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Articles 31 - 60 of 152
Full-Text Articles in Education
Supporting Science Teaching Practice With Learning Progressions, Erin Furtak
Supporting Science Teaching Practice With Learning Progressions, Erin Furtak
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
Learning progressions are often used as foundations for curriculum and assessment. At the same time, as representations of the development of student ideas and practices, they can also serve as maps to support teachers during instruction. This paper describes a program of research in which my colleagues and I have investigated how learning progressions can support high school science teachers in cycles of co-designing formative assessments.
Rethinking Measurement For Accountable Assessment, Mark Wilson
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 …
Making Excellent Progress In Early Reading: How Can The Identification Of Essential Skills And Concepts Help?, Dara Ramalingam, Prue Anderson, Sandra Knowles, Danielle Anzai, Greta Rollo
Making Excellent Progress In Early Reading: How Can The Identification Of Essential Skills And Concepts Help?, Dara Ramalingam, Prue Anderson, Sandra Knowles, Danielle Anzai, Greta Rollo
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
The ability to read and understand text is fundamental to full participation in modern adult life (Olson, 1977; Elwert, 2001). It is essential to educational progress across domains, but increased literacy levels are also linked to positive outcomes in terms of employment and health. Given its critical role both in the facilitation of learning in all domains, and in many aspects of life beyond school, it is imperative that we give students the best possible chance to develop their reading skills. This paper uses early reading as a case study for examining how the identification and explication of essential skills …
Leading System Transformation: A Work In Progress, Greg Whitby, Maura Manning, Gavin Hays
Leading System Transformation: A Work In Progress, Greg Whitby, Maura Manning, Gavin Hays
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
Internationally, the COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly disrupted the education sector. While NSW has avoided the longer periods of remote learning that our colleagues in Victoria and other countries have experienced, we have nonetheless been provoked to reflect on the nature of schooling and the systemic support we provide to transform the learning of each student and enrich the professional lives of staff within our Catholic learning community. At Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta (CEDP), a key pillar of our approach is to create conditions that enable everyone to be a leader. Following the initial lockdown period in 2020 when students …
Interpreting Learning Progress Using Assessment Scores: What Is There To Gain?, Nathan Zoanetti
Interpreting Learning Progress Using Assessment Scores: What Is There To Gain?, Nathan Zoanetti
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
Using assessment scores to quantify gains and growth trajectories for individuals and groups can provide a valuable lens on learning progress for all students. This paper summarises some commonly observed patterns of progress and illustrates these using data from ACER’s Progressive Achievement Test (PAT) assessments. While growth trajectory measurement requires scores for the same individuals over at least three but preferably more occasions, scores from only two occasions are naturally more readily available. The difference between two successive scores is usually referred to as gain. Some common approaches and pitfalls when interpreting individual student gain data are illustrated. It is …
Using Assessment Data To Improve Equity: How Teachers Use Insights From The Scottish National Standardised Assessments, Sarah Richardson, Sladana Krstic
Using Assessment Data To Improve Equity: How Teachers Use Insights From The Scottish National Standardised Assessments, Sarah Richardson, Sladana Krstic
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
Evidence-based decision-making is regarded as an important indicator of quality in schools around the world. Using data gathered from assessments, in conjunction with other insights, can help school leaders and teachers better meet the needs of learners. In schools that cater to disadvantaged learners, using data to design targeted interventions plays an important role in improving equity. In this paper we report on a study with five schools in Scotland. All schools had learner cohorts characterised by multiple layers of disadvantage. Informed by the theoretical underpinnings of sensemaking theory, we investigated how teachers and school leaders used data from the …
Accountable Assessment, Richard Lehrer
Accountable Assessment, Richard Lehrer
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
There is widespread agreement about the importance of accounting for the extent to which educational systems advance student learning. Yet, the forms and formats of accountable assessments often ill serve students and teachers; the summative judgements of student performance that are typically employed to indicate proficiencies on benchmarks of student learning commonly fail to capture student performance in ways that are specific and actionable for teachers. Timing is another key barrier to the utility of summative assessment. In the US, summative evaluations occur at the end of the school year and may serve future students, but do not help teachers …
Identifying And Monitoring Progress In Collaboration Skills, Claire Scoular
Identifying And Monitoring Progress In Collaboration Skills, Claire Scoular
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
The nature of skills such as collaboration is complex, particularly given that there are internal processes at play. Inferences need to be made to interpret explicit behaviours observed from intentionally designed assessment tasks. This paper centres on the approach to develop hypotheses of skill development into validated learning progressions using assessment data. Understanding a skill from a growth perspective is essential for the effective teaching and development of the skill. The application of Item Response Theory (IRT) allows the interpretation of assessment data as levels of proficiency that we can use to map or monitor progress in collaborative skills.
