Faculty Training Ignites IT Program in Small School District
Updated: July 25, 2005
A half-hour ferry ride from Seattle, Washington, a small school district has made a name for itself by giving students the training needed to prepare for Microsoft certification exams.
In the South Kitsap School District, a small district with one high school and 2,600 high school students, more than 200 students were trained in the first year.
Dale Green, Director of Professional and Technical Education with the South Kitsap School District, sums up their success in two words: faculty training. Green said, "When we first started revamping our IT program two years ago, we knew that our first priority was getting our faculty trained.” Green funneled most of the district's IT money into endowing the faculty with a level of knowledge unheard of for most high schools.
Grants and Corporate Matching Fund Teacher Training
To attain their faculty training objective, South Kitsap pursued a number of grant opportunities. The funds raised in this effort were matched by partner corporations including Paladin Data Systems, a local business, and Comp USA, a computer retail store. "All of those funds went toward teacher training,” said Green. "We didn't buy any equipment with that money, we only trained teachers.”
Currently, the South Kitsap School District employs approximately 18 instructors with certifications including Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers (MCSE), Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCT), Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCP), Microsoft Office Specialists, as well as non-Microsoft certifications like A+, Net+, Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW), Certified Professional Webmaster (CPW), and Oracle Academy.
Although the school district encourages students to continue their education after high school, Green said, "Kids are graduating from high school, finding jobs quickly, and starting at $40,000 a year. In fact, three-quarters of our own technical staff are graduates from our program, and only a couple of them are over 21 years old.”
U.S. Department of Education and Other School Districts Take Notice
The U.S. Department of Education is also seeing the benefits of the IT program at South Kitsap. "We've been involved with the Department of Education in helping to develop national standards for IT,” said Green. "They are looking at our program as an example for how to use this in other U.S. schools.” In fact, last year South Kitsap hosted more than 30 big school districts from around the country that hoped to discover the secret of their success. "It was really ironic to see such big-school-district representatives take the ferry over here to Port Orchard!”
In addition to the smart use of funds in South Kitsap, they have reworked the structure of some of their programs to provide a more comprehensive IT education and experience for students. What once were parts of the business and art departments are now under the new umbrella of IT. "We took business technology, video communications, marketing, graphic arts, photography, keyboarding, and networking classes, and put them all into the new IT Department,” said Green. He explained that when examining the skill set for IT, it's clear that students need both programming and communication skills. "We're trying to show where all of these skills overlap, giving the students a well-rounded education, rather than pigeon-holing them into one skill.”
Microsoft IT Academy Program Offers Key Benefits
Green attributes part of the program success to the school's involvement with Microsoft workforce development programs, and looks forward to aligning South Kitsap with Microsoft's newest program – the Microsoft IT Academy Program. Among the most valuable benefits of the Microsoft IT Academy membership will be the opportunity to purchase Microsoft Official Curriculum at a discount. Green said faculty training benefits would be of similar importance. He added, "Highly trained teachers are the key to our success!”
Green recognizes the importance of teaming up with a respected name in technology. "Getting our instructors trained was our first task, then equipment and curriculum. That's where Microsoft really came into play for us,” he said. When reviewing their curriculum options, Green knew they wanted something based on industry standards. And while some schools lean toward vendor-neutral curriculum, he says, "We saw Microsoft as being the biggest player for the long run.”
Dennis Wright, Instructional Specialist & Network Administrator at South Kitsap High School's Professional Education Department believes that Microsoft's high profile is important to motivating high school students to excel in IT. "I think it's the Microsoft name and knowing that we have certified teachers that really know what they're doing,” he commented. "The kids will follow a teacher and work harder when they understand that the teacher has gone through the same process that they're going through. They respect that.”
To learn more, visit the South Kitsap School District Professional and Technical Education Web site at http://www.skitsap.wednet.edu/spage.asp?srn=11010&dn=1730.
For more information and resources, visit the Educators' Web site for Information Technology at www2.edc.org/ewit.
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