Education Commons^™

One of the aims of the national agenda for education is to foster the achievement of Australian students in key learning areas such as numeracy and literacy. A central question, in this context, is at which level resources should best be allocated in order to maximize their effect on improving learning outcomes. Put differently, the question is whether it is more effective to direct resources to schools, their staff and infrastructure or to students and their families. To address this question, the South Australian Department of Education and Children Services (DECS) commissioned the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) in …