69´«Ã½

Assessment

New NAEP to Gauge Engineering, Technology Literacy

By Sarah D. Sparks — March 26, 2013 4 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

Understanding the mathematical formula to calculate lift and thrust is still a long way from designing a 747 airplane, and the U.S. Department of Education is trying to get students to cross that bridge with the development of a new way to gauge how well they both understand and apply technology and engineering principles.

The National Center for Education Statistics is nearing completion of a 15,000-student pilot test—the largest in the history of the National Assessment of Educational Progress—to craft a new technology- and engineering-literacy test, or the TEL.

“What we’re talking about here is trying to put the ‘T-E in STEM,†said NCES Commissioner Sean P. “Jack†Buckley, referring to the common term for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. “We’ve been assessing the [science and math] for some time, but it’s been much harder to figure out the framework for an actual, practical, functional field assessment for technology and engineering components.â€

The current pilot, on track to be finished by the end of this month, targets 8th graders. In 2014, a final version of the test is slated to be administered to a nationally representative sample of 20,000 such students, with results expected in 2015. Eventually, the TEL will cover the 4th, 8th, and 12th grades.

“This is really important, and I’m glad to see it,†said Adam Gamoran, a member of the National Board of Education Sciences, the Education Department’s research advisory group, and the director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

While a few curricula, such as the International Baccalaureate program, include engineering and technology courses, Mr. Gamoran noted there is little research on how well even today’s “digital native†generation understands technology and engineering.

“From my vantage point as a sociology researcher, I suspect there remains a substantial digital divide—that children from different backgrounds will have vastly different experiences with these questions about technology,†he said. “This will provide evidence of something we have many suspicions about but virtually no evidence.â€

New Direction

The TEL represents a significant shift for the battery of tests commonly dubbed “the nation’s report card.†It will be NAEP’s first entirely computer-based test and the first to use a majority of interactive scenario-based questions.

International assessments, in particular the Program for International Student Assessment, already gauge proficiency in more comprehensive and applied-science questions, which is in part why experts say American students’ performance tends to lag behind that of students in other countries on PISA.

More than 2,000 engineering and technology professionals from around the United States contributed to the development of the test’s framework, which covers three interconnected areas: the design process and principles of dealing with technology in daily life; information and communication-systems technology, such as computer networks and mobile devices; and the social and ethical implications of technology’s effects in the natural world.

“We’re pretty good at assessing students in science, but how do we assess the difference between a scientific solution—some sort of global, perfect universal solution—and engineering, which is a lot more about trade-offs and constraints in a given situation to get a solution that works?†Mr. Buckley said.

Testing ‘Scenarios’

The solution, he said, is to include “much more complex and higher-order-thinking items†than have previously been used in NAEP.

Roughly 20 percent of the test’s questions will cover concrete facts and information. The rest will use a new kind of question, which requires students to interact in engineering or technology “scenarios,†to apply ways of critical thinking and problem-solving that are associated with engineering.

Each scenario is 10, 20, or 30 minutes long and gauges a student’s mastery of engineering practices, such as systematically using technology, tools, and skills to solve a problem or achieve a specific goal, or using technology to communicate and collaborate with a team and consult experts.

For example, a student may be asked to collaborate with a simulated “boss†via videoconference to improve the consumer “life cycle†of a toaster.

“NAEP is not alone in the world of large-scale standardized assessment in trying to come up with ways to better assess how people work collaboratively,†Mr. Buckley said.

Moreover, the test will also begin to use student-activity data to report and evaluate how the student solves each problem. For example, NAEP’s writing test collects information about how students used the in-test word-processing software to check spelling and edit sentences, but does not use that information to evaluate students’ performance. In this assessment, a student might get more points for answering a problem efficiently and making the best use of the tools available.

“The intent is to be much more authentic and closer to a real project,†Mr. Buckley said.

During the test’s administration, the NCES will also collect data on students’ access to technology at home and teachers’ use of technology in the classroom.

Related Tags:

Coverage of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education is supported by a grant from the Noyce Foundation, at www.noycefdn.org.
A version of this article appeared in the March 27, 2013 edition of Education Week as New NAEP Demands Application of Knowledge

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
AI and Educational Leadership: Driving Innovation and Equity
Discover how to leverage AI to transform teaching, leadership, and administration. Network with experts and learn practical strategies.
Content provided by 
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School Climate & Safety Webinar
Investing in Success: Leading a Culture of Safety and Support
Content provided by 
Assessment K-12 Essentials Forum Making Competency-Based Learning a Reality
Join this free virtual event to hear from educators and experts working to implement competency-based education.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

Assessment Opinion Why Are Advanced Placement Scores Suddenly So High?
In 2024, nearly three-quarters of students passed the AP U.S. History exam, compared with less than half in 2022.
10 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
Assessment Grades and Standardized Test Scores Aren't Matching Up. Here's Why
Researchers have found discrepancies between student grades and their scores on standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT.
5 min read
Student writing at a desk balancing on a scale. Weighing test scores against grades.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week + Getty Images
Assessment Why Are States So Slow to Release Test Scores?
Nearly a dozen states still haven't put out scores from spring tests. What's taking so long?
7 min read
Illustration of a man near a sheet of paper with test scores on which lies a magnifying glass and next to it is a question mark.
iStock/Getty
Assessment A District’s Experiment: What Happens When 69´«Ã½ Do Less Testing?
Los Angeles Unified will excuse some schools from periodic assessments. Supporters hope it will inspire new ways to measure learning.
6 min read
An illustration on a red background of a silhouette of an individual carrying a ladder and walking away from a white arrow shaped sign post, with an arrow facing the opposite direction that has been cut out within the arrow shaped sign with cut pieces of paper on the ground below it.
DigitalVision Vectors