Education Commons^™

Infographic: School Librarian Recruitment – Valuing Reading For Pleasure, Dominique Russell

Teacher infographics

A new study has explored job titles and descriptions for school librarian jobs advertised in the United States and Australia to assess the emphasis placed on a school librarian’s role in promoting reading for pleasure. Researchers found ‘Australian school librarians are far more likely to be expected to foster reading for pleasure’.

Mapping Researcher Mobility: Measuring Research Collaboration Among Apec Economies, Ali Radloff

Higher education research

Researcher mobility is an important form of cross-border education (CBE). It has the potential to generate significant benefits for economies as expert scholars and scientists come together to solve some of the most pressing challenges in the contemporary world. Among members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Community (APEC) researcher mobility can strengthen ties between economies and enable the minimisation of barriers to economic growth and sustainability. There are not currently any comparable or rigorous data available on researcher mobility among APEC economies. Proxy measures are needed to gain a sense of the extent to which researchers in APEC economies are collaborating …

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 …

International Students’ Engagement With Effective Educational Practices : A Cross-National Comparison, Daniel Edwards, Hamish Bennett Coates, Ali Radloff

Higher education research

International students in USA universities have higher levels of engagement with their institution when compared to international students enrolled in Australasian universities. ❚ The largest difference between USA and Australian international students was related to student and staff interactions. ❚ The growth in engagement with their institution between first and later year students among the international cohort is more prominent among those enrolled in USA than those in Australia or New Zealand. ❚ Among Australasian higher education students the international student group on average have higher levels of engagement than domestic students. ❚ When compared cross-nationally, the engagement score difference …

International Students’ Engagement With Effective Educational Practices: A Cross-National Comparison, Daniel Edwards

Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE)

Findings from the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE) provide a new and unique means of tracking international students’ participation in higher education. The AUSSE is the largest cross-institutional collection of data from currently enrolled students in Australasia, and has formative links with the 1,200-institution USA National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). The AUSSE has been validated rigorously for use in Australasia, and taps into fundamental aspects of educational quality – students’ engagement with effective educational practices, including important beyond class experiences. Evidence-based feedback such as this plays a critical role in growing and improving Australasia’s international higher education industry. …

Alternative Education : An International Perspective, Yoshiyuki Nagata

Shannon Research Press

Chapter 1 discusses how the characteristics of alternative education are to be understood, for the purposes of this research, in the contemporary context and in light of former interpretations. Chapters 2 to 8 take up cases of alternative education in practice in six countries and discuss the realities of the systems and mechanisms involved in practice and theory in alternative schools.

Physical And Health Education In The Universities And Colleges Of Canada, The United States Of America And Great Britain., R. K. Gray, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Information Bulletin

This report sets out information gained from a survey of the professional training and service or required programmes of Physical and Health Education in the universities and colleges of Canada, United States of America, and Great Britain. It contains an account of departmental organisation, staffing, course duration, facilities, course content, time allocation and degrees conferred at each institution visited. From this data an attempt has been made to distinguish the common pattern existing in each of these countries and to draw some implications for Australian purposes. It is hoped that the information contained herein will be of value to physical …

Higher Education For American Democracy, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Information Bulletin

On July 13, 1946, President Truman appointed a number of outstanding American civic and educational leaders to a Presidential Commission on Higher Education, charging them to examine the functions of higher education in the United States of America and the best means to perform these, On December 11th 1947 the chairman of the Commission (George F. Zook) submitted the first volume of the report of the Commission to the President.

The six volumes of the report are all titled "Higher Education for American Democracy" and are, in order: Vol. 1, Establishing the Goals, 2. Equalizing and Expanding Individual Opportunity. 3. …

State Expenditure On Education In Australia And Some Overseas Countries, Australian Council For Educational Research

Information Bulletin

No abstract provided.