The development and formative evaluation of an assessment instrument based on the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers

Background. A critical component of a 21st century teacher's repertoire is the incorporation of modern information technologies in support of learning and the practice of teaching. Yet as recently as the spring of 2002, almost no assessment instruments were found that objectively measured teachers' ability to effectively utilize information technology at any stage, from preservice student to in-service teacher.;Purpose. The purpose of this study was to create an evaluation instrument, the Assessment of Preservice Teachers' Fluency with Information Technology (APTFIT), based on the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T), and to conduct the initial validity evaluation of that instrument.;Population. Validity data was collected from a selected group of educational faculty and also from a group of education students who were at the Student Teaching stage of their education.;Methodology. The steps in the development of the APTFIT assessment instrument included an analysis of the NETS-T, the creation of the test questions, and collection of information used to determine the validity of the instrument. The answers to APTFIT items from the faculty members became the criteria for a rubric used to score the responses from the pre-service education students. Additionally, interviews with the faculty were conducted using questions that addressed specific validity issues. Group interviews with students who completed the pilot administration of APTFIT were also conducted to provide additional validity data.;Findings. The analysis of the answers to the tests and the content of the interviews with students and faculty formed the basis for the arguments made to support and refute the validity of the instrument.