NAEP Writing Exams Going Digital in 2011

I found this "older" article from "Education Week" (3/14) rather interesting. It talks about testing students writing skills on the computer. I really liked the quote that I pulled from the article listed below:

“ 'One of the things that we’ve seen in sites across the country is a huge increase in the uses of computers for writing, both in school and out of school,' said Richard Sterling, the executive director of the National Writing Project, a nationwide professional-development program for teachers housed at the University of California, Berkeley, which applauded the new framework."

When I read the above quote it really hit home just how much the internet and computers are being used now. The article states that they have seen "a huge increase" in writing that isn't all for personal use, but it is also for school use. The need for incorporating technology into our ELA classrooms needs to be now, not later. This article really does seem to support what we are learning in class.