The progress of the Generation XP Digital Opportunities Pilot Project is reported for the period January 2002 to December 2003. During this time, eight low decile secondary schools in Auckland and Gisborne piloted running Microsoft Office Specialist and other industry level IT courses with their senior students. The pilot proved to be a successful ‘proof of concept’ with nearly 1000 students studying the MOS courses during the two years. By the end of 2003, the evaluator had been notified of a total of 107 students passing one or more component units. Between them they gained over 200 passes.
Purpose
One of the research questions was to identify 'lessons which have been learned from the pilot which could usefully inform any roll out of the scheme to other schools and to other school districts'. This summary begins by listing the evaluator's suggestions regarding these lessons and suggestions. These are followed by a summary of findings and lessons categorised under headings corresponding to the main foci of the research.