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ETS ICT Literacy Assessment Premieres at Portland State University; New Test Measures Students' Ability to Process and Communicate Information in a Technological Environment

Business Wire, March 3, 2005

PRINCETON, N.J. -- ETS (Educational Testing Service) announced today that 250 students at Portland State University were the first to take ETS's new ICT (Information and Communication Technology) Literacy Assessment. The simulation-based testing program measures postsecondary students' ability to define, access, manage, integrate, evaluate, create and communicate information in a technological environment. About 8,000 students nationwide will take the test by March 31. ETS will use their scores to provide aggregate score reports measuring group performance.

"We had wondered whether there was a tool out there to measure information and technology communication skills," said Jennifer Dorner, Humanities and Social Sciences Librarian at PSU. "When I looked at the ETS ICT Literacy Assessment, I was surprised how sophisticated it is. The scoring not only reports the number of correct answers, but also evaluates the process that each student went through to arrive at that answer." PSU hopes to use the spring 2005 assessment results to determine whether students who have been at Portland State since their freshman year will perform better than students who transferred in. PSU plans to use the results as a proof point for accreditation. In the future, the test may also be used as a pre- and post-program assessment for selected university programs.

Unique among literacy assessments, the ETS ICT Literacy Assessment measures multiple aspects of ICT proficiency. Rather than pose multiple-choice questions, it requires test takers to apply basic technology as a tool to help them arrive at solutions. Students must use technology to perform information management tasks, such as evaluating the validity of information found on the Internet, extracting specific information from a database, developing a spreadsheet, or composing an e-mail summarizing research findings. Equipped with a PC in a proctored environment, along with paper and a pencil or pen for taking notes, students respond to multipart tasks during the two-hour test.

"Technology has transformed the classroom, the workplace, the global economy and our lives, and a student's ability to thrive in a technological environment has become a critical life skill," says Teresa Egan, ETS's ICT Project Manager. "Schools that effectively measure those skills can better evaluate the effectiveness of existing ICT-based curricula and identify areas in which ICT literacy resource allocations need to be placed."

Testing criteria for the ICT Literacy Assessment evolved from the findings of an international panel of experts and seven leading colleges and universities that ETS convened in 2001. The panel's charge was to define what it means to be literate in the 21st century, and to study the growing importance of the relationship among information, communication technologies and literacy. ETS developed the test from those insights.

For students, the ICT Literacy Assessment provides a gauge of how well they can use information and communication technology as a practical resource. For two- and four-year colleges and universities, the test provides the type of information needed to better plan resource allocation, focus on specific areas of student improvement, and report to accrediting agencies as increased value is placed in ICT proficiency.

For more information on the ETS ICT Literacy Assessment visit www.ets.org/ictliteracy.> About ETS

ETS is a nonprofit institution with a long-held commitment to advance learning. The mission of ETS is to advance quality and equity in education by providing fair and valid assessments, research and related services for all people worldwide. In serving individuals, educational institutions and government agencies around the world, ETS customizes solutions to meet the need for teacher professional development products and services, classroom and end-of-course assessments, and research-based teaching and learning tools. Founded in 1947 and based in Princeton, New Jersey, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 24 million tests annually in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide.