| The Standards for Technological Literacy have been praised as a positive contribution to the field of technology education in that they could play a central role in the "mainstreaming" of technology education into the K--12 school systems. If this is to occur, two of the main stakeholders (teachers of technology education and administrators) must be aware of and have a positive attitude towards the standards. Research on teachers' and administrators' awareness of and attitudes towards the Standards was practically non-existent in the state of Minnesota. This study addressed the following questions. Do technology education teachers and administrators know of the Standards for Technological Literacy? Do they think it is important for students to be technologically literate? What are the barriers to implementing the standards?; A forty-item Likert scale survey was developed and used to ascertain teachers' and administrators' awareness, views, and attitudes towards the standards. A sample of 280 technology education teachers and 280 administrators of technology education programs was identified. The survey was administered through the mail during January to June, 2002.; The results showed that less than half of the State's technology education teachers and less than one quarter of the State's administrators were aware of the standards before they were contacted by the researcher. Both groups had a positive attitude towards the standards. Teachers believed that a higher percentage of the standards were embedded in their curriculum, while administrators believe that there was a lower percentage. The results also showed that younger teachers of technology education and younger administrators were more aware of the standards.; It was concluded that the technology education stakeholders in the State of Minnesota must find ways to convey the message to teachers and administrators that the Standards for Technological Literacy exist, are available, and are important in the process of graduating technologically literate students and mainstreaming technology education. |
