Education Commons^™

Collaboration In East Africa: A Contextualised Approach To Defining The Construct, Claire Scoular, David Alelah Otieno

Assessment and Reporting

Collaboration has been highlighted internationally as a key skill for learning, working, and living in the twenty-first century. However, to teach it well, enhance its performance, and measure its growth, it is essential to have a clear and consistent definition of the skill. There are a number of frameworks that describe collaboration in a way that is meaningful to learning and growth. Despite some differences across frameworks, it is clear there is a common core set of contributing subskills. This suggests that collaboration is of global interest, and that there are components that transcend national or cultural specificities. Notwithstanding, definitions …

Gaml/Tcg Criteria For Use Of An Assessment To Report On Sdg 4.1.1, Kemran Mestan, Maurice Walker, Colin Watson

Monitoring Learning

The Global Alliance to Monitor Learning (GAML) is the working group of the Technical Cooperation Group on SDG 4 Indicators (TCG) that focuses on learning data and aims at improving learning outcomes by supporting national strategies for learning assessments and developing internationally comparable indicators and methodological tools to measure progress towards key targets of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4). Indicator 4.1.1 is defined as the percentage of children and young people who have achieved a minimum proficiency level in (i) reading and (ii) mathematics during primary (Grade 2 or 3) and at the end of primary and lower secondary …

Learning Through Play At School: Ukraine, 2019-2024, Rachel Parker, Amy Berry, Kellie Picker, David Jeffries, Prue Anderson, Oksana Zabolotna

Student learning processes

The Learning Through Play at School Research Study Ukraine was a four-year longitudinal intervention study funded by the LEGO Foundation and implemented by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the Ukrainian Educational Research Association (UERA). The study was implemented between 2019 and 2024, during COVID-19 and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian armed forces. Despite, at times, insurmountable challenges, the professional learning intervention was successful in supporting most teachers to progress from a surface level understanding of learning through play to a deep level. In addition, almost all children’s literacy and social-emotional skills grew significantly from start …

Student Assessment In Madhya Pradesh, Acer India

ACER India

ACER will build a student assessment system in Madhya Pradesh as part of Rajya Shiksha Kendra (RSK)’s School Certification Programme. Under this initiative, schools will be certified as gold, silver, and bronze based on their performance. We will develop assessments for students in grades 3, 5, 8, and 10 in schools that meet the qualifying criteria.

Supporting Schools’ And Teachers’ Use Of Assessment To Inform Learning Of All Students, Ursula Schwantner, Soumaya Maghnouj

Global education monitoring

Issue 5 of the series Using assessment data in education policy and practice: Examples from the Asia-Pacific documents 4 case studies of promising and effective policies or practices on how education systems can better support teachers and schools in effectively integrating assessment practices in the teaching and learning process, to identify and meaningfully address every learner’s needs. In particular, the case studies show how different tools, approaches and policies help promote and reinforce the use of assessment to support more learner-centred and differentiated approaches to teaching and learning. 1. Using the Progressive Achievement approach to develop data-informed schools by Marc …

The Overcoming Disadvantage In Early Childhood Study: Evaluation Of The Australian Literacy And Numeracy Foundation’S Early Language And Literacy Program. Summary Report, Dan Cloney, Kellie Picker, David Jeffries, Prue Anderson

Early Childhood Education

This report provides a summary of the completed Overcoming Disadvantage in Early Childhood (ODEC) longitudinal research study. The study was designed to evaluate the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation’s (ALNF) Early Language and Literacy (EL&L) program by answering the research question: What is the effect of the EL&L program on the development of language and literacy skills in preschool aged children? An integral component of this study was the development of the Early Language and Literacy Developmental Index (ELLDI), a new tool to measure oral language and literacy learning. The development of the ELLDI was based on the recognised need …

Supporting The Quality Of Digital Learning: Project Brief, Abha Bhagat

ACER India

Khan Academy introduced the Science Essentials Course to build a strong foundation in fundamental concepts among learners using deep conceptual videos. The course consists of learning videos and exercises - the videos help strengthen conceptual understanding for students, while the element of focused practice allows learners to retrieve concepts learnt, make mistakes, receive feedback, and in the process, master skills. The Australian Council for Educational Research (India) reviewed a sample of videos and exercises in physics, chemistry, and biology of the Science Essentials Course for students in grades 11 and 12.

