Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

School Improvement Tool Elaborations: Student Engagement And Wellbeing. Background Report And Literature Review, Fabienne Van Der Kleij, Pauline Taylor-Guy, Tanya Vaughan, Marijne Medhurst, Christina Rogers

School and system improvement

This literature review outlines the evidence that underpins the development of a set of evidence-informed elaborations, or specific practices, that support student engagement and wellbeing across the 9 domains of the National School Improvement Tool (NSIT). These observable, measurable practices to support student engagement and wellbeing have been developed from a review of relevant literature in the areas of socio-emotional learning (SEL), health and wellbeing, student engagement and a sense of belonging, and motivations for engagement. They also take account of commissioned research reports by the Queensland Department of Education and the Department's (2018) approach to student learning and wellbeing …

Infographic: Pisa 2022 – Australian Performance Trends Over Time, Dominique Russell

Teacher infographics

Results from PISA 2022 have been released and the data show Australian student performance in maths and reading has been holding steady since 2015, and in science since 2018. However, when looking at the past 20 years, performance has dropped significantly across the board.

Collective Efficacy Tracking Tool. Development Framework 2023, Kerry Elliott, Hilary Hollingsworth

Educational leadership

Collective efficacy has become a prominent feature in educational policy and practice with growing evidence that a strong sense of collective efficacy amongst educators leads to better outcomes for students. With growing interest in the importance of collective efficacy and how to cultivate it, the Collective Efficacy Tracking Tool was created to address challenges associated with understanding, diagnosing, and developing collective efficacy. This Framework describes the development of the Collective Efficacy Tracking Tool, defining collective efficacy in a way that it can be operationalised to leverage improvement efforts. The Framework and accompanying Collective Efficacy Tracking Tool provide a practical resource …

Pisa In Brief 2022: Student Performance And Equity In Education, Lisa De Bortoli, Catherine Underwood, Sue Thomson

OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Australia

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an assessment that measures the knowledge and skills of 15-year-old students, an age at which they have nearly completed compulsory schooling. PISA assesses young adults’ ability to apply their knowledge and skills to real-life problems and situations rather than how well they have learned a specific curriculum. This PISA in Brief report provides a summary of student performance in the PISA 2022 assessment and tells us about their capacity to apply knowledge and skills in the domains of reading, mathematical, and scientific literacy.

Pisa 2022. Reporting Australia’S Results. Volume I: Student Performance And Equity In Education, Lisa De Bortoli, Catherine Underwood, Sue Thomson

OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Australia

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international comparative study of student performance directed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). PISA measures 3 core domains of reading literacy, mathematical literacy, and scientific literacy. The assessment focuses on young people’s ability to apply their knowledge and skills to real-world problems and situations. The term ‘literacy’ reflects a focus on broader skills. As a concept, literacy is more than simply being able to read and write. Eighty-one countries or economies, involving around 690,000 students, participated in PISA 2022. In Australia, 743 schools and a total of 13,437 …

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 …

Technology In Education: A Case Study On Lao People's Democratic Republic, Yung Nietschke, Anna Dabrowski

International Education Research

This paper was commissioned by the Global Education Monitoring Report as background information for the development of the 2023 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report: technology and education, Southeast Asia. Digital technology has the potential to transform learning and offer a solution to persistent challenges in equity of access and quality of learning for all students. COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of technology to deliver alternative modes of education. It has also put the spotlight on the digital divide that technology creates. This Case Study explores the progress of technology integration in the education sector in Lao PDR in line with …

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.

A Policy Monitoring Framework To Prepare For, Respond To, And Recover From Education In Emergencies, Pina Tarricone, Kemran Mestan, Ian Teo

International Education Research

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how widespread emergencies can disrupt national education systems and schooling. To assist policy decision-making and monitoring, a rapid review of over 200 documents relating to education in emergencies (EiE) was conducted, with a specific focus on the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of the review is to support policymakers, largely in developing countries, to develop policies that promote education system resiliency with a focus on monitoring those policies. From the analysis and synthesis of evidence a new framework has been produced, which assists policymakers by organising the complexity of relevant concerns. This Policy Monitoring Framework (PMF) …

