Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Education Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 13 of 13

Full-Text Articles in Education

Teachers’ Assessment Literacy And Design Competence Framework, Sladana Krstic, Sarah Manlove, Sarah Richardson Aug 2022

Teachers’ Assessment Literacy And Design Competence Framework, Sladana Krstic, Sarah Manlove, Sarah Richardson

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

Teachers play a central role in facilitating learning and empowering learners (Pastore & Andrade, 2019). They must possess a high level of assessment literacy to properly fulfil their role of implementing teaching and facilitating students’ learning (Hattie, 2009). Without it, the quality of educational provision can be impacted (Looney et al., 2018). The expectations placed on teachers in relation to their assessment knowledge and skills tend to focus on their ability to design and implement assessment with students, and to use assessment data to inform teaching practices (Brookhart, 2011). Much of the emphasis in the literature is on the mechanical …


Assessing Reading: How Assessment Can Be Used To Target Teaching And Enhance Understanding Of Reading Comprehension, Sandra Knowles Aug 2022

Assessing Reading: How Assessment Can Be Used To Target Teaching And Enhance Understanding Of Reading Comprehension, Sandra Knowles

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

The skills demonstrated by a proficient reader are not easy to untangle. Current research acknowledges that reading comprehension is a highly complex area of ability, one that needs to be understood as the coordination of several integrated processes. Using example test questions and data, this presentation explores how assessment can help us make sense of reading comprehension in a way that curricula and commonly used teaching strategies cannot. Assessment is evidence that informs us about the skills involved in the reading process, how they relate to each other, and how they develop in complexity. When assessment is understood in this …


Evidence-Informed Early Language And Literacy Practice: Implementation Of A New Formative Assessment For Early Language And Literacy Development, Sarah Groom, Mary-Ruth Mendel, Eric Brace, Philippa Pryor Aug 2022

Evidence-Informed Early Language And Literacy Practice: Implementation Of A New Formative Assessment For Early Language And Literacy Development, Sarah Groom, Mary-Ruth Mendel, Eric Brace, Philippa Pryor

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

With one in five Australian children starting school developmentally vulnerable, there is a need in this critical period for visibility over children’s oral language and early literacy development. The Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation (ALNF) partnered with a Northern Territory primary school to implement the Early Language and Literacy Development Index (ELLDI), a newly-created valid and reliable assessment which places children on a progression scale for oral language and early literacy development and provides meaningful, accessible recommendations for educational practice. Twenty-three children in the school’s transition cohort were measured using the ELLDI at the beginning and end of the school …


Making Learning Visible: Moving From Nouns To Verbs, Diane Debacker Aug 2022

Making Learning Visible: Moving From Nouns To Verbs, Diane Debacker

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

This presentation focuses on the need to make learning visible for all constituents – learners, educators, employers, policymakers and future employees – with a focus on the work of the Center for Certification and Competency-Based Education (C3Be) at the University of Kansas (USA). As K–12 and higher education move to a post-pandemic world, it’s imperative we find different ways to identify learner outcomes and evaluate learning. By moving from nouns to verbs; by moving from course titles to competencies; by moving from transcripts to learner outcomes, learning becomes visible. International educator and founding director of C3Be, Dr Diane DeBacker shows …


Assessment Moderation: Is It Fit For Purpose?, Lenore Adie Aug 2022

Assessment Moderation: Is It Fit For Purpose?, Lenore Adie

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

This presentation outlines the different practices and purposes of assessment moderation and analyses the benefits and issues of these. Two projects are presented; each seeks to improve teacher judgement. Both attempt to redefine what we mean by moderation and how moderation can be conducted to reach diverse and dispersed groups. The first draws on a current Australian Research Council project that is exploring the development of scaled exemplars, the use of commentaries of judgement decisions, and the use of digital platforms to support teachers grading student work. The second draws on the work of the Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment (GTPA) …


The Transformational Change Of Adaptive Assessment, Jarrod Hingston, Toby Newton Aug 2022

The Transformational Change Of Adaptive Assessment, Jarrod Hingston, Toby Newton

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

Organisational change theory often discusses the differences between adaptive change and transformational change; adaptive change being the process of incremental shifts that are intended to drive improvement, while transformational change requires major alterations in processes. In 2019, ACER embarked on a mission to develop a new adaptive testing and reporting system, with the goal of delivering an assessment that would improve the precision of results for every student. While the intention was to introduce an adaptive change in the assessments, the project truly transformed the way that ACER delivers assessments and reports results, a result recognised by the project being …


Sharing And Securing Learners' Performance Standards Across Schools, Richard Kimbell Aug 2022

Sharing And Securing Learners' Performance Standards Across Schools, Richard Kimbell

