Education Commons^™

The Song Of Life: Listening To Self, Others, Nature, And God (The Divine), E. James Baesler

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

“Listening to the SONG of Life” is a pedagogical framework that conceptualizes listening as a multi-sensory experience in four contexts: Self, Others, Nature, and God/Goddess (the Divine). L-SONG (Listening-SONG) is an instrument developed to measure student learning in four contexts during a listening course.

Mid-Term Evaluation Report (Final): Global Education Monitoring (Gem) Centre Phase 3, Valerie Haugen

Monitoring Learning

This report provides findings and recommendations from the external mid-term evaluation of Phase 3 of the Global Education Monitoring (GEM Centre) - a long-term partnership between the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). The goal of the GEM Centre is to improve learning, by ensuring that education policies, practices and investments are influenced by high-quality evidence. The aim of the mid-term evaluation was to enable reflection on the long-term partnership through the GEM Centre. The findings highlight the successes and achievements of the GEM Centre over the past decade, …

Impact Of Designed Task-Based Interventions On K-8 Preservice Teachers’ Knowledge And Ability To Solve Measurement Unit Conversion Problems, Ha Nguyen, Tuyin An, Eryn Maher

Department of Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications

Converting two-dimensional measurement units presents challenges for K-8 preservice teachers (PSTs) (e.g., 9 ft2 = __ yd2). Place value deficiency, lack of understanding of metric system measurement units, misconceptions about relationships between measurement units, and uncertain knowledge of ratios have been identified as causes of student error in one-dimensional analysis (e.g., Livy & Vale, 2011; Morris, 2001; Southwell & Penglase, 2005). However, PSTs’ strategies for solving two-dimensional measurement unit conversion problems (MUCPs) and possible interventions for improvement are rarely investigated in research. The purpose of this study is to design and test a set of tasks that may help students …

International Standard Setting Exercise, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Monitoring Learning

The GEM Centre provides technical support to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics (UIS), which has been mandated to monitor the progress of countries towards achieving the education goals of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4). The International Standard Setting Exercise (ISSE) was undertaken to harmonise quantitative data across assessment programs, and to provide substantive information about children’s learning levels and progress benchmarked against international standards. The goal of the ISSE was to place thresholds on empirical reading and mathematics Learning Progression Scales for the Minimum Proficiency Level at the end of lower primary …

Minimum Proficiency Levels Unpacked, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Monitoring Learning

This document draws together work from several initiatives to establish Minimum Proficiency Levels (MPLs) for reading and mathematics, for global use in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goal in Education, SDG 4.1, with a specific focus on indicator 4.1.1. Three educational levels are referred to in this paper as ‘end of lower primary’, ‘end of primary’ and ‘end of lower secondary’. The MPLs are described and elaborated in four ways: nutshell statements; expanded statements; domains, constructs and descriptors; and sample items. A detailed account of the history and evolution of the Minimum Proficiency Levels is provided in Appendix A

Teacher Development Multi-Year Studies. Insights On The Challenges Of Data Availability For Measuring And Reporting On Student Learning Outcomes, Elizabeth Cassity, Debbie Wong

Education Analytics Service

Student learning outcomes are an important source of evidence regarding improved teaching quality. A multi-year teacher development study series was commissioned by the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to investigate teacher development initiatives in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos), Timor-Leste and Vanuatu. The overall aim of the study series is to understand the extent to which the Australian investment has improved teaching quality and student learning. This paper outlines the different approaches to sourcing and using data in each country context, and then presents initial insights about the challenges associated with the limited availability of data …

Validation Of A Brazilian Portuguese Measure Of Family Resources In A Sample Of Parents To Children With Congenital Zika Virus Syndrome, Sarah Barker Ladd

