The glossary is divided into five sections. The first section presents acronyms used in the framework, followed by sections on basic framework terminology, assessment terms, and terms related to education content and pedagogy. The final section presents terms specific to the three major assessment areas of Technology and Engineering Literacy: Technology and Society, Design and Systems, and Information and Communication Technology. Relevant terms and definitions from each area are included, and they are defined within the context of the framework.
| AAAS | American Association for the Advancement of Science |
| CCSSO | Council of Chief State School Officers |
| IBA | International Baccalaureate Association |
| ISTE | International Society for Technology in Education |
| ITEEA | International Technology and Engineering Educators Association |
| NAE | National Academy of Engineering |
| NAEP | National Assessment of Educational Progress |
| NCES | National Center for Education Statistics |
| NETS•S | National Educational Technology Standards for Students |
| NRC | National Research Council |
| NSTA | National Science Teachers Association |
| OECD | Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development |
| PISA | Programme for International Student Assessment |
| SETDA | State Educational Technology Directors Association |
| STEM | Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics |
| TIMSS | Third International Mathematics and Science Study |
| Technology | Any modification of the natural or designed world done to fulfill human needs or desires. |
| Engineering | A systematic and often iterative approach to designing objects, processes, and systems to meet human needs and wants. |
| Technology and engineering literacy | Capacity to use, understand, and evaluate technology as well as to understand technological principles and strategies needed to develop solutions and achieve goals. It encompasses the three areas of Technology and Society, Design and Systems, and Information and Communication Technology. |
| Educational technology | Various types of equipment, tools, and processes used as aids in teaching and learning. |
| Technology educators | All those whose teaching responsibilities include imparting the knowledge, capabilities, and skills described in this framework. |
| Technology education | The knowledge and skills taught to students in the three areas of Technology and Society, Design and Systems, and Information and Communication Technology. |
| Framework | A NAEP framework is a document that defines the parameters of a NAEP assessment. It guides the test makers in developing an assessment. |
| Technological processes | Procedures using technological knowledge, tools, and skills to develop solutions and achieve goals. |
| Technological principles | Sets of foundational and fundamental assumptions that underlie each of the three areas of technology and engineering literacy defined in this framework. |
| Technological practices | Types of thinking and reasoning that students are expected to demonstrate when responding to an assessment item. The framework specifies three practices: understanding technological principles; developing solutions and achieving goals; and communicating and collaboration. |
| Advanced achievement level | The highest of NAEP's three levels of performance. This level signifies superior performance. |
| Assessment areas or targets | The three assessment foci of this framework on technological literary: Technology and Society, Design and Systems, and Information and Communication Technology. |
| Assessment balance | Appropriate distribution of items according to major assessment area, technological practice, assessment set type, and response type. |
| Assessment specifications | Assessment requirements that framework developers give to test developers. These include, for example, the foci of the assessment, the number and types of items, the specific areas to be assessed, the accommodations for students with disabilities, etc. |
| Background variables | Demographic and contextual data related to the NAEP assessment gathered through questionnaires usually completed by school administrators, teachers, and students. |
| Basic achievement level | The lowest of NAEP's three levels of performance. This level denotes partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge and skills that are fundamental for proficient work at each grade. |
| Constructed response | Items in which the student "constructs" the response rather than choosing a response from a limited number of alternatives. Constructed responses may be short (students supply a word or short sentence) or extended (students complete a task). |
| Cut scores | The minimum score required for performance at each NAEP achievement level. |
| Discrete item set | A group of questions that include conventional selected response items and short constructed response items. |
| Item | A single question or set of instructions. |
| Item specifications | Assessment requirements that framework developers give to test developers, for example, the number and types of items to be included. |
| Probe (noun) | A smaller-scale, focused assessment on a timely topic that explores a particular question or issue and may be limited to particular grades. |
| Proficient achievement level | The middle of NAEP's three levels of performance. This level represents solid academic performance for each grade assessed. Students reaching this level have demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter, including subject matter knowledge, application of such knowledge to practical situations, and analytical skills appropriate to the subject matter. |
| Response type | The activity an item asks a student to perform when responding. In this assessment there are three item response types: short constructed response, long constructed response, and selected response. |
| Scale scores | Scores that allow for comparison of students' performance on different administrations of a test. For example, students' scores might be converted to a score on a scale that ranges from 0 to 500 points. |
| Scenario-based assessment | In the context of this framework, scenarios are interactive computer tasks that constitute the bulk of the items. Scenarios may be short or long, depending on what they require the student to do. |
