Education Commons^™

Assessing Student Learning: Why Reform Is Overdue, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

Pisa In Brief : Highlights From The Full Australian Report : Challenges For Australian Education : Results From Pisa 2009 : The Pisa 2009 Assessment Of Students' Reading, Mathematical And Scientific Literacy., Sue Thomson, Lisa De Bortoli, Marina Nicholas, Kylie Hillman, Sarah Buckley

Lisa De Bortoli

No abstract provided.

Highlighting The Similarities And Differences Of The Mathematical Knowledge And Strategies Of Year 4 Students, Catherine Pearn

Catherine Pearn

Research has shown that successful mathematics students use different types of strategies from those struggling with mathematics. Year 4 students were tested using the One Minute Tests of Basic Number Facts and a paper and pencil Number Screening Test developed by the author and colleagues. Observation of the students during the assessment procedures highlighted the vast difference in the students' speed and accuracy when recalling basic facts and the types of strategies they used when solving mathematical tasks. [Author abstract]

Pisa : Frequently Answered Criticisms, Ray Adams

Prof Ray Adams

Studies such as PISA that attempt to compare outcomes across educational systems are expensive and difficult to implement. Further, the results of such studies are routinely criticized by educational commentators - particularly when the results are not consistent with their preconceived ideas about the relative merits and efficiencies of various educational practices and systems. This chapter discusses what is done to ameliorate the threats to the validity of PISA in five areas often targeted by commentators and reviewers as sources of invalidity in international comparisons. The five areas discussed are: (1) sampling - are the samples of students who undertake …

Pisa Science 2006 : International Results, John Cresswell

Dr John Cresswell

Throughout the world education authorities want to know the capacities that their students develop during their formative years at school. They want to know to what extent students have learned fundamental scientific concepts and theories and how well they can solve real-life problems involving science and technology. In order to provide answers to these questions, PISA provides an international benchmark. Unlike many traditional assessments of student performance in science, PISA is not limited to measuring students' mastery of specific science content. Instead, it measures the capacity of students to identify scientific issues, explain phenomena scientifically and use scientific evidence. These …

Best Start 2008 : Kindergarten Literacy Assessment, Department Of Education And Training, Nsw : Data Analysis Report, June 2008, