Education Commons^™

A Teacher's Guide To Pisa Scientific Literacy, Sue Thomson, Kylie Hillman, Lisa De Bortoli

OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Australia

This report focuses on Australian students' performance on the PISA items that have been released in Scientific Literacy. It includes an overview of the PISA Scientific Literacy Framework, Australian students' results in the 2006 international assessment, examples of responses and marking guides and the context behind achievement, e.g. attitudes, engagement and motivation, and recognition of environmental issues.

Measure For Measure : A Review Of Outcomes Of School Education In Australia, John Ainley, Eveline Gebhardt

Assessment and Reporting

There have been a plethora of research reports providing information about the achievements of students in Australian schools and how those achievements differ among jurisdictions and among groups of students. However, each report has often been viewed in isolation from other similar studies. This report is intended to provide an integrated appraisal of the results of the international and national achievement surveys conducted since 1994 but with some references to earlier studies. In addition to limiting the task to manageable proportions, this time span corresponds to the widespread introduction of modern measurement methods so that there is a better basis …

A Teacher's Guide To Pisa Reading Literacy, Sue Thomson, Kylie Hillman, Lisa De Bortoli

OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Australia

This report focuses on Australian students' performance on the PISA items that have been released in reading literacy. It includes an overview of the PISA Reading Framework, Australia's results in the PISA 2009 international assessment , examples of responses and marking guides, and the context behind achievement, e.g. enjoyment of reading, how often they read and high-level strategies for learning.

A Teacher's Guide To Pisa Mathematical Literacy, Sue Thomson, Kylie Hillman, Lisa De Bortoli

OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Australia

This report focuses on mathematical literacy and is one of a series of three reports on Australian students' performance in PISA. The report provides an overview of the PISA mathematics framework and Australia's results in the PISA 2003 international assessment. Also included are mathematics items released for public viewing after the PISA 2003 assessment and examples of responses, marking guides and comparisons of results with other countries. The context behind achievement, e.g. attitudes, engagement and learning strategies, is also presented.

Mobile Learning - Why Tablets?, Helen Galatis, Gerry K. White

Digital learning research

Although flexible and distance learning has been an integral part of the education landscape for many years , the nature of learning using technology has experienced an unprecedented rate of change over the last decade. This change has been also reflected in the terminology used to describe this learning, such as e - learning, m - learning and more. In the broadest sense, the new technologies have been a catalyst for merging the boundaries of formal, informal and lifelong learning. Global economies are driving aspects of social change through the adaptation of new technologies for everyday business and transactions. As …

Deconstructing Maths Anxiety: Helping Students To Develop A Positive Attitude Towards Learning Maths, Sarah Buckley

Student learning processes

Higher maths ability is often believed to go hand-in-hand with greater levels of general intelligence. At the same time, many students have a negative attitude towards maths. Maths anxiety is defined in the research literature as feelings of concern, tension or nervousness that are experienced in combination with maths. In 2005, researchers in the United States estimated that approximately 20 per cent of the US population were highly maths anxious. Given the cultural similarities between the US and Australia, we can assume that the percentage would be comparable here. Research in education, cognitive psychology and neuroscience shows that anxiety can …

Forward Thinking : Three Forward, Two Back : What Are The Next Steps?, Gerald K. White

Digital learning research

The use of digital technologies and digital media in teaching, learning and leadership in education has gradually gained momentum since the 1980s, when personal computers first became popular. The resultant media hype and educational posturing by technology evangelists were given a boost with the take up of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s. And significant investment followed nationally and internationally. So what have we learnt in that time about using technology for teaching, learning and educational leadership? What will be the challenges for successfully using digital technologies in education in the next five years?

