REDMOND, Wash., February 16, 1999 — For success in the classroom, the workplace and life, students are learning that basic computer skills are rapidly becoming not only an asset, but a necessity. Just ask Denise Jackson, a high school teacher in Texas, Bob Wachob, a teacher in Pennsylvania, or any of the growing number of high school teachers across the U.S. who are participating in Microsoft’s Authorized Academic Training Program (AATP).
A recent survey of high school instructors in the Microsoft AATP program reveals that teachers agree AATP encourages their students to consider continuing their education in college. It motivates them to use their new information technology skills in internships and part-time jobs, and allows them to become leaders in their school, answering technology questions and often helping to support the school’s network.
AATP’s goal is to provide students in high schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities access to training and certification on Microsoft application development, server and networking technologies, which will help prepare them for information technology careers as network managers, systems administrators and programmers.
AATP gives students options, says Wachob, who teaches at a vocational high school in Reynoldsville, Penn. And that’s a big reason why his school recently began offering AATP courses. Wachob says his students already practice their new skills by helping to support their own school’s technology needs, from setting up a new network to troubleshooting a problem on a teacher’s workstation.
In Wyoming, high school students from Hot Springs County High School, primarily a ranching and farming community, are using the information technology skills they learn to find part-time jobs, go on to college and create new jobs for themselves that allow them to remain in the area.
“The skills we teach should be considered ‘the basics’ because they enable students to manage their world – a world that is dominated by the computer,” says Jackson, who brings students lessons in information technology through Microsoft’s AATP. “The students who finish my AATP classes have a great understanding of how to manage their computer resources and allow the computer to be a tool to success.”
