Ann Darling's List: tech research paper

• Assessment Project    Description:  This report describes results from the third and last field investigation in the NAEP Technology-Based Assessment Project, which explores the use of new technology in administering NAEP. (The first two focused on assessments of math and writ
• d last field investigation in the NAEP Technology-Based Assessment Project, which explores the use of
• In the TRE study, two extended scenarios within the domain of physical science were created for measuring students’ ability to solve problems using technology. The TRE Search scenario required students to locate and synthesize information about scientific helium balloons from a simulated World Wide Web environment. The TRE Simulation scenario required students to conduct experiments of increasing complexity about relationships among buoyancy, mass and volume. These scenarios were delivered via school computers or on laptop computers taken into the schools. The sam
• randomly assigned to the assessment scenarios. The TRE project was intended as an exploratory study of how NAEP can use technology to measure skills that cannot be easily measured by conventional paper-and-pencil means. T

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• The problem? Namely, this:

   

  With no established federal definition of technological literacy, most states have chosen to follow the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) established by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), and to create their curricula and assessments accordingly.
• gical literacy that is very different from anything any state or No Child Left Behind (NCLB) envisioned. From the draft document: "In recent decades the meaning of technological literacy has taken on three quite different… forms in the United States. These are the science, technology, and society approach, the technology education approach, and the information and communications technology approach. In recognition of the importance, educational value, and interdependence of these three approaches, this framework includes all three under its broad definition of technological literacy."

• Geoffrey H. Fletcher is the editorial director of 1105 Media's Education Group. He can be reached at gfletcher@1105media.com.  
       

     

     

   

   

         

   

  Comments

• gets, the more the debate will stir and positive things can come of all this.

   

     

   

• 9  Gail Desler  California 

   

  I look forward to following this discussion!   Currently many school districts have the same keyboarding + MS Office requirement for tech proficiency shared above by Interested Parent. I think to continue with that model well into the 21st century is really the train wreck waiting to happen.   I've read through the NAEP draft. as well as some of their referenced documents from ISTE, http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/ DOT , and the http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/2 DOT 1stcentdefinition and am hopeful that the NAEP framework will promote the integration of technology literacy across the curriculum.  Thanks for starting the conversation.

• Wed, Sep 9, 2009  Dick Schutz  http://ssrn.com/author=1199505  

   

  The framework defines technology as "any modification of the natural or designed world done to fulfill human needs or desires."  I can't think of any human action that wouldn't fall under that definition  The definition of technological literacy is "the capacity to use, understand, and evaluate technology as well as to apply concepts and processes to solve problems and reach one’s goals. It encompasses the three areas of Technology and Society, Design and Systems, and Information and Communications Technology."  That's pretty much universal expertise.  This is to be measured with a 50 minute test starting at Grade 4. The specs for the tests at Grades 8 and 12 merely get more detailed and more abstract.  By the time this gets run through the Item Response Theory wringer we'll have results that are sensitive to racial/SES differences but not to instructional differences.  I'll look forward to your forthcoming explanations of how this came to happen.

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• nerally been well received, and I’m looking forward to being a part of the effort to create something similar for technology literacy. Of course I’m curious to see how this will play out, since technology literacy is not a subject or a discipline like math or science.
• the solution will be to increase opportunities for students to study real engineering, design and programming in K-12. My background as an electrical engineer is no doubt part

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  There are two committees working on these frameworks, a steering committee and a planning committee.

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• 
   
  A Scoring Guide for NAEP and 
  An Inside Look at Responses Labeled Inadequate 
  
• of the remaining countries would have fewer proficient students than the United States. Using the NAEP standard, no country comes close to having a majority of proficient readers. 
   
  Under the NAEP standard, Singapore is the only nation in the world to have a majority of its students be proficient in science, and that by a scant 1 percent. Only a handful of countries would have a majority of students proficient in mathematics. 
   
  All those august o
• • contraindications of testing veracity
• rganizations have rejected the NAEP achievement levels because the process is confusing to the people who try to set the levels and because the results are inconsistent: Children can't answer questions they should be able to and can answer questions they shouldn't be able to. The levels also give what the National Academy of Sciences called "unreasonable" results, including the fact that only 29 percent of U.S. fourth-graders were considered proficient or better by NAEP, yet America ranked third among 26 participating nations. 
   
  Other evidence is easy to come by. In 2000, 2.7 percent of American high school seniors scored 3 or better -- the score at which colleges begin to grant credit for the course -- on Advanced Placement calculus. Almost 8 percent of seniors (including those who did not take the test) scored above 600 on the math SAT; nearly a quarter (24 percent) of those who took it scored over 600. Yet NAEP said that only 1.5 percent of the nation's seniors reached its "advanced" level.

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• using the NAEP Data Explorer (NDE). The updated NDE allows you to
• NAEP assessments and among hundreds of different student
• across
• how often the student discusses schoolwork at home

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• PDF 4 of 5 contains:
   Visual Arts Sample Questions
   (849K PDF)
  
• Suggested Citation
   Keiper, S., Sandene, B.A., Persky, H.R., and Kuang, M. (2009). The Nation's Report Card: Arts 2008 Music & Visual Arts (NCES 2009–488). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C.

• tries that have surpassed or are gaining on the United States in terms of academic achievement. The United States, in short, is slipping and has been since the 1970s. And this effect is becoming more pronounced as the technology playing field levels around the world.

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• The definition of technology has been around for much, much longer than the No Child Left Behind Legislation. The Legislation erroneously identifies technology as comprising solely that which is more accurately described as information and communication technology. NAEP is making an effort to depict the more historically accurate definition of technology as the human-made world. This definition is found in the Standards for Technological Literacy, and, indeed, has been in common use long before the invention of computers and other information technology tools. It is VERY important that we not restrict our expectation of our children's learning to solely information and communication technology. The three areas covered in the proposed NAEP assessment include more of the 21st century skills that we, as US citizens, must instill in our students if we are to retain our place in the world.
• kills be integrated into the curriculum and taught as these skills are needed within the context of learning. To do that would require that teachers have three skill levels - basic, application, and integration skills. Until we start with teacher technology literacy, we won't be able to realistically expect our students to use technology effectively within the context of classroom learning. In addition, administrators need to have the technology literacy skills that include vision, leadership, and knowledge of what improved instruction should look like if technology is used appropriately to increase differentiation and student engagement, and foster critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, and communication. Student, teacher, and administrator technology literacies go hand in hand! Hats of to SETDA - this national discussion about the effectiveness of technology use in classroom instruction and how to measure it is a much needed one!

• Over the past decade, U.S. colleges and universities graduated roughly three times more scientists and engineers than were employed in the growing science and engineering workforce, said Lindsay Lowell, director of policy studies at Georgetown University and the study's co-author.

   

  "At the same time, more of the very best students are attracted to non-science occupations, such as finance. Even so, there is no evidence of a long-term decline in the proportion of American students with the relevant training and qualifications to pursue STEM jobs," he added.
• STEM pipeline, the evidence does suggest that students are not leaving the STEM pathway owing to a lack of preparation or ability--and it indicates there might be factors other than educational preparation or student ability.
• This research is part of a larger study project that tries to assess commonly heard claims," Lowell said, including claims that U.S. students are losing interest in STEM fields, students are not prepared for STEM careers, and the U.S. has a shortage of STEM workers.

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