National Assessment Program: Ict Literacy 2022: Public Report, Tim Friedman, Kate O'Malley, Zachary Watts, Kristy Osborne, Louise Ockwell, Laila Helou

ICT - Digital Literacy

This public report documents the findings of the sixth National Assessment Program ICT Literacy (NAP–ICT Literacy) assessment cycle. In reporting national key performance measures (KPMs) of Australian students’ ICT literacy, the NAP–ICT Literacy assessment provides a way to monitor progress towards the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Goals for Young Australians. Goal 2 of the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration is that “all young Australians become confident and creative individuals, successful lifelong learners, and active and informed members of the community” (Education Council 2019, p. 6). The elaboration of this goal highlights the importance of young Australians’ digital and ICT literacy …

Student Drawings: An Ai-Eschewed Means To Show Curriculum-Based Change, Anne Knowles

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

This poster focuses on the use of drawings as a way to illustrate change. It presents research undertaken in the Pacific Group of Christian Schools (PGCS) exploring how supplementing curriculums with Personal Viewpoints Pedagogy (PVP) practices has led to change in self-prioritisation which positively influences prosocial behaviour. This Poster reports the use of student representations of thinking through drawings to provide evidence of this change. It shows that student-generated drawings could be used to gauge other-focused thinking, represented as self-conceit, conditional, unconditional, and sacrificial choices in response to socially problematic situations. Learner-generated drawings are a non-textual format offering a window …

Research Conference 2023: Becoming Lifelong Learners. Proceedings And Program, Kylie Burns (Ed.)

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

We know learning in the early years sets the foundations for people’s ongoing academic, cognitive and socio-emotional development. Education across those formative first 12 years is currently segmented, with children often starting fresh in new systems. How can each of us make learning in the early childhood and primary years more effective? Research Conference 2023 will examine research around how we can improve the continuity of learning from birth to 12 years. It will bring together leading international and Australian researchers to provide insights into the best ways to identify, conceptualise, develop and assess these new linkages for learning.

The National Student Assessment 2022 In Bangladesh. Key Findings & Learnings, Directorate Of Primary Education Bangladesh

Assessment and Reporting

This fact sheet highlights the key findings of the National Student Assessment (NSA) 2022, a sample-based assessment in Bangladesh, covering 3,357,233 students in grade 3 and 3,604,586 students in grade 5. The NSA project is a partnership of the Monitoring and Evaluation Division. Directorate of Primary Education. Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, UNICEF, UKAID and Australian Council for Educational Research (India) as technical agency.

The National Student Assessment 2022 In Bangladesh. Grades 3 And 5, Directorate Of Primary Education Bangladesh

Assessment and Reporting

The National Student Assessment (NSA) 2022 was a sample-based assessment in Bangladesh, measuring the learning levels of Bangladeshi students in Bangla and Mathematics covering 3,357,233 students in grade 3 and 3,604,586 students in grade 5. It was the seventh round of the national assessments in primary education in Bangladesh, conducted after five years and the most comprehensive national-level learning assessment after the global COVID-19 pandemic. The sampling method at school level was multistage stratified probability proportional to size method, and at student level was equal probability systematic random sampling derived from Annual Primary School Census (APSC) 2021 database.The report outlines …

Learn, Reflect, Practice, Discuss: A Professional Development Pilot For Clinical Nurse Educators, Jessica Savage, Linda Wofford Dr., David Phillippi Dr.

DNP Scholarly Projects

Abstract

AIM: The aim of this project was to assess the effect of a professional development pilot on the self-efficacy among clinical nurse educators toward evaluation and assessment of students in the clinical setting.

BACKGROUND: Nursing schools employ clinical nurse faculty with varied levels of experience and formal education in teaching. Positive student outcomes are dependent on the competency of their nursing faculty, yet best practices to train and support the professional growth of clinical faculty have not yet been identified.

