Education Commons^™

Acer Enews 12 December 2012, Acer

ACER eNews Archive

No abstract provided.

Student Engagement At New Zealand Private Training Establishments (Ptes): Key Results From The 2011 Pilot Of The Ausse, Ali Radloff

Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE)

In 2011, a pilot of the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE) was conducted with Private Training Establishments (PTEs) in New Zealand where funding was provided for the project by Ako Aotearoa and support also given by New Zealand Association of Private Education Providers (NZAPEP). This report focuses on the results from this pilot. Close to 1,000 responses were collected from students as part of the pilot at ten PTEs and included students undertaking qualifications from New Zealand Qualifications Authority levels three through seven – certificate level to bachelor degree level study. While much is known about the rates of …

Lleap 2012 Survey Report : Schools, Not-For-Profits, Philanthropic Foundations And Trusts In Australia : Building Knowledge To Maximise The Impact Of Philanthropy In Education, Michelle Anderson, Emma Curtin

Leading Learning in Education and Philanthropy (LLEAP)

LLEAP – Leading Learning in Education and Philanthropy began because of a widespread view that effective engagement of philanthropy in education was hampered, in many cases unnecessarily, by gaps in knowledge, understanding and ways of doing things better. LLEAP explores issues from the perspectives of philanthropic education grant making foundations and trusts, schools, and not-for-profits working with schools. One key part of LLEAP is a national annual survey.

In 2012, the LLEAP Survey received a total of 507 responses from 359 school (Government 69%; Independent 20%; Catholic 11%, from every state and territory), 87 not-for-profit and 61 philanthropic foundation or …

Acer Enews 11 November 2012, Acer

ACER eNews Archive

No abstract provided.

Aqtf Quality Indicator Service : 2011-12 Report, Acer

Transition and Post-School Education and Training

In 2007 ACER lead a sector-side development, deployment and support of a set of instruments and reporting tools to underpin a new data-driven and outcomes-focused approach to quality assurance in Australia’s vocational education and training sector. The AQTF 2007 Quality Indicator survey resources provide building blocks for a wide range of conversations about the quality of vocational education and training. Such feedback is used in education systems and organisations to obtain information on the quality of education and training.

Broadly speaking, collecting information about performance provides a valuable source of data for RTOs to:

◗◗ gauge how well they are …

Evaluation Of The Assessment And Rating Process Under The National Quality Standard For Early Childhood Education And Care And School Age Care, Sheldon Rothman, David Kelly, Bridie Raban, Mollie Tobin, Jocelyn Cook, Kate O’Malley, Clare Ozolins, Meredith Bramich

Early Childhood Education

This evaluation of the assessment and rating process for early childhood education and care and school age care services had as its focus the validity and reliability of the process. In particular, do the items reviewed with the Assessment and Rating Instrument provide consistent and replicable measures? Would the judgements made by one authorised officer be made by other authorised officers reviewing the same service? Does the process—including use of the Instrument—allow distinctions between rating levels?

The evaluation was undertaken by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), which analysed assessment and rating data from both draft and final reports; …

Enhancing The Quality Of Teaching And Learning In Australian Schools : Submission To The Senate Inquiry On Teaching And Learning (Maximising Our Investment In Australian Schools), Geoff N. Masters

School and system improvement

International research identifies several steps that governments can take to enhance the quality of teaching and learning, and thus levels of student achievement and wellbeing, in primary and secondary schools. The steps are:

1. Restrict and raise the quality of student intakes to teacher education

2. Set and confirm the achievement of minimum standards for registration

3. Recognise and reward the development of specialist knowledge and skill

Review Of Townsville Diocese School Renewal Processes, Tony Mcgruther, Geoff N. Masters

School and system improvement

Townsville Catholic Education Office in Queensland (TCEO) commissioned ACER to review its current processes for school renewal. TCEO seeks to support its school leaders in the design and implementation of self renewing school improvement. This report focuses on the explicit elements of teaching and learning with a particular emphasis on forming recommendations on the evidence base applied to school led reflection. The report is based on data collected from documentation, the views of diocesan leaders, consultants, principals and the current body of research evidence informing school improvement. The recommendations are noted under the common characteristics of highly effective systems identified …

Starting School : A Strengths‐Based Approach Towards Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Children, Stephanie Armstrong, Sarah Buckley, Michele Lonsdale, Gina Milgate, Laura Bennetts Kneebone, Louise Cook, Fiona Skelton

