HomeTechnology Literacy for the Whole Family
The national Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has recognized an innovative program at Lincoln Elementary that helps students and parents learn vital computer skills. Lincoln has received the SHRM Award of Excellence for Workforce Readiness, which honors one outstanding program each year.
Technology Literacy for the Whole Family is a program dedicated to providing technology education and skill building for students and parents of low-income families who do not have computers or Internet access in the home.
The foundation of the program is an innovative on-line curriculum, EasyTech. EasyTech provides systematic on-line curriculum for pre-kindergartners through eighth graders and for adults who want or need a non-threatening start. Students access a series of more than 80 individualized lessons that teach skills from keyboarding to HTML programming. To facilitate learning for parents, verbal instruction is provided in Spanish during Lincoln's evening classes, while the computer materials are in English. Parents simultaneously learn computer skills and improve their English.
In February of 2003, the evening program in computer instruction for the parents of Lincoln students was launched. Parents are seeing tangible results. Through application of lessons on resume preparation and Internet use, two parents have already upgraded their jobs.
