Education Commons^™

Investing In Workforce Literacy Pays: Building Employer Commitment To Workplace Language, Literacy And Numeracy Programs, Justin Brown, Michael Taylor, Phillip Mckenzie, Kate Perkins

Dr Justin Brown

In September 2012 the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) contracted the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to conduct this study into the financial return to employers from investing in workplace literacy training programs. The Australian Government, through its Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (DIISRTE), contracted the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) to manage the project. Over 2013-14, this study developed and trialled a set of data collection instruments in pilot mode with seven training programs funded under the Workplace English Language and Literacy (WELL) program. This report presents the results from the study in the …

Session J: Assessment In Interactive Learning Environments, Michael Timms, Jason Lodge

Dr Michael J Timms

There is an increasing interest in using digital technologies to create interactive learning environments (ILEs) that both teach and assess student skills that are hard or impossible to assess using ‘static’ items such as traditional, multiple-choice questions. These interactive learning environments try to do two things simultaneously: firstly, to monitor the learning of the student in real time, providing feedback to help the student progress through the learning task; and secondly, to use the information gathered during the learning to make judgements about where the student is in learning of the topic. Essentially, ILEs draw upon the same source of …

Assessment In Interactive Learning Environments, Michael Timms, Jason Lodge

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

There is an increasing interest in using digital technologies to create interactive learning environments (ILEs) that both teach and assess student skills that are hard or impossible to assess using ‘static’ items such as traditional, multiple-choice questions. These interactive learning environments try to do two things simultaneously: firstly, to monitor the learning of the student in real time, providing feedback to help the student progress through the learning task; and secondly, to use the information gathered during the learning to make judgements about where the student is in learning of the topic. Essentially, ILEs draw upon the same source of …

Measuring What Matters: Challenges And Opportunities In Assessing Science Proficiency, James W. Pellegrino

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

A key challenge in shaping science learning for the future will be to develop new measures of learning that take into account what it means to be proficient in science (Pellegrino, 2013). The emergent view on proficiency, grounded in learning sciences research, emphasises using and applying knowledge in the context of disciplinary practice. Referred to as knowledge-in-use, this perspective on science proficiency is a centrepiece of the United States’ National Research Council’s (NRC) Framework for K–12 Science Education (NRC, 2012), embodied in the new US national standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013) and emphasised in the recently released NRC report on …

Assessment Standards, ‘Intentional Alignment’, And Dialogic Inquiry, Claire Wyatt-Smith

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Internationally, the policy move towards standards-aligned instruction is gaining momentum. In Australia, standards have assumed unprecedented prominence in education policy relating both to classroom practice and to teacher preparation and career progression. The move is also evident in the United States, where the lure of standards to inform improvement is clear: significant investment has been committed to longitudinal research to examine at state and district levels the desirable conditions for implementing standards, their impact on developing college- and career-ready teachers, and in turn, the impact on teacher instruction and student outcomes. Moves such as this are occurring in the absence …

Acer Research Conference Proceedings (2015), Acer

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

It is indeed timely that Research Conference 2015 addresses the theme Learning Assessments: Designing the future. It is six years since our Research Conference considered issues in assessment, and the landscape is being significantly transformed. Not only is Australia’s school curriculum changing, but related issues of teaching quality and assessment practice are hot topics here and in many other countries. This transforming landscape includes changes in thinking about the fundamental purposes of assessment; growing demands for the assessment of a broader range of student skills and capabilities; and new technologies that allow us to gather and visualise information about student …

Investing In Workforce Literacy Pays: Building Employer Commitment To Workplace Language, Literacy And Numeracy Programs, Justin Brown, Michael Taylor, Phillip Mckenzie, Kate Perkins

Transition and Post-School Education and Training

In September 2012 the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) contracted the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to conduct this study into the financial return to employers from investing in workplace literacy training programs. The Australian Government, through its Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (DIISRTE), contracted the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) to manage the project. Over 2013-14, this study developed and trialled a set of data collection instruments in pilot mode with seven training programs funded under the Workplace English Language and Literacy (WELL) program. This report presents the results from the study in the …

A Comparative Analysis: Indigenous Students And Education Models In Canada And The United States, Alison M. Perkins

Global Honors Theses

Equity in education for minority students is an issue that has been ignored for quite some time. This is important to note because education is an important aspect to human development. This thesis focuses on education models in Canada and the United States, and how those models affect indigenous students specifically. Indigenous peoples are a historically marginalized group that have faced inequity in their educational experiences. This paper explores the historical context of education for indigenous peoples in both nations in order to understand their current educational issues. I used the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples …

Retention And Graduation Rates At Public Research Universities: Do Medical Centers Affect Rates?, Sara C. Jewell

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Retention and six-year graduation rates have increased in relevance and importance within the last decade. As costs for post-secondary education continue to rise, the need to graduate on time becomes more important to both the student and the institution. Public, four-year, research universities currently have a 63 percent six-year graduation rate over the past decade (U.S. Department of Education). An average 20 percent of the students entering these same institutions are leaving after their freshman year (U.S. Department of Education). Institutions across the United States have started prioritizing these measures of success.

The goal of this research study is to …

Educational Attainment In Guatemala: An Analysis Of Characteristics Related To Youth Perspectives And Households, Nicole Lesniewski

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Throughout the world, policy makers, analysts, and non-profit organizations look at the educational achievement gap among students. This is not a topic specific to any developing or developed country in particular, yet the methods of measuring achievement gaps and alleviating the differences vary widely. T his paper will focus on the achievement gap of students in Guatemala, with a particular interest in rural education and education of the indigenous population. The purpose of this study is to look for relationships between educational achievement of youth in Guatemala and youth perspectives on a variety of issues including education, financial well-being, and …