This address briefly traverses …

Profiling Diversity Of Australian Universities, Hamish Coates, Daniel Edwards, Leo Goedegebuure, Marian Thakur, Eva Van Der Brugge, Frans Van Vught

Higher education research

There is a good deal of consensus that institutional diversity in higher education is a good thing. Simply put, systems with more diverse institutions perform better than systems with less diverse institutions. Yet the overall diversity of Australia’s higher education system remains unclear. Significant questions and opportunities remain unresolved. How diverse are Australia’s institutions today? How can stakeholders— particularly institutions and policymakers—understand and manage this diversity? This LH Martin Institute and ACER research briefing seeks to shift discussion of diversity to a more considered level. The analysis moves beyond extant sectoral partitionings and contingent policy interventions to expose emerging dynamics …

Evaluation Of The Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy Initiative : Final Report, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Indigenous Education Research

In October 2012, the Queensland Department of Education Training and Employment (DETE) contracted the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to undertake an evaluation of the Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy (CYAAA) Initiative. The CYAAA Initiative is designed to improve student outcomes. It is a pilot program operating in primary schools at Coen, Hope Vale and Aurukun. (The trial began in January 2010 in Aurukun and Coen, and in January 2011 in Hope Vale.) The Initiative is part of the Cape York Welfare Reform education stream.

Student Participation At School And Future Civic Engagement: Results From Iccs 2009, Wolfram Schulz, John Ainley, Julian Fraillon

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

Civic and citizenship education aims to prepare young people for their roles as citizens in society. Potential learning outcomes include enhanced knowledge and understanding of civic-related issues as well as student attitudes and behaviours. This paper focuses on the importance of civic participation at school as part of this learning process. Civic participation at school has been emphasized increasingly in the literature in studies of the associations between student participation at school and their expected future engagement in society. The data presented in this paper were collected as part of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS 2009), which …

Civic Knowledge And Engagement Among Students From Immigrant And Non-Immigrant Backgrounds, Tim Friedman, Wolfram Schulz, Julian Fraillon, John Ainley

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

Civic and citizenship education has the goal of preparing young people for their role as citizens in society through the acquisition of civic knowledge and development of positive attitudes toward engagement. However, globalization and higher levels of migration have led to a re-thinking of the way education should be prepared young people for citizenship in an increasingly globalized world which is no longer only defined by notions of nation states. This paper focuses on the relationship between immigrant background and indicators for civic knowledge and engagement. The data used were collected as part of the IEA International Civic and Citizenship …

Attitudes Towards Political Engagement Among Lower Secondary Students In East Asian Countries: Results From Iccs 2009, John Ainley, Wolfram Schulz, Julian Fraillon

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

Based on student survey data from five East Asian countries, the paper contains an analysis of attitudes towards the use of personal connections in politics and towards personal morality among politicians. The first part of the analysis describes the extent and variations of these attitudes which are viewed as of particular relevance within the East Asian context. The second part of the analysis investigates the relationship of these attitudes with student background and school-related variables such as civic knowledge as well as uncovering to what extent these attitudes are related to indicators of future civic engagement among students.

Literacy And The Most Marginalised Children, Megan Robinson

International Developments

Researchers, practitioners and policy makers interested in the field of inclusive education gathered at a roundtable meeting to discuss synergies across the Australian and international development education policy arenas regarding literacy interventions for the most marginalised children.

Regional Focus : Africa, Rachel Outhred

International Developments

Significant work on evaluation and assessment aimed at addressing equity and educational quality in Africa is being undertaken by researchers at ACER.

Unicef And Unesco, Richa Jain

International Developments

ACER has been working with the United Nations through UNICEF and UNESCO to support high-quality education across the world.

Making A Difference In Developing Countries

International Developments

The work of ACER in education is making the difference in educational outcomes for students across the world, particularly in developing countries, explains the author.

International Developments (No.3) 2013

International Developments

Table of contents for this issue: (a) Making a difference in developing countries; (b) UNICEF and UNESCO; (c) Regional focus : Africa; (d) Literacy and the most marginalised children.

Snapshot Of School–Community Partnerships In Australian Schools, Sharon Clerke

Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation

Schools across Australia are increasingly connecting and engaging with community groups to create opportunities for their students. From marine parks to art galleries, radio stations to local councils, aged care to football clubs, neighbourhood houses to garden centres, the possibilities for collaboration are endless. Schools are reaching out into the broader community to build exciting and innovative relationships that are designed to have a positive impact on student learning.

This report describes some of the ways that schools and community groups are collaborating using information contained in Impact Award applications submitted by schools in 2010 and 2011. The NAB Schools …

Partnering For Success, Sharon Clerke

Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation

The NAB Schools First Awards are the result of a partnership between two not-for-profits, the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA), and a large banking corporation, the National Australia Bank (NAB). The Awards project is a national criteria-based awards program which has been rewarding outstanding school–community partnerships since 2009. These Awards reflect a significant investment in education and by 2013, the fifth year of the Awards, will have awarded over $18 million to support more than 500 school–community partnerships around Australia.

This report presents a snapshot of the impact the Awards program is …

Using Data To Enhance 21st Century Skill Development In Vet Discussion Paper For The Summit On Data For Quality Improvement In Vet, Acer

Transition and Post-School Education and Training

In response to the increasing demands of modern workforce and general life participation and perceptions of poor or declining educational standards, governments around the world are emphasising the important role of education systems in developing in learners a broader set of skills that will meet the challenges and demands of work, study and life in the 21st century. In many cases this has led education systems to focus increasingly on learning outcomes as a measure of system quality in addition to more traditional measures of inputs and outputs. In refocusing the notion of ‘quality’ around this proximate purpose of …

Feasibility Study For The East Asia Summit - Regional Facility For Education Quality Assessment Project (Rfeqa), John Cresswell, Karyn Docking

Monitoring Learning

This report presents a feasibility study into an East Asia Summit (EAS) Regional Facility for Education Quality Assessment (RFEQA).The project was developed partly in response tomajor findings of the 2008 study Harnessing Educational Cooperation in the EAS for Regional Competitiveness and Community Building (‘the Harnessing Report’) which noted that 'One potential issue for a number of EAS countries is that a number of the international student achievement studies are focused on secondary education. For developing countries in particular, the higher priority is likely to be student achievement in primary education as secondary participation rates are relatively low...'

This report …

Accuracy Of Rasch Model Item Parameter Estimation, Luc T. Le, Ray J. Adams

Assessment and Reporting

This study used Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate the item parameter recovery from ACER ConQuest 3 software (Adams, Wu, & Wilson, 2012) for the dichotomous Rasch model. The authors’ primary focus was the comparison of its estimation methods, joint maximum likelihood (JML), marginal maximum likelihood (MML) with a normal distribution assumption and MML with a discrete distributions assumption when the populations were in fact non-normal. The simulation data sets were generated with two test lengths (10 and 50 items) and four alternative true population distributions for the abilities: normal, bimodal, uniform, and chi-square. As expected, results showed that MML-Normal was …

Reforming Educational Assessment: Imperatives, Principles And Challenges, Geoff N. Masters

Australian Education Review

AER 57 reviews research into assessment, especially in schools; it analyses the pivotal role of assessment in learning and argues for its reconceptualisation by practitioners and policy makers to better support learning. The genesis of this AER was the ACER Research Conference Assessment and Student Learning: Collecting, interpreting and using data to inform teaching, held in Perth in August 2009.

