I feel that it is very important to assess an educator’s technology leadership knowledge and skills as well as assessing the technology and skill levels of students.  It is also important that we find out their needs.  We live in a new day and time where technology is growing ramped.  The students in the classroom are learning differently from the students thirty, twenty, or even ten years ago.  In order for educators to continue to reach students, we have to  adapt and adjust to the times that we live in.  That means we as educators need to be aware of what kinds of technology students are being exposed to and learn how to use it if we want to reach this new type of learner. 

        One negative to the assessment of technology might be that when surveying, the answers might not be all the way truthful.  If someone doesn’t want to complete the survey, they may answer in a bad or negative way just to rush through the survey, or vice versa, someone may answer in a more positive way, to make themself look better.  Someone may even score the categories low if they want to purposefully make the school look bad also. 

Schools need to know what areas of concerns both the teacher and student have when it comes to technology.  Assessing a teacher’s knowledge and skill of technology is important because it will help to identify areas of weakness as well as areas of strengths.  If a teacher is not familiar with certain technology, this is an indicator that further training is needed.  Administrators need to have a plan in place to help keep teachers stay on top of technology.   In order for the teacher to continue to help improve student achievement with technology, we have to know what technology is out there, that’s why ongoing training is essential.  Knowing the student’s needs through assessment is also important.  If a student is not understanding certain trends in technology when learning, then that’s a sign that they need further exposure and we need to do more.  Assessing both the student and teacher about technology is a win, win situation.