Indigenous Education Research

This paper highlights the need for a strengths-based approach to school readiness for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, in order to recognise the skills, cultural knowledge and understandings they already have when they transition to formal learning. The study, a joint project by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA), reviews the literature and uses a strength-based analysis of information from Footprints in Time: The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) to examine Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s abilities and knowledge at 4-6 years of age. …

The On Track Survey 2012: The Destinations Of School Leavers In Victoria. Statewide Report, Sheldon Rothman, Catherine Underwood

Transition and Post-School Education and Training

The On Track project was initiated in 2003. Since the first large-scale survey in that year, around 385,000 school leavers have participated in the On Track surveys, providing valuable insights into their post-school destinations and pathways. The On Track survey was conducted in April–May 2012 by the Social Research Centre (SRC) in collaboration with the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). This involved a short telephone survey of school leavers who had earlier agreed to participate. Separate questionnaires were used for Year 12 or equivalent completers and early school leavers. This report is based on data from telephone surveys of …

Acer Enews 09 September 2012, Acer

ACER eNews Archive

No abstract provided.

Acer Enews 10 October 2012, Acer

ACER eNews Archive

No abstract provided.

Ib Graduates In Australian Universities : Entry And Outcomes : A Case Study Of Two Institutions : Project Report, Daniel Edwards, Catherine Underwood

Higher education research

This report explores the entry into and progression through university of graduates from the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme (DP). It focuses on two Australian universities, used as case studies for exploring the higher education pathways of IB DP graduates. The study has been conducted for the International Baccalaureate, the organisation which oversees the IB DP.

This project responds to one key element of the IB research agenda, which focuses on establishing and expanding empirical evidence related to the postsecondary transitions, academic outcomes and experiences of IB DP graduates in the tertiary education sector. This report is intended to provide …

Measuring Civic Knowledge Among Young Adolescents In The International Civic And Citizenship Education Study, Julian Fraillon, Wolfram Schulz, John Ainley

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

Young people’s acquisition of knowledge about, and their development of and understanding of key concepts in, civics and citizenship is widely seen as an important function of most education systems. From a national perspective, civic knowledge would typically encompass aspects related to the country’s political system and its institutions, rights and responsibilities of citizens, mechanisms of engagement in society as well as general concepts (such as national identity, tolerance or shared values) (Schulz, Ainley, Fraillon, Kerr & Losito, 2010a & 2010b). Depending on the curriculum for civic and citizenship education in a country, it would be expected that these aspects …

Changes In Knowledge About And Perception Of Civics And Citizenship Over A Ten-Year Period: Comparing Cived 1999 And Iccs 2009, Wolfram Schulz

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

A larger number of countries involved in the IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS 2009) had also participated in the previous IEA CIVED study undertaken in 1999. The civic knowledge test included a subset of CIVED items which were used to derive comparable measures of civic content knowledge, one of the subscales reported in CIVED 1999. Some of the ICCS 2009 questionnaire material also included items that were similar or even identical in wording to those used in CIVED but for which some general format changes were applied. This paper discusses the potential for comparing results from both …

Assessing The Intended Participation Of Young Adolescents As Future Citizens: Comparing Results From 26 European Countries, John Ainley, Tim Friedman, David Kerr, Wolfram Schulz

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

Recent developments in the economic and social politics of Europe have led to a quickened interest in the intentions of young people to participate as citizens. This paper focuses on students from 26 European countries who were in Grade 8 in 2009 and who will typically gain formal electoral rights in 2013. It analyzes young adolescents' intentions to participate as citizens through political participation as adults through electoral and active political participation. The paper is based on the IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study which investigated the ways in which young people in lower secondary schools were being prepared …

Evaluating The Contribution Of Schools To The Development Of Young People As Future Citizens, Bruno Losito, Elisa Caponera, Cristiano Corsini, Paola Mirti

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

This paper will illustrate how the contribution of schools to students’ civic knowledge and attitudes was analyzed in ICCS 2009. It is divided into three parts. The first part illustrates the constructs and variables included in the ICCS instruments (student, teacher and school questionnaires) and their relationship with findings from previous studies about civic and citizenship education and school effectiveness. The second part of the paper presents some major findings for European countries in relation to the influence of school context on student outcomes. While comparing them with the results from other studies, this paper discusses the extent to which …

Acer Enews 08 August 2012, Acer

ACER eNews Archive

No abstract provided.

Acer Enews 07 July 2012, Acer

ACER eNews Archive

No abstract provided.

Acer Enews 06 June 2012, Acer

ACER eNews Archive

No abstract provided.