Section 1 outlines some current pressures for assessment reform, introduces the concept of a learning assessment system designed to establish where learners are in their progress within an empirically mapped domain of learning, and sketches a set of design …

Professional Certification: Promoting And Recognising Successful Teaching Practices, Lawrence C. Ingvarson

Teaching standards and teacher evaluation

This paper focuses on the challenge of developing a system forrecognising and rewarding accomplished teachers operated by the teaching profession – a standards-based professional learning and certification system. While the focus is on recent Australian experience, it draws on the experience of several countries that have sought to reform teacher career structures and pay systems so that there is a closer alignment between career progression and increasing expertise. Over the past twenty years or so, teacher associations in several countries have demonstrated that the profession has the ability to reach a consensus on teaching standards without imposing uniformity of teaching …

Startsmart Impact Report, Commonwealth Bank Foundation

Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation

The Commonwealth Bank Foundation’s school-based, financial education program, StartSmart, was developed with the assistance of education experts and launched in 2007. The StartSmart program – is a series of interactive, financial literacy workshops delivered in classrooms by a team of facilitators which works in partnership with school teachers to deliver effective financial education. The program extends to students in primary, secondary and vocational education settings. The Commonwealth Bank Foundation engaged the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to undertake an evaluation of the StartSmart program. The purpose of this research was to measure the impact of StartSmart on students’ financial …

Partnering For School Improvement : Case Studies Of School-Community Partnerships In Australia, Sharon Clerke

Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation

The case studies in this booklet illustrate the creative ways in which Australian schools are responding to local needs by establishing and building partnerships with community organisations and businesses. These partnerships have been formed to share resources, both human and material. They are providing students with access to breakfast clubs, homework and tutoring programs, after-school fitness and sporting activities, and other programs designed to re-engage students. Local businesses that want students to know more about employer expectations and the realities of the workplace are providing work placements and work experience, traineeships and apprenticeships. Some schools are partnering with other educational …

Queensland Teaching And Learning Audits 2010–2012, Gabrielle Matters, Yvana Jones

School and system improvement

This paper describes the teaching and learning audits introduced in Queensland government schools in the period 2010-2012. The teaching and learning audits were based on an audit tool developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) for the Queensland Department of Education and Training (DET). The audit tool was a precursor to the National School Improvement Tool and, in 2010-2012, consisted of the first eight domains of the final tool. The Queensland experience provides a valuable case study of one education system’s use of the tool as a basis for external school reviews, school self-evaluations and school improvement planning.

National Report On Social Equity In Vet 2013, Sheldon Rothman, Chandra Shah, Catherine Underwood, Julie Mcmillan, Justin Brown, Phillip Mckenzie

Transition and Post-School Education and Training

This report is the first National Report on Social Equity in VET. It has been developed by the National VET Equity Advisory Council (NVEAC) to provide baseline information on the participation, achievement and transitions from the Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) system for six groups in the Australian population: Indigenous Australians; people with a disability; people from a culturally and linguistically diverse background; people living in remote areas; people from low socioeconomic status backgrounds; and women. The report also provides information on the experience in VET of a further five groups who may be experiencing difficult life chances …

Iccs 2009 Encyclopedia : Approaches To Civic And Citizenship Education Around The World, John Ainley, Wolfram Schulz, Tim Friedman

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

The International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS 2009) investigated the ways in which countries prepare their young people to undertake their roles as citizens. It studied student knowledge and understanding of civics and citizenship as well as student attitudes, perceptions, and activities related to civics and citizenship. ICCS also examined differences among countries in relation to these outcomes of civic and citizenship education, and it explored how differences across countries relate to student characteristics, school and community contexts, and national characteristics. Thirty-eight countries participated in ICCS 2009. Among these were five from Asia, 26 from Europe, six from Latin …

Teach For Australia Pathway: Evaluation Report Phase 3 Of 3, Paul R. Weldon, Phillip Mckenzie, Elizabeth Kleinhenz, Kate Reid

Teacher education

This report is the final of three reports of the evaluation of the Teach for Australia (TFA) Pathway, a pilot of an alternative approach to teacher education in Australia. The evaluation was undertaken by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) over the period 2010 to 2012. The basic design of the TFA Pathway is as follows: 1. High-achieving university graduates are recruited nationally. Applicants are subject to a rigorous recruitment process and are selected on the basis of qualities and skills suitable to the teaching profession, and the possession of a genuine desire to reduce educational disadvantage. 2. Selected …