Final Thoughts on WITEA and Technology Education
Dr. Robert A. Raudebaugh

At the moment, I feel that the profession is mired down without a sense of direction and is also at a critical crossroads. We suffered too many years not knowing what we were and where we fit into the overall curriculum. The Standards for Technological Literacy published by ITEA in 2000 provided a solution to that dilemma; unfortunately the WITEA board at the time was not willing to provide the leadership necessary to initiate any change. The ITEA standards now have become the Washington State standards for Technology Education, but nothing significant has happened since those standards were made policy by OSPI to initiate any substantial change. With all of the pressure placed on schools by the No Child Left Behind legislation and the WASL, the profession must change or in my humble opinion, Technology Education will cease to exist as part of the secondary curriculum. I do believe that there is still a place for Technology Education in the state and that it can not only survive but can thrive. For that to become reality, several things have to happen. First of all, Technology Teachers must stop bickering about what we are, old IA, or T&I or some sort of our own brand of Tech Ed, and agree that the association and profession needs to embrace the standards as the model for ALL technology education. Remember that we must prepare our students for where they are going, not for where we have been. Just because some content is popular or the teacher likes to teach it, does not necessarily justify keeping it in the curriculum. Some members of the association and other “Tech” teachers will resist this, however the standards have been endorsed by several prestigious national organizations and represent a substantial consensus from the profession on a national scale. They also represent what the public is beginning understand and endorse as Technology Education in our schools. It is apparent that the leadership necessary for this to happen must come from the WITEA board. The venue for this to happen is the WITEA annual conference. Much more thought must be put into structuring the presentations around the theme of changing over to the standards. This must be done in a very purposeful and organized way, and using the word “Standards” in the theme of the conference will not accomplish this. This is far more important than decisions about where the conference is to be held or what goodies go into the bag. I wish you well.

Past WITEA President - Larry Roberts

I believe the primary function of our association is to help one another through camaraderie. We strive to help one another to create the best programs for our students, to foster great teaching skills, and to enhance our knowledge of the technological world. The association does this by providing a fall in-service, a spring conference and a quarterly newsletter. A secondary function is to provide teachers with an opportunity to develop leadership skills within themselves. All individual members are encouraged to become involved with the association's executive board whether as an active member of a subcommittee or as one of the elected or appointed officals. It is in these capacities members are challenged to serve the association locally, state wide or at OSPI.