The Final Hurdle?

A new standardized test developed by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) to measure 21st-century information skills may bring about a significant—if not seismic—shift for school librarians.

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Literacy Assessment not only measures a student’s knowledge of technology but also the seven proficiencies that make up a student’s ability to use critical thinking to “define, access, manage, integrate, evaluate, create, and communicate information in a technological environment,” says ETS. We in the school library world see it as an exam that tests information literacy and technology skills, as well as critical thinking and problem-solving proficiencies. But information literacy happens to be a phrase that’s largely ignored by students, teachers, and administrators because they have no idea what it means. In fact, 68 percent of media specialists say they encounter barriers to teaching information literacy because many people view it as jargon and often mistake it for information access, according to a 2003 survey by School Library Journal.

But the new test by ETS—a nonprofit group that administers the SAT, the Advanced Placement Program, and other well-known tests—may change all that. Media specialists will be pleased to hear that the bulk of the new test addresses some of the standards that come straight out of the American Association of School Librarians’ Information Power, the International Society for Technology in Education’s National Educational Technology standards, and the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Information Literacy Competency standards. Finally, information literacy is getting the nationwide recognition it deserves.

The bottom line is that school librarians have a huge role to play in ensuring that students know how to properly use communication tools and digital technology. “This includes the ability to use technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate, and communicate information, and the ethical and legal issues surrounding the access and use of information,” says ETS.

The ICT Literacy Assessment was developed at the beginning of 2001, when ETS convened an international panel made up of experts from education, government, and nongovernmental organizations—such as the Information Technology Association of America and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in France—to study the growing importance of existing and emerging information and communication technologies. Their report, “Digital Transformation: A Framework for ICT Literacy,” helped guide the Higher Education ICT Literacy consortium, which developed the test and conducted trial runs in 2003 and 2004. Since there was no widespread agreement in academic circles whether information or technological literacy can be measured in a test, the challenge was to construct an exam that would do just that.

Initially, there will be two versions of the ICT Literacy Assessment: a core assessment for high school seniors, as well as college freshmen and sophomores, and an advanced assessment for upper-level college students. There are future plans to create a middle school through high school foundational test for students in grades seven to 10.

You Have 75 Minutes

The core test, administered online in a proctored lab or classroom, uses real-time, scenario-based tasks such as obtaining information from a database, creating a spreadsheet, and writing a concise e-mail message based on research findings. Tasks are designed to measure technical and cognitive skills.

An assessment of the ability to collect or retrieve information in a digital environment may involve searching a database, browsing hyperlinks, or locating information through online help. To determine proficiency in evaluating information, a student may, for instance, be asked to find a database that best addresses a research question, determine if a Web site is sufficient to complete a given task, or rank sites according to whether they meet particular criteria.

Making Sense of the Results

ETS says its goals are to “provide aggregated results for measuring the performance of particular groups” and to “provide individual results that can be used to measure the basic ICT proficiency of a student.” Group results help schools determine how well information and communication technology skills are being taught, and schools can then modify or add courses. At the same time, individuals are given the opportunity to understand where their personal ICT skills are lacking and address these problems.

Theresa Egan, ICT’s project manager, says ETS was responding to schools that recognized the “need to get their students to a particular skill level in information literacy and technology.” Does that mean the new test will be used to determine admission placement like the SAT? No, and the test is voluntary. The ICT Literacy Assessment doesn’t dictate topics and skills that are taught in schools, but instead provides information on proficiencies that are considered important. Simply put, the test is an assessment tool that will assist schools in determining whether their students have information and communication technology skills and their level of competency.

My school, Rice Memorial High School in South Burlington, VT, was one of five test sites in the country that was invited to pilot the core assessment in February, and we plan to repeat the test in the fall. Our initial participation will help ETS fine-tune the exam. The test in September will yield results that we hope will provide answers and insights, particularly in the area of assessment, as well as questions that have long plagued school librarians: How well are we teaching technology skills and the critical thinking proficiencies to use them optimally? What new skills do we need to be teaching? Are the research and technology skills that we teach in one grade successfully reinforced and maintained in others? How familiar are our students with the ethical and legal issues embedded in the use of information?

Reading Tea Leaves

The ICT Literacy Assessment may prove to be the perfect opportunity for librarians to work with teachers and administrators. Test results can be used to help improve education, opening doors to increased librarian-teacher collaboration. “Librarians and teachers have had a role change in the last decade,” Egan says. “Their assistance is crucial to help students evaluate, manage, and convey information and understand its legal and ethical aspects.”

At this early stage of the test’s development and implementation no reliable predictions can be made. Understandably, there will be questions about its method and structure, as well as its accuracy and effectiveness. It remains to be seen whether administrators will adopt these tests to help plan their schools’ curriculum. Could this test become the standard for determining competencies for school accreditation? And if the voluntary nature of the test ever becomes a requirement for entering a college or university, would middle and high schools be compelled to administer the core or foundational ICT Literacy Assessment tests?

Librarians have long understood the importance of knowing how to properly locate, use, and evaluate information. If information literacy is as important to school librarians as we say it is, let’s not be left behind. Let’s seize this test as an opportunity to demonstrate our importance as instructors of information literacy and the value these skills have in our students’ lives.