Any educator who鈥檚 ever had to ask a pupil to fix a computer might be surprised to learn that not all students are technologically proficient鈥攐r at least not savvy enough to be considered 鈥渢echnologically literate.鈥�
While that term has no universal definition, the core idea could be boiled down to this: Technologically literate students not only know how to operate hardware and software鈥攖hey can also analyze the information flowing through it, evaluate that digital content鈥檚 relative merit and relevance, and use it creatively and ethically in communicating with others.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law six years ago, made it a national goal for all 8th graders to be technologically literate. Unlike reading and math, though, tech literacy does not factor into the law鈥檚 school accountability provisions, and most states do not administer separate tech-literacy tests statewide.
Still, at least one test-maker has seen the NCLB goal as an opening and developed assessments of tech literacy for 8th graders. Appropriately, those tests do use not paper and pencil, but instead are delivered to students via computers.
Learning.com, a privately held Portland, Ore.-based company, has sold hundreds of thousands of its middle school version of TechLiteracy Assessment since the test was launched in 2005. 鈥淚 think we鈥檙e at the early stages of this market鈥攚e鈥檙e just seeing a few of the early-adopter states that are doing an assessment [of tech literacy],鈥� said company spokesman Mark Tullis.
The 91制片厂视频al Testing Service, the Princeton, N.J.-based nonprofit testing giant that administers the SAT, has produced an online version of a tech-literacy assessment called iSkills that is appropriate for high school seniors and college freshmen, and another version for college juniors.
Stephen Denis, ETS鈥� iSkills product manager, said that the assessment is marketed only to colleges and universities. He estimated that less than 5 percent of the roughly 15,000 iSkills tests that ETS has administered since the assessment was launched in 2005 were taken by precollegiate students.
Moreover, the company has no immediate plans to come up with a test for 8th graders, the grade level specified in the NCLB law, said ETS spokeswoman Karen Bogan.
鈥淚f [technological literacy] becomes part of NCLB [accountability requirements], we鈥檇 have more of a drive to do that,鈥� she said. Under NCLB, states that receive federal Enhancing 91制片厂视频 Through Technology grants must report their progress toward making their students technologically literate by the end of 8th grade, but that technological literacy is defined only by each state.
The lack of teeth in that provision is often cited as a reason that the market for online assessments of students鈥� technological literacy has not caught up to the national goal. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not that we don鈥檛 want to do that鈥攖here鈥檚 not a market demand for that right now,鈥� said Ms. Bogan of the ETS.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a slow-growing market right now because it鈥檚 a voluntary test.鈥�
No Momentum
When the NCLB law was enacted, 鈥渨e were hoping that we鈥檇 see a wave of high-quality, 21st-century assessment tools,鈥� said Donald G. Knezek, the chief executive officer of the International Society for Technology in 91制片厂视频, a Washington-based professional organization that advocates greater use of technology in schools.
Instead, he said鈥攊n part because the U.S. Department of 91制片厂视频 didn鈥檛 collect information about states鈥� assessment of technological literacy, and because states were too busy testing reading and math proficiency for accountability purposes鈥斺�渢here wasn鈥檛 enough momentum to guarantee a market to invest in those quality products.鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 so much pressure on the system to test to whatever tests are being required,鈥� said Elsa M. Garmire, a professor of engineering at Dartmouth College who chaired a committee on the assessment of technological literacy for the National Academies. 鈥淭echnology literacy has still not really been adopted, other than the concept of how to use computers.鈥�
The committee鈥檚 , the culmination of a two-year study, found tech literacy to be still in its infancy, concluding: 鈥淣o one really knows the level of technological literacy among people in this country.鈥� According to Technology Counts, an annual 91制片厂视频 Week report on school technology, only four states鈥擜rizona, Georgia, North Carolina, and Utah鈥攐ffer statewide testing of students on technology.
鈥淲e have been frustrated,鈥� said MarkSchneiderman, the director of education policy for the Software and Information Industry Association, a Washington-based trade group that includes many publishers and online-assessment companies. 鈥淢y sense is that there鈥檚 a great desire at the state and local level to look at these kinds of [technological-literacy] skills. But there鈥檚 a challenge with curricular requirements and overtesting.鈥�
Learning.com鈥檚 Mr. Tullis acknowledged those barriers, but said his company remains committed to working with states: 鈥淭here are still states that want to know their students鈥� tech-literacy levels, regardless of whether the Department of 91制片厂视频 is telling them what to do or not.鈥�
Different Approaches
That was the case in Arizona, which became the first state to buy and launch Learning.com鈥檚 8th grade tech-literacy assessment statewide in 2005.
鈥淲e did this just because we thought it was the right thing to do,鈥� said Cathy J. Poplin, the state鈥檚 deputy associate superintendent for educational technology. 鈥淭he least of the reason was the feds.鈥�
Fifth and 8th graders in the state are tested twice a year, in the fall and in the spring.
鈥淭he data that we鈥檝e received back has been phenomenal,鈥� Ms. Poplin said. 鈥淲ithin 48 hours, [districts] can have their results back. School-level results, class-level results, student-level results. A teacher can drill down and make correlations.鈥�
Other states have tweaked off-the-shelf assessments. 鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing out there that meets our exact needs,鈥� said Dee Appleby, the director of South Carolina鈥檚 office of e-learning.
鈥淚 think Learning.com鈥檚 probably the closest we鈥檝e seen to the ISTE standards,鈥� she said, referring to the tech-literacy standards drawn up by the International Society for Technology in 91制片厂视频, which have been adopted by most states as the starting point for their own standards.
Still, Ms. Appleby noted, the state has employed a Maryland-based company to customize Learning.com鈥檚 TechLiteracy Assessment for its particular needs.
鈥淣o two states are the same,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult to come up with one baseline program that will work for everybody.鈥�
Florida has taken the customization idea to the nth degree, having its technological-literacy assessment built to suit at Florida State University鈥檚 Florida Center for Interactive Media, in Tallahassee.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 build something that鈥檚 one-size-fits-all,鈥� said Kate J. Kemker, the state鈥檚 bureau chief for instruction and innovation.
Congressional Action
This year, for the first time, the 91制片厂视频 Department has collected data on tech literacy, something Mr. Schneiderman of the SIIA called a step in the right direction.
And bills introduced last year in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives may portend even wider changes. Called the , the bills would uniformly define student tech literacy, and would authorize a maximum of $2 million a year to develop an annual national report on the subject.
Looking back on the federal approach to student technology literacy since the NCLB鈥檚 passage, ISTE鈥檚 Mr. Knezek decried what he called the 91制片厂视频 Department鈥檚 鈥渟elective enforcement.鈥�
鈥淭he negative leadership they鈥檝e shown has cut seriously into 8th graders鈥� tech literacy,鈥� he said.
Timothy J. Magner, the director of the 91制片厂视频 Department鈥檚 office of educational technology, said it was 鈥減robably a fair statement鈥� that commercial assessments of tech literacy would have grown more quickly if the department had collected such data since the NCLB鈥檚 enactment, and that states would by extension be farther along in assessing students鈥� tech literacy.
But, added Mr. Magner, a former executive director for K-12 education at the Microsoft Corp. and a former deputy executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers: 鈥淚鈥檓 not sure it鈥檚 quite as causal as Don [Knezek] would say. That鈥檚 a market dynamic.鈥�
