Prepare for NAEP’s 2014 technology and engineering literacy assessment

The NAEP technology and engineering literacy (TEL) assessment is currently under development. A pilot assessment will be administered in 2013 to a sample of students in grade 8. The assessment will be fully operational in 2014 and will be administered to students at grade 8. In the future, the assessment may be administered to students at grades 4 and 12.

NAEP measures national achievement in a variety of subject areas. In alternating years, NAEP is administrated in reading and mathematics at grades 4 and 8. According to ESEA regulations, state participation is mandatory. The testing window is six weeks long and is given to a representative sample of students across Maine. The assessment at grades 4 and 8 comprises the NAEP state-level results, and at grade 12, the assessment contributes to the national results.

Due to the growing importance of technology and engineering in the educational landscape, and to support America’s ability to contribute to and compete in a global economy, the National Assessment Governing Board initiated development of the first national assessment in technology and engineering literacy. NAEP frameworks incorporate expertise and input from subject area experts, school administrators, policymakers, teachers, and parents and describe the assessment content and how students’ responses will be evaluated.

TEL is designed to gauge how well students can apply their understanding of technology principles to real-life situations. Find out more about what the assessment measures and how technology and engineering are defined.

TEL marks a departure from the typical NAEP assessment design because it is completely computer-based and includes interactive scenario-based tasks―an innovative component of NAEP. Students will be asked to perform a variety of these interactive tasks to solve problems within realistic scenarios. Examples of interactive tasks are available in the interactive version of the TEL framework. In addition to scenario-based tasks, TEL will also rely on short-answer and multiple-choice questions to measure students’ knowledge and skills.

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