Technology Standards for Instructional Personnel (TSIP)

At its January 8, 1998 meeting, the State Board of Education approved Licensure Regulations for School Personnel. Those Standards include the following Technology Standards:

1. Instructional personnel shall be able to demonstrate effective use of a computer system and utilize computer software.
2. Instructional personnel shall be able to apply knowledge of terms associated with educational computing and technology.
3. Instructional personnel shall be able to apply computer productivity tools for professional use.
4. Instructional personnel shall be able to use electronic technologies to access and exchange information.
5. Instructional personnel shall be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and use appropriate instructional hardware and software to support Virginia's Standards of Learning and other instructional objectives.
6. Instructional personnel shall be able to use educational technologies for data collection, information management, problem solving, decision making, communication, and presentation within the curriculum.
7. Instructional personnel shall be able to plan and implement lessons and strategies that integrate technology to meet the diverse needs of learners in a variety of educational settings.
8. Instructional personnel shall demonstrate knowledge of ethical and legal issues relating to the use of technology.

Implementation Requirements

• School divisions must incorporate the technology standards into their local technology plans, and develop strategies to implement the standards, by December 1998. These plans should include both in-service and pre-service training programs for instructional personnel.
• The timeline for all instructional personnel to meet these standards is prior to the 2002-2003 school year, or within four years.
• The standards are not a requirement for continued licensure or license renewal.
• The required standards are entry level; therefore, school divisions will need to establish a testing instrument to determine which instructional personnel may already exceed the entry level requirements. Provided such competencies can be proven, this will allow some personnel to bypass the entry level training requirements.
• The levels of competency included in this regulation are to be determined by each individual school division, not the Department of Education, or any other state agency or board.
• School divisions will ensure that newly-hired instructional personnel who do not have verification from a Virginia Institution of Higher Education that they have met the Technology Standards will demonstrate those proficiencies during the three-year probation period of employment.
• Course work in technology will satisfy the content requirement for licensure renewal for license holders who do not have a master's degree.