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Computer proficiency is a North Carolina state requirement for high school graduation. Competency is measured by the North Carolina Test of Computer Skills, a performance and written test that most students pass in the eighth grade. However, there are some students who still need to pass the test in high school. These students are of three distinctly different types.

First, there are students who are new to the state and must be prepared for the requirements tested in the computer competency test. Some of these are seniors who are under pressure to pass the test before graduation.

A second group is the students who speak English as a second language. Because the ESL student is exempt from testing for the first two years of school in North Carolina, many have never experienced standardized testing in English. These students have the challenge of learning computer skills while mastering a second language.

The third and largest group is composed of at-risk students and students with learning differences who have attempted and failed to pass the test at least once already. In addition to working toward success in the computer competency test, many of these students are still trying to pass the grade 8 reading and/or math competencies as well, since all three tests are diploma requirements. While the following strategies will benefit all of these groups of students, they are geared primarily toward the at-risk students

General considerations

Reaching at-risk students and keeping them engaged can be very challenging for the classroom teacher. The most essential consideration when trying to reach these students is to "keep it relevant." Teenagers, as we all know, are very self-absorbed. In any discipline, the more they can identify with the lesson and plug it in to their own lives, the more easily they will learn the concepts. Real-life lessons and applications to sports, music, or other aspects of popular culture really do keep these learners engaged and interested.

Second, it is essential to take different learning styles into consideration. Most students respond best to visual and hands-on learning activities. With a data projection device, the teacher can create an outline or a diagram and easily have the students follow along, creating their own document or diagram. This technique allows the teacher to teach a new application while at the same time teaching concepts relevant to the exam, and it is effective with both visual and hands-on learners. It is also useful to have the students print their computer-generated notes and diagrams after each lesson and keep them in a three-ring binder for future reference.

Finally, the most important consideration is to assume nothing. Really. Even the most basic concepts of computer use may be completely new to some of these students. Access is a big issue: the majority of such students do not have home computers, so their exposure may have been limited to an occasional media center project or a trip to the public library. Do not expect all of the students to know how to save or print or even open a file. It can be frustrating at first, and slow going for more experienced students, but it is essential to teach every step of every process as though the students have never worked on a computer before.

The performance test

By far the simplest part of the computer skills test to prepare for is the performance section. With enough drills and practice, most students can master the skills required to pass this part of the test. LEARN NC has several lesson plans created by NCDPI on integrating computer skills, or you can browse all of LEARN’s lesson plans for Computer/Technology Skills by relevant goal and objective. Sample databases and spreadsheets are linked from the lesson plans.

When using existing spreadsheets and databases, it is a good change of pace to ask questions orally and have students type their answers in a blank word processing document. The students will learn to alternate between two active applications, and the class will naturally be attentive, as the students need to listen as the teacher reads the next question. In addition, students with testing modifications will be more comfortable when their test is read aloud. Be prepared to read each question several times.

The students will also have to learn to create spreadsheets and databases on their own. Try the lesson plan "It’s All About Them" in the LEARN NC lesson plan database. Creating a database based upon the students themselves is easy and engaging and can be fun for the students. Through this lesson, everyone gets to know each other better, so it works well as an opening exercise for the semester. Other real-life lesson plans use sports statistics, business simulations, and popular music. The more you can make your lesson center on the students "where they are," the more effective it will be.

The bottom line is that success on the performance test depends upon relevance and repetition. Make it real, and practice, practice, practice!

The multiple choice test

Since many of these students are struggling with the reading and content of the multiple-choice test, it is essential that you try to reach them by collaborating with their other teachers. You might collect articles addressing ethics to be read in reading or curriculum assistance classes, distribute essential vocabulary lists, or team with history or math teachers to use some of the integrated computer skills lesson plans available through the LEARN NC lesson plan database. The Department of Public Instruction Computer Skills site has some great vocabulary lists that can be shared with the reading and math teachers. A thorough understanding of the mathematical concept and language of inequalities is essential to working with databases. Many students can correctly complete an inequality when they are presented with it in equation form, but they cannot translate a question like "How many Civil War battles had at least 4,500 casualties?" into an equation. Clearly, preparation for this exam is a multidisciplinary exercise.

Within your classroom, you can use a variety of note-taking and multitasking exercises to reinforce the concepts covered. Venn diagrams are particularly effective when covering concepts that involve grouping, such as input vs. output devices. Keeping a journal provides practice with keyboarding, saving and opening documents, and word processing. Students may respond to a prompt such as "Who is a person from history you would like to meet and why?" or "Describe in detail a favorite book or movie." Using the word count feature in the tools menu of a word processor, students can check to make sure they meet a required number of words. Opportunities for practice include using spell check and grammar check, copy and paste, and other word processing skills.

With these methods, auditory, visual, and tactile learners can be reached simultaneously, and concepts may also be mastered through re-teaching. Given the basics of creating multimedia presentations in PowerPoint, students can create their own slide shows and present to their peers about concepts related to the competency exam, thereby re-teaching those concepts and reinforcing their own knowledge. It all seems like a daunting task, but creative teachers can use the resources of the computer lab to their advantage

Get real

Essentially, the student’s goals are the same as the teacher’s: to demonstrate proficiency through successful completion of the North Carolina Test of Computer Skills. The key to success is to understand where the students are and to be willing to meet them there. Consideration of the students’ probable lack of access, their history of unsuccessful attempts with this exam, and their learning differences must be integral to the instructional process. These difficulties are exacerbated by the fact that often the teacher is also responsible for teaching the student a full workforce development course such as keyboarding or business applications. But flexibility, teaming with other teachers, and creativity will allow you and your students to achieve your shared goal.