Halt Certification: Reducing The Workload, Increasing The Rigour And Cutting The Cost, Lawrence Ingvarson, Hilary Hollingsworth

Teacher workforce and careers

In December 2022, federal, state and territory education ministers released a National Teacher Workforce Action Plan to improve teacher supply and retention in the profession. While recognising the important role that Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher (HALT) certification could play, the plan also recognised that the current approach to certification was cumbersome for teachers and called for it to be ‘streamlined’. At the request of the education ministers, the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) has produced a revised Framework for the Certification of HALT Teachers. Guided by the Framework, certifying authorities across state and territory school systems …

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 …

The Contribution Of Learning Trajectories To Enacting The Early Years Learning Framework V2.0, Caroline Cohrssen

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia v2.0 (EYLF) guides pedagogy and practice with children aged from birth to 5 years and states that ‘over time, children engage with increasingly complex ideas’. With 5 learning outcomes and 8 principles of practice, this requires educators to be highly skilled in facilitating children’s engagement with increasingly complex ideas. It also assumes that all educators recognise children’s demonstrations of understanding, and know what knowledge (or capabilities) likely preceded this understanding, and what comes next. As a framework, this specific information is missing from the EYLF. Learning trajectories may assist educators to recognise demonstrations …

Understanding Early Cognitive Development: Using Pat Early Years To Support Student Learning, Sandra Knowles

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

The correlation between early cognitive and psychosocial development is well established. For this reason, some measurement tools, such as UNICEF’s Early Childhood Development Index (ECDI2030), provide a single score as an overall indicator of a child’s development because performing poorly in one area is likely to mean inadequate development across all areas. While these broad indicators can be useful at a system level, understanding children’s development in discrete domain areas is essential for meaningful intervention. This presentation will explore how measurement tools, such as ACER’s Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) for the Early Years, can be used to support targeted intervention …

Mathematical Mindsets: Fostering Student Engagement And Positive Mindsets Through The Use Of Challenging Tasks, Alison Hall

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

This paper explores the planned use of challenging mathematical tasks. These tasks provide the opportunity for students to improve mathematical thinking by working on problems that they do not yet know how to answer. This research involved a heterogeneous class of year 3 students from a Catholic parish primary school in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. A rubric was also developed to use in conjunction with these tasks, to support discussions with students, broaden their strategies in finding solutions and thereby improve their conceptual understanding. These pedagogical approaches were found to support the improvement of both students’ conceptual understanding in …

Assessment Is Coming And The Early Childhood Sector Must Lead The Way, Dan Cloney

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

Assessment is a core component of quality early childhood practice. It is explicitly highlighted in the new Early Years Leanring Framework V2.0 and is a standard within Quality Area 1 of the National Quality Standard. In everyday early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings, and in initial teacher education, assessment is often limited to observational and narrative-driven approaches. Recent reviews of the literature highlight that there are few other assessment tools readily available to educators. What assessment looks like in early childhood is changing. The Commonwealth, as part of the Preschool Reform Funding Agreement, is developing, trialling, and implementing a …

Partnerships In Early Childhood Education: Engaging Families In Professional Conversations, Simone Griggs, Greta Rollo

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

Effective monitoring of learning and development involves integrating multiple perspectives from a child’s parents, carers, family, and their educators. A collaborative approach between educators and families not only recognises the family’s critical importance in their child’s life but it has also been shown to benefit children with learning difficulties, delays and behavioural concerns (Parenting Research Centre, 2012; Prior et al., 2011). Efforts made towards the integration of multiple perspectives can also support stronger inclusion of diverse families into communities of early childhood education and care. However, discussions with parents and carers about issues regarding their children’s development can be a …

More Than Phonics To Teach Spelling, Clare Iacono

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

This poster presents research into using more than phonics to teach students, in the middle primary school years, to spell. It uses document analyses and grounded theory to consider two research questions: Could instruction in metacognition and self regulation also improve skills in spelling? Is there evidence of instruction in metacognition and self regulation in current spelling lessons?

