NEWS RELEASE: ITEEA Member Participates in Livestream Release of 2018 Report Card Assessment for Technology and Engineering Literacy

Today the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA) announced that ITEEA member Michael Renne, a technology teacher at Mendenhall Middle School in Guilford County Schools, NC participated on a panel during the live online release of the 2018 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL) results. NAEP is often referred to as The Nation’s Report Card and provides valuable information on improving educational systems. This nationwide assessment identifies essential Technology and Engineering skills for students to continue lifelong educational success. The TEL assesses technological and engineering literacy for the students’ ability to function in technological work by identifying a problem and being able to seek a viable solution. The assessment comes from practical everyday life and involves not only technology and engineering, but economics, mathematics, reading, writing, science, and communication.

ITEEA members and the association’s Standards for Technological Literacy (STL) (ITEEA, 2007) have been instrumental in the NAEP TEL since its inception. Numerous members have been involved in the development of the initial TEL Framework in 2014 and in the 2015 standard setting panels. The STL standards are the only K-12 standards covering all three areas of the NAEP TEL assessment: Design and Systems, Information and Communication Technology, and Communicating and Collaborating. ITEEA has started the process to revise Standards for Technological Literacy and recently received National Science Foundation funding for a summer 2019 STL revision conference.

The NAEP TEL has been administered to national samples of eighth graders in 2014 and 2018. In both 2014 and 2018, females scored higher than males. This aligns to a conclusion in ITEEA’s Learn Better by Doing Study (ITEEA, 2018), that technology and engineering activities promote female interest and participation in STEM education and occupations.

More than two thirds (68 percent) of students who took the NAEP TEL in 2018 said they had learned about or discussed designing or creating something to solve a problem “at least sometimes” in school. ITEEA’s Learn Better by Doing Study (ITEEA, 2018) indicates that secondary technology and engineering students are engaged in more hands-on activities than secondary science and mathematics students.

Visit the Nation’s Report Card website to learn more about the NAEP TEL assessment: www.nationsreportcard.gov/tel/. The National Center for Education Statistics also has videos, information, and the results from the 2014 and 2018 national administrations of NAEP TEL: https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/tel/.

About ITEEA

The International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA) is the professional organization for technology and engineering educators. Our mission is to promote technological and engineering literacy for all by supporting the teaching of technology and engineering and promoting the professionalism of those engaged in these pursuits. ITEEA strengthens the profession through leadership, professional development, membership services, publications, and classroom activities.

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