Education Commons^™

But Can We Measure It?, Geoff N. Masters Ao

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

It’s often asserted that some things can’t be measured, Professor Geoff Masters AO writes in his latest column. But how true is this? And if we can’t measure something, should we stop pretending we can teach or develop it?

Review Of The Piaac Numeracy Assessment Framework: Final Report, Dave Tout, Diana Coben, Vince Geiger, Lynda Ginsburg, Kees Hoogland, Terry Maguire, Sue Thomson, Ross Turner

Vocational, adult and professional education research

The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is an international assessment of the proficiency of adults (aged 16-65 years) in key information processing skills (reading, numeracy and Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments). The PIAAC Survey of Adult Skills has revealed that a considerable number of adults in OECD countries possess only limited literacy and numeracy skills. The OECD is currently reviewing the content of the frameworks and cognitive assessment instruments for the 2nd cycle of PIAAC ready for delivery in 2021-22. This report is the result of a review of the numeracy construct and assessment in PIAAC. …

Fostering Understanding Of Early Numeracy Development, Kate Reid, Nicola Andrews

Monitoring Learning

In 2012, the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) began the Longitudinal Literacy and Numeracy Study: Transitions from Preschool to School (LLANS:TPS). The study is part of a program of longitudinal literacy and numeracy research at ACER that started with a seven-year longitudinal study of children’s developing literacy and numeracy throughout primary school, which began in 1999 with a cohort of 1000 children from 100 schools around Australia (Meiers et al., 2006). The original Longitudinal Literacy and Numeracy Study (LLANS) developed new instruments for assessing children’s literacy and numeracy understanding in the first three years of primary school and described …

Mapping Progress – Using Data For Teaching And Learning, Geoff N. Masters Ao

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

It’s important to keep in mind that there are three central uses of data in school education. Professor Geoff Masters AO discusses.

Monitoring Student Growth, Geoff N. Masters Ao

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

In any given classroom, students are likely to be at very different points in their learning and development. Professor Geoff Masters AO explores why it is important for teachers to be able to track the long-term progress that each student makes.

International Developments (No.6) 2016

International Developments

In this issue of International Developments we look at the purposeful collection of educational data through progressive achievement testing to enable teachers to establish where students are in their long-term learning, diagnose individual strengths and weaknesses, identify the best next steps for action, decide on appropriate evidence-based interventions, monitor the progress students make over time, and evaluate the effectiveness of their own teaching decisions and approaches. We also explore how a new primary years assessment is helping teachers, curriculum designers and policymakers to better measure the learning achievement of students in South East Asia; investigate the impact of a professional …

Schools As Learning Organisations, Geoff N. Masters Ao

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

School improvement is most likely when an entire school has a shared improvement agenda and is committed to learning how to improve. Professor Geoff Masters AO discusses a five-step improvement cycle.

Schools As Learning Organisations, Geoff N. Masters

Excellence in Professional Practice Conference

From 1 January 2017 every school in Australia will be required to have a school improvement plan. But what is a school improvement plan? Is it different from the strategic plans that most schools already have? This presentation will define school improvement as the process of changing school practices in ways that lead to better student outcomes. A school improvement plan is developed by the school community to make improvements to current school practices and thus student outcomes. It embodies a collaborative commitment to the rigorous, systematic investigation of specific improvement strategies. Key steps in the development and implementation of …

Five Challenges In Australian School Education, Geoff N. Masters Ao

Policy Insights

There is no shortage of challenges in school education. Some of the biggest challenges we face can appear frustratingly intractable. Despite reform efforts, regular government reviews and ongoing calls for change, progress in addressing our most significant challenges is often slow and solutions continue to elude us. In this paper Professor Geoff Masters discusses five significant challenges facing school education.

1. Equipping students for the 21st Century, including by increasing reading, mathematical and scientific literacy levels;
2. Reducing disparities between Australia's schools, particularly along socioeconomic lines, by ensuring that every student has access to an excellent school and excellent teaching;
3. Reducing the …

Is There Another Way To Think About Schooling?, Geoff N. Masters Ao

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

There is a well-established way of thinking about schooling. But is there another way? Professor Geoff Masters AO discusses.

Getting All Children Off To A Good Start, Geoff N. Masters Ao

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

One of the biggest challenges we face in improving quality and equity in our schools is to better address the learning needs of the many children who, on entry to school, are at risk of being locked into trajectories of long-term low achievement, writes Professor Geoff Masters AO.