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In the aftermath of the 2015 Zika virus outbreak in Brazil, thousands of children and their families continue to face challenges associated with Congenital Zika Syndrome, a developmental condition associated with microcephaly and other serious birth defects affecting the central nervous system. Family-centered rehabilitative care is critical to optimize the trajectories of children who have significant developmental disabilities like CZS. These services involve assessing for the presence of family resources that may help to promote positive outcomes for children. Little is known regarding family resources in the context of caring for a child with CZS in Brazil due to the …

Gem Centre: Completion Report For Phase 2 Funding, 2017–2020, Australian Council For Educational Research

Monitoring Learning

In 2014, the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) established a partnership under the Global Education Monitoring Centre. Since then, there have been two funding periods: Phase 1 from 2014–2017 and Phase 2 from 2017–2020. Phase 3 will cover 2020–2023. This report documents the completion of Phase 2 funding and describes the shared priorities of DFAT and ACER through the GEM Centre, followed by the objectives and key outcomes of the work program during this period. The outcomes and lessons learned, together with findings from the GEM Centre mid-term …

Floor Plan Assignment In Elementary Mathematics Education, Tunde Jakab

Open Educational Resources

In this upper elementary mathematics education assignment, the prospective teachers gain hands-on experience in measuring distances in feet and inches, calculating areas, and converting distance and area measurements. Moreover, they solve a real-life situation by choosing the most economical tiles for their kitchen. This last part (3) of the assignment develops critical thinking and expressing one's thought processes. Part 3 can be used as an in-class discussion, which further promotes reasoning skills.

A Man Of Measure And More: John P. Keeves 1924-2020, Petra Lietz (Ed), Katherine Dix (Ed), Juliet Young-Thornton (Ed)

ACER historical documents

John Philip Keeves was an eminent researcher with a lifelong quest to improve teaching and learning by being a researcher, teacher, supervisor and mentor. He produced a myriad of scholarly publications, many on topics of research design, comparative research and educational measurement. In 1962, John was recruited to the Australian Council for Educational Research and he moved to Melbourne, later becoming Associate Director from 1972 to 1977 and then Director until his retirement in 1984. During this time, he also undertook research fellowships at the Australian National University and the Institute of International Education in the University of Stockholm. After …

Piaac Numeracy Task Complexity Schema: Factors That Impact On Item Difficulty, Dave Tout, Iddo Gal, Mieke Van Groenestijn, Myrna Manly, Mary Jane Schmitt

Transition and Post-School Education and Training

This paper describes some lessons learned from international adult numeracy assessments that can help in understanding the challenges that people, including both adults and school students, have when solving numeracy tasks and their levels of performance on functional mathematical problems. The paper presents a theoretical schema of five factors that predict, separately and in interaction, the complexity or level of difficulty of mathematically-related assessment tasks, including tasks that incorporate texts and require literacy or reading skills, which are very common in adults' lives. The model was originally developed as part of the development of the Adult Literacy and LifeSkills survey …

Measuring What Matters: Insights On The Value Of Whole Child Development, Porticus, Australian Council For Educational Research, Pina Tarricone, Yung Nietschke, Kylie Hillman

Monitoring Learning

This policy analysis report captures how cities and countries value, define, and measure Whole Child Development (WCD) - and equivalent - both broadly and in the context of reaching those in extreme adversity. The WCD conceptual framework of this study refers to 11 key themes: values, life skills, social and emotional learning, spirituality, academic knowledge, student engagement, adult support, community, academically challenging learning, safe environments, and health. The report provides insights into the challenges experienced in embedding WCD in education systems and offers evidence around the growing recognition and momentum globally around WCD and holistic learning. One of the key …

A Lab Skills Diagnostic Test, John Zwart

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

The American Association of Physics Teachers recommends that physics majors have proficiency in the following lab skills: constructing knowledge, modeling, designing experiments, analyzing and visualizing data, and communicating physics. I have developed a brief multiple-choice questionnaire to assess incoming students’ lab skill level in these areas. It was administered as both a pre-test and post-test for the first semester of introductory calculus-based physics. Preliminary results indicate that little improvement on the skills tested occurs without explicit instruction.

