James Lenze

COATT: a state-wide initiative to evaluate and improve teacher technology education

Abstract Like many other states, Michigan has recently instituted minimum technology standards for pre-service teachers. A group of teacher education institutions decided that that standard needed to be a baseline rather than an end goal. Together they formed the Consortium for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching with Technology (COATT), whose purpose is to set in place a formal process to recognize pre-service, and eventually in-service, teachers for going beyond the mandated standard. Here we discuss both the process of bringing the consortium together and the progress of our students as they applied for the M-COATT certificate. This article discusses the origins of the consortium, the evaluation process, the results of the first rounds of evaluation, and the possible future of the consortium.