The ‘Long Tail’ Of Underachievement, Geoff N. Masters Ao

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

One of the biggest challenges educators face is to find better ways to meet the learning needs of the many students who fall behind in our schools, fail to meet year-level expectations (often year after year) and, as a consequence, become increasingly disengaged, writes Professor Geoff Masters AO.

Reducing Disparities Between Australian Schools, Geoff N. Masters Ao

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

According to Professor Geoff Masters AO, one of the biggest challenges we face in school education is to reduce current disparities in the schooling experiences of students in Australia’s most and least advantaged schools

‘Big Five’ Challenges In School Education, Geoff N. Masters Ao

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

Real reform and significant progress in improving the quality and equity of Australian schooling depend on tackling our deepest and most stubborn educational challenges, writes Professor Geoff Masters AO.

Assessing End-Of-School Attainment, Geoff N. Masters

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

Is there a ‘best’ way to establish the levels of knowledge, understanding and skill that students have attained in a subject by the end of Year 12?

Incentives - An Ineffective School Improvement Strategy?, Geoff N. Masters

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

By the turn of the century, the observation had been made in many countries that substantial increases in expenditure on schools had failed to deliver measurable improvements in student performance. But just how effective are incentives as an improvement strategy?

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 …

Educational Measurement: Assessment Resource Kit., Geoff N. Masters

Assessment Resource Kit

Educational measurement is the process of estimating students' locations (abilities) on a measurement variable from their responses to a set of items. Educational measurement is one in a series of magazines in the ACER Assessment Resource Kit (ARK). It contains five chapters: 1. What is 'measurement'?; 2. Aspiring to measure; 3. A model for measuring; 4. Mapping variables; 5. Reporting measures.

Products: Assessment Resource Kit, Margaret Forster, Geoff N. Masters

Assessment Resource Kit

Products are items which students make, usually in technology and the visual arts. Examples include items of food and clothing, pieces of artwork (drawings, paintings, sculptures) and articles made of wood, metal, plastics and ceramics. Product assessment is the assessment of students' mastery of the processes and tools required to make products (for example, design and production processes) and the assessment of the practical and/ or aesthetic qualities of the items students make. This is a guide to assessing student products in the technology and visual arts curriculum. It is an issue in the Assessment Resource Kit (ARK) magazine series …

Acer Quest: The Interactive Test Analysis System. Version 2.1., Raymond J. Adams, Siek-Toon Khoo

Measurement and statistics

This is a guide to using Quest. Quest offers a comprehensive test and questionnaire analysis environment by providing a data analyst with access to the most recent developments in Rasch measurement theory, as well as a range of traditional analysis procedures. It includes an easy to use control language with flexible and informative output. Quest can be used to construct and validate variables based on both dichotomous and polychotomous observations. It scores and analyses such instruments as multiple choice tests, Likert type rating scales, short answer items, and partial credit items.

Download the legacy ACER Quest software here

Download the …

Adaptive Testing, Information And The Partial Credit Model: A Simulation Study, Raymond J. Adams

Measurement and statistics

In adaptive testing each individual is tested with a set of items that is selected to match his/her estimated ability at the time of testing. In its most sophisticated form an adaptive test is interactively administered by a computer that scores the test and uses the individual's pattern of correct and incorrect responses to select new items from an item bank. In this procedure items are selected during the process of administering a test (rather than as a part of a predetermined sequence) so that the items administered to each individual are appropriate in difficulty for that individual. The result …

Nsw Counsellor's Bulletin /Australian Council For Educational Research, Measurement Unit No. 2, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

ACER historical documents

In this issue a description is presented of an ongoing study of the ACER Test of Learning Ability (TOLA). It was decided by ACER early last year to carry out a series of studies investigating a number of aspects of the test, such as its validity and the effect of reading ability on test scores. The first study (essentially a pilot study) was carried out in October last year (1971) and was primarily an investigation of the concurrent validity of the test. In August this year a further study will be carried out, examining the effect of the verbal nature …

Nsw Counsellor's Bulletin /Australian Council For Educational Research, Measurement Unit No. 1, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

ACER historical documents

We have chosen to initiate this bulletin series by discussing the development of the Test of Learning Ability (TOLA) (Form A) because (i) the 1972 edition of the test will be distributed within the next few weeks and Counsellors will be able to see what has been the outcome of criticisms made about previous editions; (ii) we feel that this illustrates the potential benefit of close liaison between test constructors and test users in reconciling a variety of potential uses of a test. Liaison between the Test Advisory Committee and the ACER Test Research and Development Division has increased as …