"Standards" have already been developed to describe what "all teachers" should know about and be able to do with educational technologies. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), for example, is to be commended for its pioneering work in the development of technology standards. Their project, "National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for Teachers" offers a table called "Technology Foundations Standards for All Teachers," including important statements like, "Teachers will use content-specific tools, software and simulation (e.g., environmental probes, graphing calculators, exploratory environments, web tools) to support learning and research." Another set of standards, developed in 1990 to serve as a framework for the systemic reform of teacher preparation and professional development by the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC). The INTASC standards address technology by prescribing, "The teacher knows how to enhance learning through the use of a wide variety of materials as well as human and technological resources (e.g. computers, audiovisual technologies, videotapes and discs, local experts, primary documents and artifacts, texts, reference books, literature, and other print resources)."

We can build on these great foundations by describing, specifically, what teachers in different roles should be able to do for their students. Standards are important because they remind us of the broad categories of knowledge and skill teachers should be able to demonstrate. Adding precise, role-specific competencies will enhance the contribution of the existing standards.

Should our technology-related expectations for third grade teachers and physics teachers should be the same? How about middle school math teachers and elementary school art teachers? While certain skills and perspectives are valuable across many of teaching roles, our technology-related expectations are not the same for third grade, physics, middle school math, and elementary art teachers. It makes sense to identify what teachers in different roles need to know and be able to do, and then target their preparation to accomplish those things. In this project, K-12 educational professionals currently employed in the role for which competencies are to be developed will be teamed with representatives of appropriate subject matter professional associations, teacher preparation programs, and technology-related professional associations. These "Expert Panels" will use the ISTE standards and other relevant standards as important landmarks as they identify the role-specific competencies required for teachers serving in these particular roles.