wisconsin has a very robust Charter School programme in which local districts can develop and operate charter schools. They are public, nonsectarian schools created through a businesslike contract or "charter" between the operators and the sponsoring local school board or other chartering authority. The Wisconsin law gives charter schools freedom from most state rules and regulations in exchange for greater accountability for results. The charter defines the missions and methods of the charter school; the chartering authority holds the school accountable to its charter.



Wisconsin established charter schools to foster an environment of creativity. They can exist as living laboratories that influence the larger public school system and introduce an element of competition within that system. Charter schools are created with the best elements of regular public schools in mind. Their leaders may experiment with different instructional theories, site-based management techniques and other innovations. They learn, sometimes by trial and error, what works best for their student population. Regular schools can observe and learn from what happens in the charter school and make similar improvements. Through this process, the entire public school system is continually challenged to improve itself.



Wisconsin also wants each charter school to meet the special needs and interests of its community, parents and students. This is what makes each charter school unique. While many goals for educating and preparing children are similar, each charter school fulfills a specific local need in education. Some charter schools offer a choice to parents and students in the area of curriculum, teaching methodology and classroom structure. Others work to keep that small population of at-risk students from falling through the cracks, offering counseling, personal attention and support. In districts with charter schools, community, school boards and parents have identified their public education needs and have established charters that meet them.



Wisconsin does not operate a state sponsored virtual charter school, although several local school districts have begun them. As of November 2007, there were 12 virtual charter schools operating in the state. With Wisconsin’s concept of open enrolment, in which a student from one district can enrol in school in another district, enrolment in these virtual schools has grown. In addition, students in the regular schools can and do take individual classes virtually as part of their regular school day.

2.7 Foresight (forward looking initiatives)

Wisconsin has begun a 21st Century Skills initiative. In the autumn, WDPI held four regional meetings for library media specialists, teachers and administrators on 21st Century Skills, technology integration and economic development. In January 2007, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction became a 21st Century Skills Leadership State (see www.dpi.wi.gov/eis/pdf/dpi2007_06.pdf and www.dpi.wi.gov/eis/pdf/1.17.07_wi21stcenturylaunch.pdf). A 21st Century Summit was held in March 2007 to obtain input from business, commerce and industry.



Currently, there are groups working on critically examining Wisconsin academic standards in secondary English, language arts and mathematics to look for relevance, rigor and the inclusion of 21st Century Skills (including ICT). The Department of Public Instruction operates funds.

• Funding

2.8 Education budget

Wisconsin has 369 K-12 public school districts, 46 elementary (K-8) districts and 10 union high school (9-12) districts, for a total of 425 school districts. All are fiscally independent, which means that they do not depend on other local units of government such as counties or municipalities for their local tax revenue. Each district has taxing authority. In addition, 12 cooperative educational service agencies (CESAs), which are fiscally dependent on school districts, provide programmes and services to local districts.


Wisconsin public school districts derive their revenue through four major sources: state aid, property tax, federal aid and other local non-property tax revenues (such as fees and interest earnings). In 2005/2006, for example, 49.7% of school district revenue came from state aid, 37.6% came from property taxes, 6.3 % came from federal aid and 6.4% from local receipts. Under current law, there is a limit on the annual amount of revenue that each school district can raise through the combination of general school aid (defined as equalisation, integration and special adjustment aids), computer aid and select property taxes.


In the 2006/2007 school year, the state of Wisconsin provided school districts with USD 5,294,424,000 (EUR 3.47bn) in state aid. For more information about funding of school districts see http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lfb/informationalpapers/27.pdf.

2.9 ICT Budget

The percentage of funding spent on technology at the school district level is not known, as the state providing equalisation aid does not specify a certain portion to be spent on technology. Moreover, the Wisconsin accounting system does not differential between technology and non-technology capital objects.

2.10 Other funding categories

BadgerLink (www.badgerlink.net) is a portal of electronic databases including full-text journals, newspapers, periodicals, instructional and professional resources as well as information about authors. BadgerLink is available to all schools, libraries and Wisconsin citizens. It is managed by the Department of Public Instruction and funded using the Wisconsin State Universal Service Fund. It costs approximately USD 2 million (EUR 1.3 million) annually.



The Wisconsin Department of Administration provides subsidised bandwidth to Wisconsin schools (www.doa.state.wi.us/badgernet) as well as access to and scheduling for video distance education (www.bcnmcu.net) via the BadgerNet Converged Network. This is funded using the Wisconsin State Universal Service Fund and costs approximately USD 17 million (EUR 11.17 million) annually.