Evidencing Creativity And Curiosity In Ib Schools, Sarah Richardson, Sladana Krstic
Evidencing Creativity And Curiosity In Ib Schools, Sarah Richardson, Sladana Krstic
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
There is growing recognition of the importance of learners gaining transversal or 21st-century attributes in order to thrive in the contemporary world. This poses a number of challenges for educators. First, to what extent are transversal attributes innate, or do they include a combination of traits and skills? Second, what can teachers do to help nurture these attributes in learners? Third, how can the existence or strengthening of attributes be recognised? In this paper, we draw on work that we are doing for the International Baccalaureate Organisation to define conceptual frameworks for creativity and curiosity. Our goal is to enable …
Applying Empirical Learning Progressions For A Holistic Approach To Evidence-Based Education: Swans/Ables, Emily White
Applying Empirical Learning Progressions For A Holistic Approach To Evidence-Based Education: Swans/Ables, Emily White
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
Learning progressions have become an increasing topic of interest for researchers, educational organisations and schools as they can describe the expected pathway of learning within a content area to allow for targeted teaching and learning at all levels of ability. However, there is substantial variation in how learning progressions are developed and to what extent teachers can use them to inform their practices. The ABLES/SWANS tools (Students with Additional Needs/Abilities Based Learning and Education Support) are an example of how an empirical learning progression can be applied to support teachers’ ability to not only target teaching to a student’s zone …
Learning Progressions As Models And Tools For Supporting Classroom Assessment, Alicia C. Alonzo
Learning Progressions As Models And Tools For Supporting Classroom Assessment, Alicia C. Alonzo
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
Like all models, learning progressions (LPs) provide simplified representations of complex phenomena. One key simplification is the characterisation of student thinking in terms of levels. This characterisation is both essential for large-scale applications, such as informing standards, but potentially problematic for smaller-scale applications. In this paper, I describe a program of research designed to explore the smaller-scale use of LPs as supports for teacher classroom assessment practices in light of this simplification. Based on this research, I conclude that LP levels may serve as a generative heuristic, particularly when teachers are engaged with evidence of the limitations of LP levels …
Karmel Oration: Excellent Progress For All: A Function Of Year-Level Curriculum Or Evidenced-Based Learning Progressions?, Dianne Siemon
Karmel Oration: Excellent Progress For All: A Function Of Year-Level Curriculum Or Evidenced-Based Learning Progressions?, Dianne Siemon
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
Excellent progress for all students is an ambitious but necessary goal if we are to improve the life choices of all students. At the moment, we are not serving all our students well despite the best efforts of teachers. We need to look further afield to the curriculum and assessment regimes that drive current practice. Grouping students by ability and offering a watered-down curriculum for some is not the answer. Evidenced-based learning progressions that point to what is important in ensuring all students build a deep, well-connected understanding of mathematics over time is what is needed to support reform at …
This Time Without ‘Feeling’: Children’S Intuitive Theories Of Art As A Logical Basis For Learning Progression In Visual Arts, Karen Maras
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
Learning in Visual Arts has traditionally been framed as an experiential process in which feeling and intuition complement the development of aesthetic knowledge. However, while art can be about feelings and processes that develop students’ expressive capacities, the complexity of art understanding and thinking extends beyond this narrow common-sense assumption. I argue that this assumption, which is represented in the Australian Curriculum: The Arts (ACARA, 2015), and even more firmly resonates in recent proposals for the revision of this curriculum (ACARA, 2021), obfuscates the conceptual and theoretical bases on which students make progress in art understanding. This paper examines the …
Developing An Assessment Of Oral Language And Literacy: Measuring Growth In The Early Years, Dan Cloney, Kellie Picker
Developing An Assessment Of Oral Language And Literacy: Measuring Growth In The Early Years, Dan Cloney, Kellie Picker
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
