NAEP Technical DocumentationDevelopment of the Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL) Cognitive Items and Instruments

			Student test forms: 2018 Digital test forms: 2014 Number of items: 2018 Number of items: 2014 Common assembly units: 2018 New assembly units: 2014

In 2014, the Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL) assessment was administered for the first time to eighth-grade students on laptop computers. The TEL instrument was composed of newly developed blocks of discrete items as well as interactive scenario-based tasks (SBTs). SBTs are designed to engage students in solving real-world technology and engineering-related problems in a digital environment and are comprised of a sequence of connected questions (e.g., multiple choice and constructed response) that are related to a single scenario. For the first administration of the TEL assessment, 4 SBTs and 20 discrete cognitive items were released to the public. The SBTs from the assessment can be accessed via the 2014 TEL Report Card, while the discrete items can be accessed via the NAEP Questions Tool. 

The NAEP TEL framework and specifications documents guided the TEL cognitive item development. The SBTs and discrete items were developed by NAEP item development staff and members of the TEL Standing Committee. All assessment materials were reviewed by specialists in technology and engineering education, measurement, assessment development, accessibility, and potential bias. The cognitive items were assembled into SBT and discrete item blocks covering three TEL content areas:

• technology and society;
  
• design and systems; and
• information and communication technology.

In addition, there are three TEL practices, or types of thinking and reasoning, that are measured as part of the assessment:

• understanding technological principles;
  
• developing solutions and achieving goals; and
• communicating and collaborating.

See what the NAEP TEL assessment measures for more information.

Following approval from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the assessment blocks were assembled into digital test forms and distributed to schools for administration.

The NAEP TEL assessment was administered for the second time in 2018. While the complete pool of the 2018 TEL assessment included 15 SBTs and 77 discrete questions, individual students responded to only a portion of the entire assessment. The total cognitive assessment time for each student was 60 minutes. Students responded to tasks and discrete questions in two separate 30-minute sections. Individual 30-minute sections were configured in various ways consisting of one long task (about 30 minutes), three 10-minute sets of discrete questions, or a combination of discrete question sets and a short task (about 10-20 minutes) totaling 30 minutes. While some students received two 30-minute task sections, none of the students received two sections of only discrete questions.

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