School Districts received a total of USD 1.8 million (EUR 1.18 million) in block grant funding from the federal Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) Program of the "No Child Left Behind Act" (NCLB), for the purpose of providing professional development to teachers on using technology effectively to improve student achievement. An additional USD 1.9 million (EUR 1.24 million) was distributed from this programme for the same purpose in competitive project either replicating successful models or implementing innovative models of professional development.



The E-rate programme is part of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996. It is funded at USD 2.25 billion (EUR 1.47 billion) annually from assessments made on consumers’ telephone bills (often referred to as the universal service fee on telephone bills). The E-rate is a federal programme under the direction of the FCC. Public and private PK-12 schools and districts, public libraries and consortia are eligible to receive from 20 per cent to 90 per cent in discounts for: 1) telecommunication services, including local and long distance telephone service, data and video lines; 2) Internet access and 3) internal network connections. Discounts are based on levels of poverty as measured by the percent of students eligible for free and reduced lunch in the National School Lunch Programme. Wisconsin’s commitment from this program for 2006-2007 was USD 24.3 million (EUR 16 million).

3.1 National curriculum

Wisconsin operates on a standards model with local control. The state has sets of Model Academic Standards (http://dpi.wi.gov/standards/) for 18 content areas (i.e. science, maths, etc…) local school district are free to teach and use appropriate resources to get their student to meet those standards. State academic standards specify what students should know and be able to do, what they might be asked to do to give evidence of standards and how well they must perform.



They include content, performance, and proficiency standards:

• content standards refer to what students should know and be able to do;


• performance standards tell how students will show that they are meeting a standard;


• proficiency standards indicate how well students must perform.

It is important to note that in Wisconsin, standards are not the same as curriculum. Standards are statements about what students should know and be able to do, what they might be asked to do to give evidence of learning and how well they should be expected to know or do it. Curriculum is the programme devised by local school districts used to prepare students to meet standards. It consists of activities and lessons at each grade level, instructional materials and various instructional techniques.



In short, standards define what is to be learned at certain points in time and, from a broad perspective, what performances will be accepted as evidence that the learning has occurred. Curriculum specifies the details of the day-to-day schooling at the local level. Wisconsin has standards (what is to be taught) and the local schools develop the curriculum or delivery method (how to teach it).

3.2 ICT in the curriculum

There are two main methods for delivering ICT/educational technology skills curriculum in Wisconsin. First, districts have used an integrated approach to take the current Information and Technology Literacy Standards and map them into their current curriculum (science, maths, etc…) with an emphasis on using the technology as another means to learn. Thus, there are students using graphing calculators in maths, the internet for research in social studies or language arts, computer-aided design (CAD) software in architecture, creating movies or other multi-media presentations to demonstrate learning from groups’ projects and many others.



The emphasis for a vast majority of schools is to start at Kindergarten with learning basic skills and as student advance, focus away from learning the ICT skills themselves and to applying the skills in the context of learning. Secondarily, each district has specific courses, mostly at the middle (grade 6-8) and high school (grade 9-12) levels that may take on specific ICT skills for advanced training. It may be computerized accounting class, an AP computer science class or a class in multi-media production. However, students are exposed to ICT/educational technology from the time they enter Kindergarten until they graduate at grade 12 in multiple forms and experiences.

• Organization of ICT in schools

3.3 School autonomy

Wisconsin is a “local control state” giving much autonomy to local school districts. WDPI policies regarding educational technology are designed in a manner that allows each district to meet the policy as best fits their situation. A good example is the teaching of keyboarding. State statutes and policy mandates that at grades 9-12, only educators certified to teach Keyboarding can teach that class. However, in grade K-8, that is not the case. Since many districts teach keyboarding to students beginning in grades 3-4-5, the question arose as to who could teach those younger students. The policy that WDPI developed provided flexibility to districts: in grades K-8, keyboarding can be taught in one of two manners, whether by a certified keyboard teacher or by a regular classroom teacher provided s/he instructs her/his own class.



The first option allows a certified keyboarding teacher to teach all students, much like a physical education or art teacher does. The second allows a regular classroom teacher to teach it provided the only class s/he teaches is their own. Thus a regular classroom teacher could only teach his or her own class, not all of the other classes.



WDPI defers to the local district many decisions, such as what computer to buy, what software to use, what curriculum to develop (but based on the WDPI standards), how often technology is used and so on. Again, WDPI sets policy and standards at a level that allows more than one method or means to achieve the standard or policy, thus giving local districts the ability to match the means or method that best fits their unique local student needs or situation.

3.4 ICT support

School districts are not required to have a district level instructional technology coordinator, but if they do have someone in this position, that person must be licensed by the department (http://dpi.wi.gov/imt/tekcordlic.html). Some of the Cooperative Educational Service Agencies (CESAs) provide volume purchasing agreements and cooperative technical support for districts choosing to buy into the services.

3.5 Guidance for schools

While each individual school district sets its own policy there are some guidance documents on various topics. For funding technology a recent study, "Moving from Good to Great in Wisconsin: Funding Schools Adequately and Doubling Student Performance", addresses the topic (www.wcer.wisc.edu/cpre/finance/WI%20March%201%202007%20Adequacy%20Report1.pdf). The role of library media and technology can play in schools is addressed in WDPI’s publication, "Information & Technology Literacy: A Collaborative Planning Guide for Library Media and Technology" (http://dpi.wi.gov/pubsales/tchlgy_6.html). The Wisconsin Collaborative Online Network has published "Recommendations for Online Learning Standards and Policies" (www.wcon.info/wconpolicies.html).

3.6 School ICT plans

Each local school district is required to have an information and technology plan. The plans last generally 3-4 years and focus on how technology and school library media services and programmes can assist in increasing student achievement, student and teacher technology literacy as well as integrating technology into all curricular areas for use by all students (http://dpi.wi.gov/imt/libmedtp.html). The guidelines for certification (http://dpi.wi.gov/forms/pdf/fplanreview.pdf) contain the requirements for the plan as specified by the Federal Government and Wisconsin.

• Assessment of ICT competence

3.7 Targets for students’ ICT competence

The US Department of Education (federal level) has stated a national goal that all students exiting grade 8 must be technologically literate. They provide no additional definition of what this means and leave it up to each state to determine this. Wisconsin uses the following definition of technologically literate: "Technology literacy is the ability to responsibly use appropriate technology to communicate, solve problems, and access, manage, integrate, evaluate, and create information to improve learning in all subject areas and to acquire lifelong knowledge and skills in the 21st century".



Wisconsin clarifies that definition by detailing the standards that students have to meet to be literate. Those standards are from the "Model Academic Standards for Information and Technology Literacy" and http://dpi.wi.gov/imt/pdf/infotech.pdf.

Wisconsin Model Academic Standards for Information and Technology Literacy Organisation

The information and technology literacy standards are grouped into four categories or content standards specifying what a student should know and be able to do. The first two content standards focus on technology use and information processing skills. The latter two build upon these by adding performance standards that deal with attitudes, appreciation, independent learning, teamwork skills and personal and social responsibility.



The four content standards are:

• Media and Technology
  
  Students in Wisconsin will select and use media and technology to access, organize, create and communicate information for solving problems and constructing new knowledge, products and systems.





• Information and Inquiry
  
  Students in Wisconsin will access, evaluate, and apply information efficiently and effectively from a variety of sources in print, nonprint and electronic formats to meet personal and academic needs.





• Independent Learning
  
  Students in Wisconsin will apply information and technology skills to issues of personal and academic interest by actively and independently seeking information; demonstrating critical and discriminating reading, listening, and viewing habits; and striving for personal excellence in learning and career pursuits.





• The Learning Community
  
  Students in Wisconsin will demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively in teams or groups, use information and technology in a responsible manner, respect intellectual property rights and recognize the importance of intellectual freedom and access to information in a democratic society.

Each content standard is followed by performance standards that tell how students will show that they are meeting them. Each performance standard includes a number of indicators detailing how students will demonstrate proficiency in a particular performance area. When they do, they will have mastered a literacy that is basic to success in the world of the 21st century.

3.8 Assessment schemes

Wisconsin has no formal, state mandated assessment for ICT/educational technology skills. WDPI expects each district to assess students on the standards listed above and allows their assessment using one of the following four methods:

• Local Content-based Projects/Portfolios
  
  These are projects or assignments embedded into the curriculum where teachers identify in each assignment the ICT skills used and then assesses each student accordingly. Students and schools generally keep a portfolio of these assignments.





• Stand Alone Skills and Knowledge Tests (both web & non-web)
  
  Some local districts use commercial assessments ( www.learning.com for example) to assess students literacy.





• Technology Course
  
  Districts also have “technology literacy” type courses built into the middle school schedule that covers all the standards. If a student passes the course, then she/he is deemed literate.





• Combination of the above
  
  Some districts use a combination of two or all three of the above methods to determine literacy.

• Monitoring

3.9 Inspection

ICT/educational technology is monitored by several methods. First, WDPI collects data via survey each year on multiple aspects of a school’s educational technology programme as part of state requirement. Much of that data are required by the Federal Government as well. Secondly, WDPI monitors the programmes when they submit their 3-year Information and Technology plan. Thirdly, a random sample of districts is chosen each year for a DPI site visit monitoring for multiple programmes, including educational technology.



WDPI does not measure the progress of the local information and technology plan’s success, but it relays on the local districts to monitor this and reach their goals in an appropriate manner.

4.1 E-content development initiatives

Wisconsin Technical College System (www.wisc-online.com) and WiscNet’s Digital Districts Online (http://wiscnet.net) are both developing learning object repositories. However, most of the efforts within the state concentrate on helping teachers use the vast variety of electronic resources that already exist on the Internet. For example, Wisconsin in partnership with the Verizon Foundation and the Cooperative Educational Service Agencies have begun a major professional development activity on how to use the resources available through the Thinkfinity project (www.thinkfinity.org).



The Wisconsin Educational Communications ( www.ecb.org) board also produces instructional television and Internet content. Their most recent productions are the award-winning "Into the Book" and "democracy it is!" titles.

4.2 Commercial publishers (stance of the Ministry of Education)

WDPI does not work closely with commercial publishers of digital resources.

4.3 Content sharing initiatives

There are several projects throughout the state to digitised resources especially primary resources. Perhaps the most extensive is the Wisconsin Historical Societies digitisation project:

• www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/ (images)


• www.wisconsinhistory.org/collections.asp(list of collections)


• www.wisconsinhistory.org/teachers/classroom/(K-12 and parent resources)

At the federal level, the gateway to Educational Materials (www.thegateway.org) provides a way to share educational resources. IDEA Portal (www.ideas.wisconsin.edu) provides a similar mechanism for Wisconsin.

4.4 Online learning offers

The Wisconsin Virtual School (www.wisconsinvirtualschool.org) and WiscNet Digital Districts Online (http://ddo.wiscnet.net) both evaluate courses based on Wisconsin standards and offer them to school districts (WiscNet Digital Districts Online requires WiscNet membership).



All Wisconsin students are able to attend virtual schools either through the open enrolment process or through their local school district. All 11 Wisconsin Virtual schools received startup funding from a federal grant administered by WDPI. While most virtual charter schools in Wisconsin are secondary schools, the entire grade span of K-12 is covered by at least two schools.

• Provision

5.1 ICT in teacher education and standards

WDPI implemented its “Quality Teacher Initiative” beginning on 1 July 2004. The new programme moves from a teacher certification programme centred on the number of credits earned or courses taken at the university level to a standards-based model (http://dpi.wi.gov/tepdl/standards.html) that ensures teachers demonstration of proficiency with regard to knowledge, skills and dispositions. The measure of what educators must know and do is no longer a list of courses and credits. License renewal occurs on a 5-year timeline and uses mentoring for new teachers and professional development plans to foster growth by teachers throughout their career path.



Pre-service educators must meet all ten of the new Wisconsin Educator standards (http://dpi.wi.gov/tepdl/pi34.html#teacherstandards3402), two of which deal with the use of educational technology:

• "The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies, including the use of technology to encourage children's development of critical thinking, problem solving and performance skills".





• "The teacher uses effective verbal and nonverbal communication techniques as well as instructional media and technology to foster active inquiry, collaboration and supportive interaction in the classroom".

Pre-service providers (colleges and universities) must verify that the educators they train meet all ten standards for the area(s) they want to be certified to teach. Each Pre-Service provider is accredited by the WDPI using a set of standards (http://dpi.wi.gov/tepdl/iheguidelines.html). In addition, each teacher candidate must pass a two-part exam to demonstrate proficiency in both teaching pedagogy/theory and content mastery (http://dpi.wi.gov/tepdl/doc/testing.doc).


Currently, districts provide working educators' professional growth as well as development opportunities and requirements. WDPI encourages districts to incorporate educational technology into those sessions as much as practical. Many of them use federal grant money to specifically target technology in-service for teachers and administrators. Like the Information and Technology plan, WDPI encourages districts to integrate technology and its use, as part of their in-service programme to show how technology can support learning and student achievement.

5.2 Assessment schemes

Based on WDPI programme approval rules ( http://dpi.wi.gov/tepdl/paa.html and http://dpi.wi.gov/tepdl/pi34.html#programapproval3406 ), each institution of higher education (IHE) develops its own assessments. They must be developmental, multiple and measurable over time, as well as grounded in research based on best practices in education. They also must identify levels of proficiency or other benchmarks that demonstrate student success.



Through WDPI programme approval review process, the IHE teacher education overall assessment system is evaluated and through a review of students assessment portfolios, the department is assured that students are proficient in the standards.