METHOD: A multi-modal professional development pilot including online-learning modules, self-reflection, practice-learning, and peer-mentoring components was designed and implemented with …

Rethinking Assessment In Response To Generative Artificial Intelligence, Jacob Pearce, Neville Chiavaroli

Higher education research

The use of decision-making support tools during assessments, such as electronic differential diagnosis in examinations, is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how technology is currently changing assessment practice. We have reached a transformative stage in the development of artificial intelligence (AI). We can no longer rely on non-invigilated assessments and submitted ‘artefacts’ to demonstrate student learning and competence. This is bringing many long-term demands on educators, course coordinators and curriculum designers, forcing us to rethink assessment approaches. Going forward, we see an important distinction between ‘assisted’ assessments and ‘unassisted’ assessments. With the recent increase and …

2022-2023 Annual Student Assessment Report, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Assessment Center Reports

Annual Student Assessment Report produced by the SWOSU Assessment Center.

Transforming Assessment And Learning: Making The System Work. Proceeding Of The 2022 International Conference On Assessment And Learning, Acer Indonesia

International Conference on Assessment and Learning (ICAL)

No abstract provided.

Assessing Reading: How Assessment Can Be Used To Target Teaching And Enhance Understanding Of Reading Comprehension, Sandra Knowles

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

The skills demonstrated by a proficient reader are not easy to untangle. Current research acknowledges that reading comprehension is a highly complex area of ability, one that needs to be understood as the coordination of several integrated processes. Using example test questions and data, this presentation explores how assessment can help us make sense of reading comprehension in a way that curricula and commonly used teaching strategies cannot. Assessment is evidence that informs us about the skills involved in the reading process, how they relate to each other, and how they develop in complexity. When assessment is understood in this …

Assessment Moderation: Is It Fit For Purpose?, Lenore Adie

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

This presentation outlines the different practices and purposes of assessment moderation and analyses the benefits and issues of these. Two projects are presented; each seeks to improve teacher judgement. Both attempt to redefine what we mean by moderation and how moderation can be conducted to reach diverse and dispersed groups. The first draws on a current Australian Research Council project that is exploring the development of scaled exemplars, the use of commentaries of judgement decisions, and the use of digital platforms to support teachers grading student work. The second draws on the work of the Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment (GTPA) …

The Transformational Change Of Adaptive Assessment, Jarrod Hingston, Toby Newton

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

Organisational change theory often discusses the differences between adaptive change and transformational change; adaptive change being the process of incremental shifts that are intended to drive improvement, while transformational change requires major alterations in processes. In 2019, ACER embarked on a mission to develop a new adaptive testing and reporting system, with the goal of delivering an assessment that would improve the precision of results for every student. While the intention was to introduce an adaptive change in the assessments, the project truly transformed the way that ACER delivers assessments and reports results, a result recognised by the project being …

An Innovative Method For Teachers To Formatively Assess Writing Online, Dr Sandy Heldsinger, Stephen Humphry

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

Assessment is an integral component of effective teaching and a teacher’s professional judgement influences all routine aspects of their work. In the last 20 years, there has been considerable work internationally to support teachers in using assessment to improve student learning. However, there is a pressing issue that impedes teacher professional judgement being exploited to its full potential. The issue relates to teacher assessments in the context of extended performances such as essays and arises from the complexity of obtaining reliable or consistent teacher assessments of students’ work. Literature published in the United States, England and Australia details evidence of …

Reimagining Classroom Assessment And Feedback To Meet Learner Needs, Fabienne Van Der Kleij

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

The power of classroom assessment and feedback to improve student learning outcomes has long been recognised. Yet, decades of research have yielded disappointing and often conflicting outcomes. This presentation challenges traditional conceptions of classroom assessment and feedback as teacher-driven practices. To meet learner needs better, it proposes a student-centred perspective in which students are active and have agency. By drawing on an extensive study of feedback reviews, this presentation illustrates how conceptualisations of feedback have changed over recent decades. This paper provides key insights into how classroom assessment and feedback practices can be changed in ways that are sustainable, afford …

Reimagining The Purpose Of Assessment, Geoff N. Masters

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

Assessment is commonly understood as the process of judging how well students have learnt what they have been taught. It comes at the end of a sequence that begins with a curriculum or course syllabus. Teachers are expected to deliver this body of specified content, students are expected to learn it, and assessment is the process of judging and grading students on how well they have learnt what teachers have taught. This is a common view of assessment among students, parents and many teachers. I will argue in this presentation that this traditional understanding of what it means to learn …

Research Conference 2022: Reimagining Assessment: Proceedings And Program, Kylie Burns (Ed.)

