Access to Technology Contributes to the Achievement Gap in the Digital Age of Assessment

• In Event: 46.027 - Issues and Developments in NAEP Technology-Rich Assessments: Representative Work of NAEP–Educational Testing Service Summer Undergraduate Research Experience/Summer Predoctoral Research Experience Fellows

Abstract

Learning and assessment in the 21st century is innovative, interactive and increasingly technological. All students should be afforded access to a quality education, but the problem is many are not. Although the achievement gap has narrowed between some groups in recent years, it is still persistent. According to the 2013 Nation’s Report Card in Reading, White students scored higher than Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native student groups, of which a larger proportion of them come from lower socioeconomic (SES) groups.
This talk will explore two major factors related to the White – Black achievement gap: SES status and access to technology. A growing body of research suggests that lower SES families lack the resources and access to opportunities that are beneficial to achievement in the digital age. Du et al. (2002) found that new technologies benefit students who already have access to them at home, and that students from high SES families use technology for intellectually demanding inquiries, while lower SES students use it for rote learning activities. As such, the lack of access to technological resources at home shows up in both the classroom and test performance, and may be increasingly consequential as NAEP moves towards technology-rich assessment.
Ritzhaupt et al. (2013) found that a significant digital divide among children of lower SES families exist and these children are less likely to be proficient users of information communication technology (ICT). Using a performance based assessment measuring technology literacy across five relevant domains: 1) technology operations and concepts, 2) constructing and demonstrating knowledge, 3) communication and collaboration, 4) independent learning, and 5) digital citizenship the study found that lower SES families are less likely to be proficient users in these five technology literacy skills. Warschuaer et al. (2004) sought to explore the issue of technology and equity by highlighting ways in which ICT was being used in classrooms. The study found that even when relatively comparable numbers of computer and internet-connected devices were established in both high and low SES schools, there were differences in usage patterns; high SES students used technology to plan, edit, and analyze information as well as use the internet as a reference source, students from low SES schools did not. Additionally, teachers from low SES schools mentioned feeling pressured to teach towards the tests and not having enough instructional time to engage students in innovative instruction as it relates to ICT.
The literature on the access to technology as it relates to the achievement gap is complex, and suggests that even with similar levels of access to technology at the school level, students from lower SES families may have differential access to technology at home, and use technology differently at school. As NAEP moves forward to create technology rich assessments, test developers and researchers should be aware of differential access and usage of technological resources as a contributing factor to the persistent achievement gap.

Authors

• Noelita Bowman, Howard University

• Jay R. Campbell, ETS