Developing A Learning Progression For Teachers To Support Effective Thinking And Self-Regulation, Hannah Campos Remon, Adam Kuss

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

Brisbane Grammar School has undertaken four years of systematic research to develop a learning progression to support teachers in the development of their students’ capacity for learning, including self-regulation. The learning progression offers a comprehensive, learning-focused tool for teachers to consider how their students are developing as learners over time. Whilst it is not intended to be prescriptive or exhaustive, or to produce a grade for ‘learning’, it offers a purposeful sampling of important components of effective thinking.

The Impact Of Dog-Assisted Wellbeing Interventions On Student Motivation And Engagement In The School Setting, Yvonne Howard

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

This poster summarises a proposed mixed methods study conducted by a researcher teacher to understand the impact of a therapy dog working in a co-educational day school through two research questions: What are the social and emotional benefits of a school-wide dog-assisted wellbeing intervention for students? How does a dog-assisted wellbeing intervention influence students' motivation and affective engagement at school?

Teaching, Teaching, Wherefore Art Thou? Exploring The Artistry In Teaching, Sean Casham

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

Teachers do unforgivably complex work, and part of this complexity is the artistry in teaching practice. This poster outlines research on artistry in teaching involving a literature review and a qualitative multi-site case study design across New South Wales, ACT and the Northern Territory.

Seeing In: Qualitative Shifts In Children’S Critical Understanding Of Their Artworks, Janna Adams Tess

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

This poster outlines research to better understand the continuity of children’s learning in primary school Visual Arts, so that art can be better taught and learned. Research Questions include: What do children’s critical judgements of the meaning and value of their artworks reveal about their role and development as artists? How do these critical judgements change from early to late childhood?

Wellbeing Policies And Practices Within A Primary School Context, Lyle Righetti

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

This poster outlines research to explore current mental health and wellbeing policies and programs for primary-aged students, and to examine primary teachers’ perceptions of school-based social and emotional learning (SEL) practices in relation to wellbeing policies and programs.

Transdisciplinary Stem Enactment: An Exploratory Case Study In The Queensland Context, Kristie Schulz

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

Enacting STEM education in Australian schools is an ambitious task, in a climate of unclear definitions and little implementation advice. Should STEM education simply refer to an umbrella-term of subjects that Australian students need to improve in, or could a cross-disciplinary pedagogy that engages students in authentic problem-solving be realised? This poster outlines a project in which Parklands Christian College designed and enacted a transdisciplinary student-centred ideology of STEM education in 2017. The program has continually evolved using a transdisciplinary pedagogical framework.

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.

School-Based Interventions That Support Mental Health And Psychosocial Wellbeing In Low- And Middle-Income Countries, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Anna Dabrowski, Katherine Dix, Toby Carslake

Global education monitoring

It is encouraging to see a focus on student mental health increasingly reflected in international education policies. However, the growing number of school-based mental health and wellbeing programs makes it challenging to identify quality interventions that effectively support student mental health, and even harder to identify evidence-based programs that link mental health support to learning. There is also a lack of comprehensive evidence on the effectiveness of mental health and wellbeing interventions in relation to student academic outcomes, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). In response to renewed interest in understanding how the education sector can provide effective mental …

The Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer) Response To The Australian Universities Accord Panel Interim Report, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Higher education research

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) recognises the importance of universities, and the higher education sector more broadly, to the prosperity and success of Australia. ACER welcomes the intent and focus of the Universities Accord in creating a system that enables all Australians to consider the option of university education and be supported in embracing this opportunity. In our submission to the Accord Panel, we would like to provide reflection and insight into the following key areas:

• Recognising the higher education ‘life cycle’ begins well before university enrolment.
• Continuing to build the emphasis on equality of opportunity and equity-focussed …

Professional Learning Conversations: Adaptive Expertise For Schools. Supplementary Digital Materials, Helen Timperley

Educational leadership

School leaders face complex challenges, that typically have multiple causes and often persist despite everyone’s best attempts to address them. Addressing complex challenges requires juggling both the big picture, and the specific parts of the challenge. Without a roadmap, this process is fraught and unlikely to succeed in improving outcomes. In order to make a difference, schools need adaptive expertise; a skill which can be learnt through professional conversations and inquiry. In Leading professional conversations, Emeritus Professor Helen Timperley deftly outlines the key enablers for effective professional conversations – relationships, resources, processes, knowledge and culture – which support teachers to …

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.