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

The focus of this year’s Research Conference is on the use of assessment to support improved teaching and learning. The conference is titled ‘reimagining assessment’ because we believe there is a need to transform the essential purposes of educational assessment to provide better information about the deep conceptual learning, skills, competencies, and personal attributes that teachers and schools now have as objectives for student learning and development. Reimagined assessments must now be focused on monitoring learning across this broader range of intended outcomes and provide quality information about the points individuals have reached in their long-term development.

Building A World-Class Learning System, Geoff N. Masters

School and system improvement

This study sought to understand how five jurisdictions – British Columbia, Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong and South Korea, which have all performed unusually well in international achievement surveys over the past two decades – are approaching school education and its transformation. Geoff Masters describes key aspects of the learning systems these jurisdictions have established, comments on how they are now redesigning their learning systems for the future, and discusses insights into what may be required for any jurisdiction to perform well on measures of the kind currently used in international surveys.

Fifty Definitions Of English Learner: A Proposed Solution To Inconsistent State-By-State Systems In The United States For Classifying Students Who Speak English As A Second Language, Rolf Straubhaar, Pedro R. Portes

Educational Considerations

Although nearly one in 10 U.S. students is an English Learner (or EL), the definition of the term EL varies considerably from state to state, as does the means of assessing English language proficiency and the period of time for which the label is applied to individual students. As EL populations are growing throughout the U.S., both in school systems familiar with teaching ELs and in systems that do not have such experience, it is urgent that the methods by which this population is identified and by which its needs are met in acquiring English language proficiency are backed up …

2021-2022 Annual Student Assessment Report, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Assessment Center Reports

Annual Student Assessment Report produced by the SWOSU Assessment Center.

The Overcoming Disadvantage In Early Childhood Study: Evaluation Of The Australian Literacy And Numeracy Foundation’S Early Language And Literacy Program. Final Report, Dan Cloney, Kellie Picker, David Jeffries, Prue Anderson

Early Childhood Education

The Overcoming Disadvantage in Early Childhood (ODEC) study is a longitudinal evaluation of the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation’s (ALNF) Early Language and Literacy (EL&L) program. The study was designed to answer the research question: What is the effect of the EL&L program on the development of language and literacy skills in preschool aged children? An integral component of this study was to develop a new measure of oral language and literacy - the Early Language and Literacy Developmental Index (ELLDI). The ELLDI was developed in recognition of the need for a best practice measure of oral language and literacy …

Beyond Letters And Numbers: The Covid-19 Pandemic And Foundational Literacy And Numeracy In Indonesia, Jeaniene Spink, Dan Cloney, Amy Berry

International Education Research

In 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic spreading across Indonesia and around the world, INOVASI (the Innovation for Indonesia’s School Children) and the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (MoECRT) initiated a study of foundational literacy and numeracy learning by Indonesian students and the impact of the pandemic on this learning. The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) provided technical support. The study developed descriptions of literacy and numeracy achievement levels, referencing both global proficiency frameworks and Indonesia’s curriculum and assessment standards. Student results were benchmarked against descriptors of skills for the Global Proficiency Framework (GPF) Minimum Proficiency Levels …

The Swans/Ables Project: A Set Of Resources Developed Collaboratively With Teachers To Support The Teaching And Learning Of Students With Additional Learning Needs, Toshiko Kamei

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

The inclusion of students with additional learning needs in schooling is part of policy and practice in Australia. However, it has been well documented that teachers lack the resources and training to meaningfully include students with additional learning needs in the full range of learning in their classrooms. The SWANs (Students with Additional Needs) program of work aimed to fill this gap through developing assessments based on learning progressions to provide targeted information to support the teaching and learning of all students, including students with additional learning needs. The development and implementation of the SWANs/ABLES suite of resources illustrates how …

Rethinking Measurement For Accountable Assessment, Mark Wilson

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

The underlying model for most formal educational measurement (e.g. standardised tests) is based on a very simple model: the student takes a test (possibly alongside other students). The complications of there being an instructional plan, actual instruction, interpretation of the outcome, and formulation of next steps, are all bypassed in considering how to model the process of measurement. There are some standard exceptions, of course: a pre-test/post-test context will involve two measurements, and attention to gain score, or similar. However, if we wish to design measurement to hold to Lehrer’s (2021) definition of ‘accountable assessment’ – as ‘actionable information for …