Today’s older generations are often in awe of how young people master new technology. It is fairly common to see a child navigating a computer tablet or a teenager texting on a smartphone with impressive quickness. However, the new computer-based standardized tests that will be administered in the 2014-15 school year require students to display a basic tech skill that many students lack: typing.
The Washington Post reports that the new tests assume that students will be able to use a mouse; click, drag, and type answers on a keyboard; and write online, beginning in third grade. Third graders will be asked to type three short pieces: one in the form of a story about a real or imaginary experience, and two in response to nonfiction and literary passages. These tests will be used to assess students’ grasp of, and teachers’ effectiveness at teaching, the new Common Core State Standards.
Teachers and administrators are nervous about how the nation’s students, especially the youngest, will fare on tests that assume keyboarding “fluency.” One public school administrator explains that students must learn to type text without looking at the keys in order to focus on the content of their writing. For this reason, schools that have typically reserved keyboarding classes for the middle school years are now making it part of the elementary curriculum.
Since third grade is the first year in which students will encounter digital testing, some schools are contemplating keyboard instruction in second grade. Whether these early classes are developmentally appropriate for such a young age group has already generated much debate.
