International Computer and Information Literacy Study 2018 From a U.S. Perspective: International Comparisons and Country-Specific Results

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: International Computer and Information Literacy Study 2018: Situating U.S. Results Within an International Context

Abstract

In the United States, computer and information literacy (CIL) and computational thinking (CT) are considered significant indicators of the nation’s ability to prepare its citizens for the global economy of the future. The U.S. Department of Education has made the status of CIL and CT one of its performance measures as part of the effort to improve STEM achievement of students at the primary and secondary grades (White House National Science and Technology Council, 2018). Thus, results of the U.S. assessment of CIL and CT performance in ICILS 2018 is awaited with anticipation.

Within the United States, ICILS 2018 is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The United States participated in ICILS for the first time in 2018. Participation in this study allows the United States to begin monitoring U.S. student skills and experience using technology compared to that of other nations. The study additionally provides data on factors that may influence student CIL and CT skills both for students within the United States and in comparison to other countries.

ICILS 2018 was administered in the U.S. to a nationally representative sample of eighth-grade students in both public and private schools. School and teacher surveys were also administered to principals and to a nationally representative sample of eighth-grade teachers, respectively, in the sampled schools. ICILS has a stratified two-stage probability cluster sampling design. In the U.S., approximately 300 schools were sampled. Within each school, 30 eighth-grade students and 20 eighth-grade teachers were sampled.

Students took a 120 minute assessment on tablets and answered some questions about their information communication technology use and experience levels in the Spring of 2018. This paper will describe selected findings from ICILS 2018 with a particular focus on how the U.S. students compared to students from other countries. Additionally, some results will focus on variables unique to the U.S. context. Results will include answers to the following questions regarding eighth-grade students:
1) How do U.S. students perform in CIL and CT compared to their peers in other countries?
2) How do U.S. boys and girls perform in comparison with other countries?
3) How does the number of computers at home relate to student performance in CIL and CT in the U.S., as compared to other countries?
4) How do U.S. students perform in CIL and CT, by race/ethnicity and by percentage of students in public schools eligible for free- or reduced-price lunch?
5) How often do U.S. students use ICT for learning activities?
6) Who taught U.S. students how to do selected ICT activities?

At the end of the session, information will be shared on how to acquire NCES data resources for the analysis of ICILS data. NCES plans to release public-use and restricted-use data files, provide an R package to encourage the use of ICILS data, and plans to create an ICILS International Data Explorer for easy analysis of ICILS data online.

Authors

• Lydia Malley, National Center for Education Statistics

• Linda Hamilton, U.S. Department of Education

• Yan Wang, American Institutes for Research