Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

School Improvement Tool: A Summary Of The Underpinning Research, Christina Rogers, Fabienne Van Der Kleij, Pauline Taylor-Guy

School and system improvement

In 2023, ACER published the School Improvement Tool (SIT), the second iteration of the National School Improvement Tool (NSIT). A comprehensive review of international research was undertaken to inform the development of the SIT which consists of nine inter-related domains that describe the practices of highly effective schools and leaders. This document provides a summary of research evidence that underpins each of the nine domains of the SIT. Acknowledging interdependencies between domains, it presents a narrative of key evidence and research-based considerations for each domain. Further detail about the evidence for each domain can be found in the School Improvement …

School Improvement Tool: Literature Review, Fabienne Van Der Kleij, Pauline Taylor-Guy, Christina Rogers

School and system improvement

The School Improvement Tool identifies practices of highly effective schools and schools which have undergone substantial improvement, based on evidence from the international literature. It is made up of nine inter-related domains, or areas of practice. This literature review presents a thematic synthesis of the research evidence across the nine domains of the School Improvement Tool. This review underpinned the development of the School Improvement Tool, as the Second iteration of the National School Improvement Tool.

Infographic: Learning About Other Countries And Cultures, Jo Earp

Teacher infographics

What opportunities do school students have to learn about other cultures, perspectives, and global events? Students participating in PISA 2018 were asked 10 questions about the different learning activities they are exposed to. Today’s infographic looks at the OECD average results.

New Long-Term Education Research Partnership, Jennie Chainey

Discover - Early childhood

ACER and VVOB – education for development have recently committed to a five-year partnership.

Learning Through Play Experience Tool: Guidelines For General Use Of The Learning Through Play Experience Tool, Lisa Van Beeck

Monitoring Learning

The aim of the Learning through Play (LtP) Experience Tool is to see a play experience through the eyes of a child and use this to understand the texture of the child’s experience. The LtP Experience Tool is not designed to rate or evaluate the child. It is an observational tool used to collect data on a child’s play experience by empathising with a child and how they respond to the play experience. These guidelines provide an overview of the purpose of the LtP Experience Tool and how to use it to understand a child’s play experience. The guidelines are …

Infographic: Wise Words On Collaboration, Dominique Russell

Teacher infographics

What advice would you offer to your peers, thinking about your experience as an educator? We put this question to you in our annual reader survey. This infographic looks at some of the responses we received on the topic of collaboration.

A Commitment To Growth, Geoff N. Masters Ao

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

Students begin each school year at very different stages in their learning and development. Nevertheless, every student should be expected to make excellent progress in their learning regardless of their starting point, Professor Geoff Masters AO writes.

Incentives - An Ineffective School Improvement Strategy?, Geoff N. Masters

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

By the turn of the century, the observation had been made in many countries that substantial increases in expenditure on schools had failed to deliver measurable improvements in student performance. But just how effective are incentives as an improvement strategy?

Digital Fluency : Skills Necessary For Learning In The Digital Age, Gerald K. White

Digital learning research

This article examines the skills that will be required for the 21st century that will need to be embedded in educational curricula in order achieve them. It begins by considering how communicating between people has changed and current educational responses. A view of 21st century skills follows with an argument for some core subjects that will be necessary. Learning and teaching are then discussed leading to a view about what is needed in order to develop digital fluency in education, for now and the future.

Forward Thinking : Three Forward, Two Back : What Are The Next Steps?, Gerald K. White

Digital learning research

The use of digital technologies and digital media in teaching, learning and leadership in education has gradually gained momentum since the 1980s, when personal computers first became popular. The resultant media hype and educational posturing by technology evangelists were given a boost with the take up of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s. And significant investment followed nationally and internationally. So what have we learnt in that time about using technology for teaching, learning and educational leadership? What will be the challenges for successfully using digital technologies in education in the next five years?

This address briefly traverses …

The Quality Of Learners' Knowledge About Teaching And Learning, Helen Askell-Williams

Shannon Research Press

The aim of this monograph is to report the development and application of a framework for identifying quality in teachers' and learners' knowledge about teaching and learning.

Profiles Of Learning. The Basic Skills Testing Program In New South Wales 1989, Geoff N. Masters, Janice Lokan, Brian Doig, Siek Toon Khoo, John Lindsey, Lynette Robinson, Susan Zammit

Assessment and Reporting

The 1989 Basic Skills Testing Program in New South Wales provides the most comprehensive picture yet compiled of literacy and numeracy learning in Australian primary schools. In 1989, some 53,800 Year 6 students in NSW government schools were tested in five aspects of literacy and numeracy. Another 2,300 Year 3 students took part in a pilot study. This book discusses the writing of the tests, the analysis of results, and the reporting of results to parents, teachers and schools. The aim of the basic skills tests is to describe, in positive terms, the skills that students have mastered, to identify …