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New Hampshire's
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| The Information Technology
Pathway is a recommended guide for middle/high schools and
vocational centers. The Pathway is built on industry standards, which
define Information Technology (IT) as the study, design, development,
implementation, support or management of computer-based systems, particularly
software applications and computer hardware.
The focus of the Information Technology Pathway is on skills, standards and learner outcomes. The first step to implementation is an audit of existing courses to insure compliance with industry standards. In some schools, especially in the network systems strand, a decision has been made to use a vendor-specific curriculum (The Cisco Networking Academy) while, other schools, have used the IT Model to develop their courses. The IT Pathway includes core technical, academic and employability skills in four occupational strands:
The learner outcomes are grounded in industry-specific skills and competencies, integrating classroom theory with hands-on application and are aligned to the New Hampshire State Standards for Computer Technology. Within the IT Pathway are two core courses, IT and ME and IT and ME Works. We recommend that schools use this curriculum to comply with the Department of Education’s requirement that all districts measure their 8th graders for technical literacy. In the State of New Hampshire’s Technology Plan that is on file with the US Department of Education, this course is cited as a measurement for technical literacy. Presently, there are three high schools that require IT and ME for high school graduation. Working in partnership with five national organizations and the post secondary departments of Computer Technologies, Business Studies, and Information Systems Technology at New Hampshire Community-Technical College at Stratham and Pease, a team of thirty-five New Hampshire Business/Technology teachers wrote the curriculum. Each course includes a complete set of lesson plans that have been classroom tested and peer-evaluated. There is also a standardized pre/post test that the classroom teacher can use to identify past learning and, further, track progress over time. For each of the career specialties, New Hampshire’s Information Technology Pathway aligns the high school’s course of study with post secondary offerings. In some cases, the pathway courses are offered for dual credit through an articulation agreement that identifies the rights and responsibilities of all partners, including grade point average and attendance rate. To discuss school-based implementation, contact: Marsha A. Miller, IT Project Director, Western Regional Partnership. (603) 332-0925The Western NH Tech Prep Consortium developed New Hampshire’s Information Technology Pathway using funds provided by the State Department of Education, Concord NH under the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Act of 1998. NOTE: Please note that most of the links on this page are to Adobe PDF files created for user compatibility and download. If you have difficulty opening the files in the browser window you can right click on the links and select "Save Target As" to save the files to your computer. You should then be able to open the saved file directly through Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you require Acrobat, please visit Adobe.com. |