1. Background Information

note 2/16/06: refer also to the ICT LIteracy standards page
(which will soon be merged into this toolkit)

Federal Requirements

The U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology manages the Enhancing Education Through Technology Program (Title II Part D), a program created with the enactment of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Title II Part D requires that every student should be technology literate by the time they finish the 8th grade.

State Requirements

New Hampshire School Minimum Standards require students to complete at least 1/2 credit of computer technology literacy prior to high school graduation. These standards were revised and updated to better reflect current understanding of 21st century literacies. The current standards took effect on July 1, 2005.

Trends in Addressing the New Literacies

The U.S. Department of Education is providing assistance to the 21st Century Skills Forum to create a framework to define technological literacy and 21st century skills; identify best practices for applying these skills in the classroom; provide assistance to states and schools to see how these skills and basic skills can be taught in complementary ways; design a self-assessment tool on technological literacy and 21st century skills; create tools to define, teach, and assess 21st century skills.

21stcenturyskills.org is an incredible resource that is still growing with new information. There is a “Route 21” interactive resource with a collection of web based tools to support ICT literacy. See the 21st century skills website for the MILE Guide, which districts can use to determine their capacity to teach to 21st century literacies.

The ICT Literacy Community site is the "public face" of an international movement focused on promoting Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Digital Literacy. There are a few archived webcasts available for viewing at no cost at the ICT Literacy site. “Over the next year, the dynamic ICT Community site will support a number of program offerings, including virtual ICT conferences, live and archived webcasts, ICT literacy workshops and training courses, and many special events.”

Technically Speaking, a website from the National Academy of Engineering, explains what technological literacy is, why it's important, and what's being done to improve it.

Knowledge Network Explorer’s 21st Century Literacies is a site sponsored by Pacific Bell. The focus is the combination of information, media, multicultural, and visual literacies. There are lesson plans, bibliography and more.