The Early Grade Reading Assessment: Assessing Children’S Acquisition Of Basic Literacy Skills In Developing Countries, Australian Council For Educational Research

Assessment GEMS

The Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA), administered individually in about 15 minutes, measures the most basic foundation skills for literacy acquisition in the early grades. The assessment was developed by the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) through funding provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank, in addition to resources provided by RTI. In the context of this emerging focus on measuring basic literacy skills, EGRA was developed to provide a battery of assessments of basic reading skills for developing countries to monitor the status of early reading in primary schools. The assessment tool was …

The Southern And Eastern Africa Consortium For Monitoring Educational Quality, Australian Council For Educational Research

Assessment GEMS

The Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) carries out large-scale cross-national research studies in member countries in the Southern and Eastern Africa region. SACMEQ aims to assess the conditions of schooling and performance levels of learners and teachers in the areas of literacy and numeracy.

Assessing Postsecondary Barriers For Rural Appalachian High School Students, Melinda Gibbons, Anna Taylor, Emily Brown, Stephanie Daniels, Erin Hardin, Sam Manring

Education Sciences and Professional Programs Faculty Works

Social cognitive career theory indicates that perceived barriers negatively affect career and educational self-efficacy beliefs and may also impact interests, goals, and actions. However, measurement of barriers has produced mixed results, and few quantitative studies explore the perceived barriers of rural Appalachian students. In this series of studies, we explored the perceived educational and career barriers of rural Appalachian high school students. Our goal was to identify perceived barriers, but as initial results were analyzed, we then shifted to how best to measure barriers and how culture impacted the reporting of barriers by rural Appalachian students. The results of our …

A Psychometric Comparison Of Psychological Inflexibility Measures: Discriminant Validity And Item Performance, Clarissa W. Ong, Benjamin G. Pierce, Julie M. Petersen, Jennifer L. Barney, Jeremiah E. Fruge, Michael E. Levin, Michael P. Twohig

Psychology Faculty Publications

Psychological inflexibility is a rigid behavioral pattern that interferes with engagement in personally meaningful activities; it is the hypothesized root of suffering in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). Thus, the quality of its measurement affects the research, theory, and practice of ACT. The current study aimed to evaluate the discriminant validity and item performance of four measures of psychological inflexibility: the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire—II (AAQ-II), a revised version of the AAC-II (AAQ-3), the Brief Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (BEAQ), and the Comprehensive assessment of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy processes (CompACT). We analyzed data from community (n = 253), student …

Measurement Of Young Children's Learning For Program Evaluation, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz

Monitoring Learning

The global commitment to early learning has been expressed in the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals Agenda (SDG) (United Nations, 2016) and access to support for early learning is considered a human right for all children, whether provided by the family, community, or institutional programs (UNESCO, 2013). Inadequate cognitive stimulation has been identified as one of the key psychosocial risk factors associated with poor child development – a factor that is modifiable, with the right interventions (Walker et al., 2007). Thus, insights into how early learning supports may be delivered effectively in various contexts are essential. To explore the …

The Structure And Measurement Of Career Indecision: A Critical Review, Hui Xu, Cecile H. Bhang

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article provides a comprehensive review of the theoretical and empirical progress of indecision structural models and assessment from 2000 to 2017. Because career indecision remains a central topic for career counseling, it is important for the field to achieve an updated understanding of its models and measurement. Based on the development of theory-driven and data-driven indecision models and measures, the review generally found that the Career Decision Difficulties Questionnaire, the Emotional and Personality Career Difficulties Scale, and the Career Indecision Profile could reliably and validly measure various factors of career indecision. It was also found that an integrative five-factor …

Review Of Measurements Used In Computing Education Research And Suggestions For Increasing Standardization, Lauren Margulieux, Tuba Ketenci, Adriene Decker

Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

The variables that researchers measure and how they measure them are central in any area of research. Which research questions can be asked and how they are answered depends on measurement. This paper describes a systematic review of the literature in computing education research to summarize the commonly used variables and measurements in 197 papers and to compare them to best practices in measurement for human-subjects research. Characteristics of the literature that are examined in the review include variables measured (including learner characteristics), measurements used, and type of data analysis. The review illuminates common practices related to each of these …

Comparison Of Two Approaches To Interpretive Use Arguments, Michele Carney, Angela Crawford, Carl Siebert, Rich Osguthorpe, Keith Thiede

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA, APA, & NCME, 2014) recommend an argument-based approach to validation that involves a clear statement of the intended interpretation and use of test scores, the identification of the underlying assumptions and inferences in that statement—termed the interpretation/use argument, and gathering of evidence to support or refute the assumptions and inferences. We present two approaches to articulating the assumptions and inferences that underlie a score interpretation and use statement, also termed the interpretation/use argument (Kane, 2016). One approach uses the five sources of validity evidence in the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing …

Evaluation Of The Feasibility Of A Two-Method Measurement Design For The Assessment Of Healthy Physical Activity Behavior In Youth, Amelia A. Miramonti

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Purpose: Assess the reliability and validity of self- and parent-report survey responses regarding physical activity (PA), sedentary behaviors, and PA self-efficacy and determine if these data can be combined with objective physical activity monitor data to model the latent construct healthy physical activity behavior (HPAB).

Methods: 126 underserved 4^th-5^th grade students participated in a 12-week after-school nutrition, cooking, and physical activity program (WeCook: Fun with Food and Fitness). Participants and parents (n=103) completed surveys pre- and post-program and participants wore PA monitors for one week at PRE and POST. Unidimensionality and internal consistency reliability were …

The Unesco Institute For Statistics Reporting Scales: Concept Note, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Monitoring Learning

Measurement of learning achievement is essential to monitor how well education systems are delivering on the promise of universal quality education. This promise is reflected in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Number 4 (Target 4.1): By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes. Goal 4 can only be meaningful if there is a shared global understanding of quality education, and relevant and effective learning. The various indicators associated with SDG Target 4.1 attempt to translate its key constructs into measurable outcomes against …

Is Setting Higher Standards The Answer?, Geoff N. Masters Ao

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

Raising the expected performance standard in each year of school and holding all teachers and students accountable for achieving these higher standards may not be the most effective way to improve levels of performance in Australian schools.

A Different Way To Organise The School Curriculum, Geoff N. Masters Ao

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

There are good reasons to rethink how we organise the school curriculum. An alternative would be to structure the curriculum as a sequence of proficiency levels unrelated to age or year level.

Final Report: Development Of An Online Engagement Scale, Darren Matthews, Ling Tan, Daniel Edwards

Higher education research

The Commonwealth Department of Education and Training commissioned the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to review the Learner Engagement Scale (LES), a key measure of student experience. It is administered as part of the Student Experience Survey, an annual survey of a sample of the 400 000 first and final year undergraduates studying at Australian Higher Education institutions – 80 per cent on-campus and around 8 per cent off-campus. Over the years, LES results have consistently shown substantially lower engagement levels in off-campus students – far in excess of the variation between teaching modes that might be expected – …

Shifting The Focus Of Naplan, Geoff N. Masters Ao

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

The decision to move NAPLAN online provides an opportunity to place less emphasis on comparing the performances of schools and more emphasis on supporting student learning, according to Professor Geoff Masters AO.

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?

Workshop On Methodology In Learning Analytics (Mla), Yoav Bergner, Charles Lang, Geraldine Gray

Other resources

Learning analytics is an interdisciplinary and inclusive field, a fact which makes the establishment of methodological norms both challenging and important. This community-building workshop intends to convene methodology-focused researchers to discuss new and established approaches, comment on the state of current practice, author pedagogical manuscripts, and co-develop guidelines to help move the field forward with quality and rigor.

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

Transition and Post-School Education and Training

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. …