Exam to check ?technology literacy?

Educators and employers call those skills ?technology literacy,? and while everyone agrees it?s important to have, it also is difficult to measure. Now a test that some high school students will begin taking this year could help.

Educators and employers call those skills “technology literacy,” and while everyone agrees it’s important to have, it also is difficult to measure. Now a test that some high school students will begin taking this year could help.

The ICT Literacy Assessment touches on traditional skills, such as analytical reading and math, but with a technological twist. Test-takers, for instance, may be asked to query a database, compose an e-mail based on their research, or seek information on the Internet and decide how reliable it is.

The test stands for “Information and Communication Technology,” and a version is already in use.

On Friday, the non-profit Educational Testing Service plans to announce details of a new version that students will begin taking this spring. ETS also designs and administers the SAT, but says this isn’t designed as an admissions test. Rather, the goal is to show schools whether their students know how to use technology effectively and responsibly.

Princeton, NJ based ETS says educators increasingly recognise the “three ‘r’s” have to be mastered not just on paper but also as part of the tech-heavy 21st-century workplace. Education officials are monitoring early results to see if the test would be useful.

“Students know how do a lot of things with their iPod, but what is the educational value of accessing a lot of information?” said Anita Givens, director for instructional materials and educational technology at the Texas Education Agency.

Students will receive an individual score on a point scale of 400 to 700, and schools will get reports showing how students fare in seven core skills: defining, accessing, managing, integrating, evaluating, creating and communicating information.

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