Acer Enews 05 May 2012, Acer

ACER eNews Archive

No abstract provided.

Children’S Independent Mobility : Walking To School And Road Safety Knowledge : 8 To 12 Year Olds, Catherine Underwood

Children’s Independent Mobility and Active Transport

Road safety knowledge is essential for children walking to school so they can safely navigate traffic environments. At the same time walking to school increases children’s awareness of their neighbourhood and also has a positive influence on their health and wellbeing.

Preparing Australian Students For The Digital World : Results From The Pisa 2009 Digital Reading Literacy Assessment, Sue Thomson, Lisa De Bortoli

OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Australia

In PISA 2009, the assessment of digital reading literacy was offered as an international option for the first time. The digital reading literacy assessment assessed 15-year-old students’ ability to read, understand and apply digital texts. Australia and eighteen other countries or economies participated in this assessment. This report presents the results of the PISA digital reading literacy assessment for Australia. It presents the results for Australia as a whole, and where relevant makes comparisons to the other participants in the study. Results are also reported for the Australian states and territories and for different social groups within Australia. Overall, Australian …

Lleap Dialogue Series : Cases Companion Document, Michelle Anderson, Emma Curtin

Leading Learning in Education and Philanthropy (LLEAP)

Collaboration is not the destination. It is one strategy to advance a project of mutual interest and maximise its impact. It is one reflection of engagement, signalling the importance of mutual commitment in the relationship. It is one forum where learning, informal and formal, can take place. It is the one issue that came up again and again in the author’s fieldwork and reviews of effective philanthropic endeavour in education. The issue people wanted to know more about was how could we better connect with one another around an area of mutual interest? This companion document in the LLEAP Dialogue …

Lleap Dialogue Series : A Guide To Grow Your Ideas In Education For Maximum Impact, Michelle Anderson, Emma Curtin

Leading Learning in Education and Philanthropy (LLEAP)

This Guide and the companion case studies, report the largest assessment ever conducted in Australia of needs, interests, priorities, opportunities, achievements and challenges in the field of philanthropy in education. A notable feature is that, while the rank order may differ in small ways, the needs of schools and the priorities of the philanthropic sector lie in efforts to ensure that all students in all sectors succeed. This they seek to accomplish at a time when concerns are raised about the large gap in achievement of low and high performing students and when the challenge in transforming schooling in the …

Acer Enews 04 April 2012, Acer

ACER eNews Archive

No abstract provided.

Measuring And Rewarding School Improvement, Geoff N. Masters

Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation

There is now a widely held view that the most effective strategy for improving countries’ educational performances is to improve the day-to-day work of schools. This view follows several decades of significant increases in government expenditure on school education in developed countries, often with little or no accompanying evidence of improvements in the quality or equity of educational provision. A number of countries have introduced incentives – both rewards and sanctions – in an attempt to ‘drive’ improvements in the work of schools. Many of these incentive schemes have followed the model adopted in business of specifying and measuring desired …

Some Drivers Of Test Item Difficulty In Mathematics : An Analysis Of The Competency Rubric, Ross Turner, Ray J. Adams

OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)

This paper is concerned with the empirical validation of the competency rubric described in another paper presented at the same conference: Turner, Ross (April 2012). Some drivers of test item difficulty in mathematics. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Vancouver, 13-17 April 2012 http://research.acer.edu.au/pisa/4/

Using items developed for the PISA 2012 survey, and data collected as part of an extensive field trial of the PISA tasks conducted during 2011 in some 67 countries, the authors use multidimensional Rasch modelling and latent regression to examine the following three questions: 1. What is the …

Philanthropic Funding Eligibility Requirements, Catherine Brown

Tender Bridge

This two page document was developed to assist schools determine whether they are eligible to apply for a grant. The eligibility requirements often relate to the legal tax status of the applicant organisation. Outlined and explained are the key requirements and their impact on funding sources.

Students' Participation In And Valuing Of Civic Engagement At School, Wolfram Schulz, Julian Fraillon

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

The IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study studied the ways in which young people in lower secondary schools are prepared to undertake their roles as citizens in a wide range of countries including Europe, Latin America, and the Asian-Pacific region. ICCS was the third IEA study designed to measure contexts and outcomes of civic and citizenship education and was linked to the 1999 IEA Civic Education Study (CIVED). A central aspect of the study was the assessment of student knowledge about a wide range of civic-related issues. ICCS gathered data from more than 140,000 Grade 8 (or equivalent) students …