NJCCCS

Coming from the corporate arena [Financial Services], without fail, we constantly lived by the motto: "If you can not measure it, you definitely can not manage it." As I continue to become acclimated with the education field, I find it more and more, this motto is applicable to teaching/learning as well.

You get no argument from me, succinctly, the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards for Technological Literacy are a must! The ability to assure our leaders of tomorrow are thoroughly prepared to compete globally, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the standards appear to be well drafted to address such. At the risk of dating myself, times have really changed/advanced since I attended high school - Computers and other technological apparatuses were NEVER utilized. It is good to see that technology now plays a huge part in the teaching/learning process.

In teaching, I guess the real challenge is in incorporating the standards into the lesson plans. I would imagine there has to be a delicate balance between a tendency to focus solely on the standards and making certain one does not lose connection with the students.

As it relates to Special Education broadly, which is the area of education I wish to pursue, there appears to be a separate set of standards [New Jersey Department of Education Special Education Self-Assessment]. Because I truly want no student disadvantaged when they ultimately enter the marketplace, so that these students can also realize their full potential, at what point do we look to integrate students with learning disabilities into the main stream? Or as adults, will they face the "sink or swim" mentality that definitely exist?