areas of the assessment are: Technology and society – deals with the effects that technology has on society and on the natural world and with the sorts of ethical questions that arise from those effects. Design and systems – covers the nature of technology; the engineering design process by which technologies are developed; and basic principles of dealing with everyday technologies, including maintenance and troubleshooting. Information and communication technology – includes computers and software learning tools; networking systems and protocols; hand-held digital devices; and other technologies for accessing, creating, and communicating information and for facilitating creative expression. Eighth-grade students throughout the nation took the assessment in winter of 2014. Results from this assessment were released in May 2016. Writing Computer-Based Assessment In 2011, NAEP transitioned its writing assessment (at grades 8 and 12) from paper and pencil to a computer-based administration in order to measure students' ability to write using a computer. The assessment takes advantage of many features of current digital technology and the tasks are delivered in multimedia formats, such as short videos and audio. Additionally, in an effort to include as many students as possible, the writing computer-based assessment system has embedded within it several universal design features such as text-to-speech, adjustable font size, and electronic spell check. In 2012, NAEP piloted the computer-based assessment for students at grade 4. Studies using NAEP data In addition to the assessments, NAEP coordinates a number of related special studies that often involve special data collection processes, secondary analyses of NAEP results, and evaluations of technical procedures. Achievement gaps Achievement gaps occur when one group of students outperforms another group and the difference in average scores for the two groups is statistically significant (that is, larger than the margin of error). In initial report releases NAEP highlights achievement gaps across student groups. However, NAEP has also releases a number of reports and data summaries that highlight achievement gap. – Some examples include the School Composition and the Black-White Achievement Gap and the Hispanic-White and the Black-White Achievement Gap Performance. These publications use NAEP scores in mathematics and/or reading for these groups to either provide data summaries or illuminate patterns and changes in these gaps over time. Research reports, like the School Composition and Black-White Achievement Gap, also include caveats and cautions to interpreting the data. High School Transcript Study (HSTS) The HSTS explores the relationship between grade 12 NAEP achievement