Children develop rapidly in their early years. A crucial component of this development is a child’s ability to learn and use language. Even before they enter formal education, children have learned much about oral language and literacy through meaningful interactions with others, and from their life experiences. Children, however, do not develop at the same pace – some children arrive in early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs more advanced while others require additional support. Recent reviews of the assessment tools available to ECEC educators show a lack of good quality measurement and a reliance on checklist style inventories or …
How Education Gets In The Way Of Learning, Geoff N. Masters
How Education Gets In The Way Of Learning, Geoff N. Masters
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
The formal structures and processes of school education – including the organisation of the school curriculum, processes for assessing student learning, methods of reporting performance, and the uses to which student results are put – are often inconsistent with what is now known about the best ways to promote human learning. Rather than being designed to maximise every student’s learning, these structures and processes often reflect 20th century priorities, including the use of school education to sort and select students into different education and training destinations, and future careers. This sorting function of schooling is becoming increasingly irrelevant in knowledge …
Research Conference 2021: Excellent Progress For Every Student: Proceedings And Program, Australian Council For Educational Research
Research Conference 2021: Excellent Progress For Every Student: Proceedings And Program, Australian Council For Educational Research
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
The focus of the 2021 Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) Research Conference is on evidence-based strategies for ensuring that every student makes excellent ongoing progress in their learning. This is an important topic because many students in our schools do not make good, steady progress. Some slip behind and fall increasingly behind the longer they are in school. By the middle years of school, this contributes to significant levels of student disengagement. ACER has invited a number of leading educational researchers to join us to share the findings of their research relevant to this topic. An important conclusion of …
How Teachers Engage With Student Assessment Data: Understanding Antecedents To Data-Driven Decision Making, Cynthia P. Raffe, Dennis Alonzo, University Of New South Wales
How Teachers Engage With Student Assessment Data: Understanding Antecedents To Data-Driven Decision Making, Cynthia P. Raffe, Dennis Alonzo, University Of New South Wales
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
In recent years, education systems internationally have been encouraging data-use initiatives with the aim of improving student learning through data-driven decision making (DDDM). The use of student assessment data in particular has been promoted to guide teaching practices and progress student learning. Despite this, the adoption of data-use practices by New South Wales classroom teachers has been slow. The study qualitatively examined two core foundational activities that affect New South Wales classroom teachers’ use of student assessment data, referred to as assessment data collection (ADC) practices, and assessment data analysis (ADA) practices. Specifically, the study sought to answer: What are …
Building The Capacity Of Teachers For Supporting 21st-Century Learning, Jenny Gore, Michelle Ware, Sui-Linn White, Lee-Anne Collins, Lloyd Bowen, Carole Hansen
Building The Capacity Of Teachers For Supporting 21st-Century Learning, Jenny Gore, Michelle Ware, Sui-Linn White, Lee-Anne Collins, Lloyd Bowen, Carole Hansen
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Quality Teaching Rounds (QTR) was first conceptualised by Julie Bowe and Jenny Gore in 2007. It involves teachers working in professional learning communities (PLCs) to reflect on their classroom practice through the lens of the quality teaching model. This teacher-led process builds capacity for quality teaching with novice and experienced teachers alike. Following a set of protocols and adhering to essential features of the approach, one PLC member teaches a lesson, observed by all others. The lesson is coded individually and then collaboratively analysed, using the shared language of the model. This poster presentation graphically highlights evidence from several research …
Key Skills For The 21st Century: An Evidence-Based Review, Esther Doecke, Quentin Maire
Key Skills For The 21st Century: An Evidence-Based Review, Esther Doecke, Quentin Maire
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
It is vital that education systems deliver quality outcomes for all young people and prepare them well for their future in the economy and society. To do so, many systems have traditionally had a strong focus on developing academic skills, particularly in literacy and numeracy. In recent years, education systems have developed greater expectations that schools will also equip young people with a broader set of skills for the 21st century (e.g. creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving). This paper addresses these developments and the challenges they present. Building on an evidence-based review, this paper asks what are the key skills required …
Assessing Computational Thinking, Daniel Duckworth
Assessing Computational Thinking, Daniel Duckworth
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
This paper provides some context for the role of computation thinking (CT) in the Australian Curriculum, an abridged literature review of CT as a problem-solving framework from the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) 2018 assessment framework and some examples of how CT has been used to solve real-world problems. Finally, this paper presents ways to teach and assess CT.
What Can Early Childhood Education And Care Settings Teach Us About Skills For The 21st Century?, Dan Cloney, Kellie Picker
What Can Early Childhood Education And Care Settings Teach Us About Skills For The 21st Century?, Dan Cloney, Kellie Picker
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings are naturally oriented towards promoting 21st century skills. This can be seen in Australia, where learning is defined as the development of identity, social and emotional skills, problem-solving, and communication skills. A 21st century orientation is also seen in the playbased pedagogies implemented in ECEC settings. A gap, however, exists in the ability of the ECEC sector to communicate its successes. This gap relates to the lack of measurement tools to quantify the quality of the adult–child interactions in ECEC settings, and children’s growth in these 21 century skills and abilities. This paper …
Assessing And Understanding Social And Emotional Skills: The Oecd Study On Social And Emotional Skills, Sue Thomson
Assessing And Understanding Social And Emotional Skills: The Oecd Study On Social And Emotional Skills, Sue Thomson
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
In an increasingly fast-changing and diverse world, the importance of developing social and emotional skills is becoming more evident. The large body of accumulated evidence shows that these skills have strong relationships with life outcomes and they have been referred to as a key component of 21st century skills. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Study on Social and Emotional Skills is a new international assessment of these skills in students at primary and secondary schools. This study also gathers information on students’ families, schools and community learning contexts, aiming to provide information about the conditions or practices …
Assessment In The Interpersonal Domain: Experiences From Empathy Assessment In Medical Education, Neville Chiavaroli
Assessment In The Interpersonal Domain: Experiences From Empathy Assessment In Medical Education, Neville Chiavaroli
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Frameworks for the teaching and assessment of 21st-century skills commonly recognise the importance of learning and skill development in the interpersonal domain. They also usually acknowledge the challenge of reliably and validly assessing students in this domain. In the field of medical education and in selecting students for medical courses, the concept of empathy has become central to representing the particular interpersonal understandings and skills expected of students and practising doctors. Attempts to assess these attributes during medical training are just as challenging as in school contexts. This presentation draws on several years’ experience of working with medical educators to …
Digital Literacy: Myths And Realities, Julian Fraillon
Digital Literacy: Myths And Realities, Julian Fraillon
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Digital literacy, under a wide variety of names, is routinely classified as a 21st-century skill and is frequently reported as an area of high priority in school education systems internationally. In comparison with students in other countries, Australian students have high levels of access to digital technologies both at and outside of school. With this access comes the expectations that students will be highly-proficient users of digital technologies and that schools will use digital technologies in transformative ways to support student learning. This session will examine how concepts of digital literacy have developed over time, what data from large-scale assessments …
Teaching And Assessing The General Capabilities In A Secondary School Context, Loren Clarke, Melissa Hughes
Teaching And Assessing The General Capabilities In A Secondary School Context, Loren Clarke, Melissa Hughes
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Education researchers, policymakers and private enterprise agree that, in addition to content knowledge, students in the 21st century need to acquire particular skills to equip them for active citizenship in the modern world. This is a real challenge for teachers today: how do they teach and assess the skills needed to live and work in the 21st century? This paper will explore the development of Eltham High School’s focus on teaching and assessment of collaboration, problem-solving, and critical thinking over the past seven years. It will explore the development of the assessment program, its connection to the school and state …
Using Learning Analytics To Measure 21st-Century Skills, Dragan Gašević
Using Learning Analytics To Measure 21st-Century Skills, Dragan Gašević
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
The unprecedented opportunities to collect data about learning and contexts in which learning occurs has attracted great attention in education. The use of data analytics and machine learning methods have offered much potential to address many relevant questions in education. This talk will focus on the use of learning analytics to measure 21st-century skills in education and outline the types of data commonly used. It will also discuss approaches that are used for analysis and modelling of relevant learning processes and outline the ways in which learning analytics can be used to track learning progression and how the validity of …
The Science Behind The Art Of Teaching: Evaluation As Inspiration, Michele Bruniges Am
The Science Behind The Art Of Teaching: Evaluation As Inspiration, Michele Bruniges Am
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Teachers across Australia inspire students to love learning. Our best teachers are constantly evaluating their impact on learning outcomes and adapting their practice – balancing the art and science of teaching. As we move rapidly towards the third decade of the 21st century, there is more pressure than ever for all teachers to deliver both deep discipline knowledge and the skills students need to survive and thrive in the workplace of the future. We need to use technology and data to support teachers to maximise learning outcomes for their students. This has to be done in a way that helps …
Digital Literacy Skill Development: Prescriptive Learning Analytics Assessment Model, Elspeth Mckay
Digital Literacy Skill Development: Prescriptive Learning Analytics Assessment Model, Elspeth Mckay
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
There is a broad awareness of how information communications technology (ICT) digital literacy impacts everyday life. In schools, use of ICT tools has become mandatory. These tools include computers, tablets and mobile phones. These smart devices are used to send emails, browse the internet and make video calls. It is essential for teachers to identify student digital literacy levels through classroom activities and when to implement flexible ePedagogies for students who need help. This presentation will provide easy-to-follow steps to manage learning analytics to determine digital literacy skill levels. Learning analytics can be used for a range of purposes: to …
Educational Reform – Scottish Style!, David Leng
Educational Reform – Scottish Style!, David Leng
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
The government in Scotland has made education their defining mission, setting out a clear framework for improvement based on four key aims as articulated in the National Improvement Framework (2015). One improvement driver is Assessing Children’s Progress. This new approach to assessment has been developed to integrate curriculum, assessment (particularly classroom assessment) and pedagogy. Teacher professional judgement has been central to this, and national initiatives have focused on supporting and strengthening it. In this context, the Scottish National Standardised Assessments (SNSA) was launched in 2017, and is a national assessment tool to support improvement in classroom practice while still providing …
Enhancing Teaching And Learning Through Design Practice, Lori Lockyer
Enhancing Teaching And Learning Through Design Practice, Lori Lockyer
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Design is part of a teacher’s practice on a daily basis. Teachers are constantly designing and redesigning learning experiences for their students. However, the notions of the teacher as designer or ‘teacher design practice’ are rarely used as frameworks within teacher education or continuing professional learning. In fact, ‘teacher design thinking’, that is, how school teachers think about and engage in design practice has been an under-researched area. Design thinking has the potential to provide teachers with a scaffold to reflect upon contextual and evidence-based factors when designing learning experiences for their students. However, we need to know how teachers …