Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

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.

Building A World-Class Learning System: Insights From Some Top-Performing School Systems, Geoff N. Masters

School and system improvement

The result of a multi-year study, this book explores how five school systems - British Columbia, Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong and South Korea - have been rethinking and reforming their schools systems. It addresses questions including: What policies need to be in place for every child to experience an engaging and supportive learning environment that motivates not only high performance but a desire to keep learning? What do students really need to know and be able to do to thrive in a changing world? How can systems engage in ongoing improvement while also cultivating innovation? The book provides a framework …

Infographic: Australia’S Reading Results Within The International Context, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Teacher infographics

The new report, Progress in International Reading Literacy Study: Australia’s results from PIRLS 2021, reveals how the average reading performance of year 4 students in Australia compares to other countries. Find out more in today’s infographic.

Pirls 2021 Australian Year 4 Data [Sas], Kylie Hillman, Elizabeth O'Grady, Sima Rodrigues, Marina Schmid, Sue Thomson

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)

This dataset (SAS zipped) is a data source for the report Progress in International Reading Literacy Study: Australia’s results from PIRLS 2021. Refer to the readme.txt file for details.

Pirls 2021 Australian Year 4 Data [Spss], Kylie Hillman, Elizabeth O'Grady, Sima Rodrigues, Marina Schmid, Sue Thomson

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)

This dataset (SPSS zipped) is a data source for the report Progress in International Reading Literacy Study: Australia’s results from PIRLS 2021. Refer to the readme.txt file for details.

Pirls 2021 Australian Year 4 Data Readme [Text], Kylie Hillman, Elizabeth O'Grady, Sima Rodrigues, Marina Schmid, Sue Thomson

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)

This readme file contains information on use of the datasets that form the data source for the report Progress in International Reading Literacy Study: Australia’s results from PIRLS 2021.

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 …

Building Capacity For Quality Teaching Rounds – Victoria. Final Report, Tanya Vaughan, Sarah Richardson, Toby Carslake, Trisha Reimers, Greg Macaskill, Toby Newton, Nathan Zoanetti, Andrew Mannion, Martin Murphy

Professional learning for teachers and school leaders

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) was commissioned by the Teachers and Teaching Research Centre (TTRC) at the University of Newcastle to conduct an independent randomised controlled trial (RCT), with the goal of examining effects of Quality Teaching Rounds (QTR) on student outcomes and teachers’ practice in Victorian high schools. A total of 19 schools participated in Quality Teaching Rounds in 2022, with 20 schools in the wait list control. Data were gathered in an ongoing manner during the evaluation with: Progressive Assessment Tests in Mathematics (PAT-M) and reading (PAT-R) – baseline and follow up; student self-efficacy and aspiration …

Progress In International Reading Literacy Study: Australia’S Results From Pirls 2021, Kylie Hillman, Elizabeth O'Grady, Sima Rodrigues, Marina Schmid, Sue Thomson

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is a large-scale assessment that measures how effective countries are in teaching reading literacy. Conducted every five years since 2001 (with Australia participating since 2011), PIRLS provides information about how to improve teaching and learning so that young students become accomplished and self-sufficient readers. In Australia, almost 5,500 Year 4 students participated in PIRLS 2021. These students completed tests in reading comprehension and answered questionnaires on their background and experiences in learning reading at school. To inform educational policy in the participating countries, alongside the assessment of reading literacy, PIRLS also routinely collects …

Implementing Effective Tiered Interventions In Secondary Schools: Survey Of School And Support Staff, Paul R. Weldon, Jonathan Heard, Jessica Thompson, Tanya Stephenson

Literacy and Numeracy

An online survey and a series of interviews were focused on students in Years 7 to 9 who lack the foundational literacy and numeracy skills that are required to engage with a secondary curriculum, in schools where most students have these skills. These students are referred to throughout this report as struggling students. The students in scope are likely to struggle to engage in classes without significant differentiation on the part of classroom teachers, and the skill disparity may be so great that differentiating lessons for them is not feasible. The project sought to address 4 questions: What methods and/or …

Infographic: Basic Literacy Skills And The Gap Between Male And Female Students, Jo Earp

Teacher infographics

NAPLAN’s National Minimum Standard is the ‘agreed minimum acceptable standard of knowledge and skills without which a student will have difficulty making sufficient progress at school’. Ahead of the 2023 tests, we compare the percentage of male and female students in year 9 achieving at or above the standard in Literacy, over time.

Infographic: Basic Skills And The Gap Between Indigenous And Non-Indigenous Students, Jo Earp

Teacher infographics

In the National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests, the national minimum standard (NMS) is the ‘agreed minimum acceptable standard of knowledge and skills without which a student will have difficulty making sufficient progress at school’. This infographic looks at the performance of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in Year 9, over time.

Acer 2021-2022 Annual Report, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

ACER Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Mid-Term Evaluation Report (Final): Global Education Monitoring (Gem) Centre Phase 3, Valerie Haugen

Monitoring Learning

This report provides findings and recommendations from the external mid-term evaluation of Phase 3 of the Global Education Monitoring (GEM Centre) - a long-term partnership between the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). The goal of the GEM Centre is to improve learning, by ensuring that education policies, practices and investments are influenced by high-quality evidence. The aim of the mid-term evaluation was to enable reflection on the long-term partnership through the GEM Centre. The findings highlight the successes and achievements of the GEM Centre over the past decade, …

Analysis Of Early Childhood Education And Learning Outcomes In The Pacific, Dan Cloney, Yung Nietschke, Jeffery Marshall

Early Childhood Education

There is strong evidence supporting early childhood education (ECE) programmes as an effective way to support children to have the best start in life, especially for the most disadvantaged children. When high‐quality programmes are established – where quality is assured, and barriers to participation eliminated – large positive effects are observed that are sustained into adulthood. Indeed, substantial positive returns on public investment in ECE programmes are reported. When low‐quality programmes are taken to scale in the market, however, smaller effects or no effects are observed. This is attributed to failure to get quality right. And when quality is too …

Pirls 2021 Australian Year 4 Data Tables [Excel], Kylie Hillman, Elizabeth O'Grady, Sima Rodrigues, Marina Schmid, Sue Thomson

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)

No abstract provided.

School Improvement Tool, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

School and system improvement

Research shows the powerful impact that school leadership teams can have in improving the quality of teaching and learning. Effective leaders create cultures of high expectations, provide clarity about what teachers are to teach and students are to learn, establish strong professional learning communities, and lead ongoing school-wide efforts to improve teaching practices. The School Improvement Tool describes the practices of highly effective schools and school leaders. The SIT assists schools to review and reflect on their strategies to improve the quality of classroom teaching and learning. It supports school-wide conversations – including with families, school governing bodies, local communities, …