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

Assessing learners’ performance makes very different demands upon teachers depending on the purpose and the context of the assessment. But common to all assessment is some sense of what ‘quality’ looks like. Most often teachers engage in formative assessments in the classroom, and the familiar standards of the classroom are adequate for this purpose. However if teachers are to undertake external, nationally regulated assessment then some sense of a national standard of quality is required. But there are very limited mechanisms by which teachers can acquire this understanding, so they use their best judgement, and standards vary from school to …


An Innovative Method For Teachers To Formatively Assess Writing Online, Dr Sandy Heldsinger, Stephen Humphry Aug 2022

An Innovative Method For Teachers To Formatively Assess Writing Online, Dr Sandy Heldsinger, Stephen Humphry

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

Assessment is an integral component of effective teaching and a teacher’s professional judgement influences all routine aspects of their work. In the last 20 years, there has been considerable work internationally to support teachers in using assessment to improve student learning. However, there is a pressing issue that impedes teacher professional judgement being exploited to its full potential. The issue relates to teacher assessments in the context of extended performances such as essays and arises from the complexity of obtaining reliable or consistent teacher assessments of students’ work. Literature published in the United States, England and Australia details evidence of …


Using Pat Data To Inform Teaching And Learning, Marc Kralj, Rachel Felgate, Shani Sniedze, Caithlin Power, Grant Barclay, Darren Leech Aug 2022

Using Pat Data To Inform Teaching And Learning, Marc Kralj, Rachel Felgate, Shani Sniedze, Caithlin Power, Grant Barclay, Darren Leech

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

ACER works with thousands of Australian schools to set up Progressive Achievement Test (PAT) functionality, assign and administer tests, and to assist teachers to understand and interrogate the resulting test data and act upon findings. This session provides participants with an opportunity to hear about a school’s journey, and discuss this with the ACER team and our PAT school guest. ACER researchers have evaluated and documented assessment implementation and professional development opportunities, observing this school’s ability to track student and educator progress over time, which is a critical element in ACER’s Progressive Achievement approach. ACER’s educational consultants will demonstrate how …


Reimagining Classroom Assessment And Feedback To Meet Learner Needs, Fabienne Van Der Kleij Aug 2022

Reimagining Classroom Assessment And Feedback To Meet Learner Needs, Fabienne Van Der Kleij

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

The power of classroom assessment and feedback to improve student learning outcomes has long been recognised. Yet, decades of research have yielded disappointing and often conflicting outcomes. This presentation challenges traditional conceptions of classroom assessment and feedback as teacher-driven practices. To meet learner needs better, it proposes a student-centred perspective in which students are active and have agency. By drawing on an extensive study of feedback reviews, this presentation illustrates how conceptualisations of feedback have changed over recent decades. This paper provides key insights into how classroom assessment and feedback practices can be changed in ways that are sustainable, afford …


Acer Models Of Writing: Changing The Assessment Mindset, Juliette Mendelovits, Judy Nixon Aug 2022

Acer Models Of Writing: Changing The Assessment Mindset, Juliette Mendelovits, Judy Nixon

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

This presentation outlines different models of writing assessment that have a proven track record in various programs delivered by ACER. These models include holistic scoring, and partial analytical scoring on a number of criteria. The writing prompts for these models assume extended pieces of writing. The presentation will also introduce a new and alternative model of writing assessment that ACER has implemented in several large-scale assessments. This model is built on shorter pieces of writing from each student, designed to give more accurate and diverse insights into students’ proficiency in writing in a range of text types, within the constraints …


Reimagining The Purpose Of Assessment, Geoff N. Masters Aug 2022

Reimagining The Purpose Of Assessment, Geoff N. Masters

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

Assessment is commonly understood as the process of judging how well students have learnt what they have been taught. It comes at the end of a sequence that begins with a curriculum or course syllabus. Teachers are expected to deliver this body of specified content, students are expected to learn it, and assessment is the process of judging and grading students on how well they have learnt what teachers have taught. This is a common view of assessment among students, parents and many teachers. I will argue in this presentation that this traditional understanding of what it means to learn …


Research Conference 2022: Reimagining Assessment: Proceedings And Program, Kylie Burns (Ed.) Aug 2022

Research Conference 2022: Reimagining Assessment: Proceedings And Program, Kylie Burns (Ed.)

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

The focus of this year’s Research Conference is on the use of assessment to support improved teaching and learning. The conference is titled ‘reimagining assessment’ because we believe there is a need to transform the essential purposes of educational assessment to provide better information about the deep conceptual learning, skills, competencies, and personal attributes that teachers and schools now have as objectives for student learning and development. Reimagined assessments must now be focused on monitoring learning across this broader range of intended outcomes and provide quality information about the points individuals have reached in their long-term development.