Exploring the Relationship between 8th Grade Non-School Factors and NAEP Technology Scores

Abstract: This study presented a secondary analysis of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) dataset, specifically focused on the 2018 eighth-grade NAEP Technology and Engineering assessment's Information and Communication Technology (ICT) category. The purpose was to examine the impact of non-school factors, problem-solving, and digital communication use on student technology scores. This study used a quantitative descriptive research design to analyze secondary data extracted from the 2018 NAEP data set. The findings indicate that students who reported spending time outside of school exploring something to see how it works or to solve a problem consistently scored significantly higher than those who did so less often. These findings may indicate an overall positive correlation between time spent working on or with digital technology outside of school for creative and problem-solving purposes and ICT literacy.