| Selected response | A type of item in which students read a question and choose the best answer from a set of options. |
| Universal design for assessment | Guidelines for ensuring that the largest number of disabled assessment students and English language learners participate in an assessment. |
| Academic problem | An assigned task that a teacher may give to a student. |
| Collaboration | To work together with other individuals. However, for this NAEP assessment, it will mean using contemporary technologies to work with virtual (computer-generated) individuals to solve problems or achieve goals. |
| Diffuse curriculum | Curriculum without a clear scope, sequence, and series of courses. |
| Disaggregation | Separation into component parts, such as the breaking down of achievement data by racial and ethnic subgroup. |
| Equity | Fair access to opportunities to learn that are based on need rather than on some arbitrary factor. |
| Fluency | A smooth and easy flow of knowledge and skills. |
| Habits of mind | Customary ways of thinking and acting. |
| Literacy | The capacity to use, understand, and evaluate a body of knowledge and skills as well as to apply concepts and processes to solve problems and reach one's goals. |
| Sequential curriculum | Curriculum that has a scope, sequence, and a series of courses. |
| Artifacts | Products and items that a society's population develops, uses, and updates to meet needs and wants. |
| Human-made | Term describing an artifact that has been designed and developed by means that are outside the boundaries and capabilities of the natural world. |
| Modeling and simulation | Utilizing technology to analyze and test the possible effects, impacts, and trade-offs that are associated with a new technological innovation to evaluate efficiency, discover potential problems, and develop workable solutions. |
| Natural world | Plants, animals, water, and other organisms and elements that exist without contributions from humans. |
| Practical problem | A situation that a person may encounter in everyday life that requires a solution. |
| Product life cycle | The span of time that an artifact is commissioned to satisfy a societal need that can start from the point of design, manipulation of raw materials, and manufacturing processes, to eventual obsolescence and disposal. |
| Regulating technologies | Technological innovations that are responsible for contributing to the protection of natural resources in areas such as transportation, energy, and waste disposal. |
| Technological inequalities | Instances where countries and societies use antiquated technologies due to economic circumstances or cultural preferences. |
| Trade-off | A decision where complete awareness of both the advantages and disadvantages of the result are explored and the impacts of both are taken into consideration. |
| Constraint | A boundary, limit, or restriction, such as time, money, or resources, in the requirements for a project. |
| Criteria | Characteristics (or specifications) of a successful solution, such as a desired function or a particular level of efficiency. |
| Engineering design method (Sometimes called technological design) | An iterative, systematic process for solving problems that involves creativity, experience, and accumulated disciplinary knowledge. |
| Life cycle | Important phases in the development of a system from initial concept through design, testing, use, and maintenance to retirement. |
| Optimization | Finding the best possible solution when some criterion or constraint is identified as the most important and others are given less weight. |
| Problem solving | The cognitive process of finding answers to questions and solutions to undesired situations. |
| Prototype | First version, or generation, of an entity created from a particular design plan using the engineering design method. |
| Requirements | Combination of criteria and constraints for a given project. |
| Reverse engineering | Disassembling an item in a systemic way to understand how it works, usually so it can be repaired, copied, or improved. |
| Systems thinking | Way of investigating or thinking about a system using a set of principles. |
| Troubleshooting | Systematic method of dealing with failures. |
| Digital assistants | Also called Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), devices used as organizers to enter and store data such as addresses, expenses, or calendar items. Some are capable of being used as handheld computers and may also have Internet capabilities. |
| Digital models | An electronic representation of a system. |
| Digital tools | Any technology that stores and transmits data electronically. |
| Fair use | A condition under U.S. copyright law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without procuring permission from the copyright holder. |
| Geographical Information | Any system that gathers, saves, evaluates, and presents data System related to geographic locations. A common example is a Global Positioning System (GPS), used to obtain driving directions. |
| Information and Communication Technologies | Technologies used to access, gather, store, analyze, and report information. |
| Information (or digital) literacy | Skills needed to access, evaluate, and use information from a variety of sources. |
| Interactive whiteboards | An interactive display system that connects to a projector and a computer. Using special software, it is possible to project the computer's desktop and then control the computer using a stylus, personal response system, or even a finger. |
| Media literacy | The capacity to access and evaluate messages created using a variety of media, such as advertisements, commercials, or speeches, etc. It also refers to the skills required to develop and communicate a message using media. |
| Media player | Software used on a computer to manage and play video or audio files or to view digital images. It can also be handheld hardware that provides the same functions and is also used to store files. |
| Mobile wireless devices | Small, lightweight hardware, often called handheld technology, that has the capability to connect wirelessly to the Internet. Examples include handheld computers, smart phones, and netbooks. |
| Wiki | A website that allows users to work collaboratively to view, edit, and add information. One of the best-known examples of this type of site is Wikipedia, a collaboratively written encyclopedia. |
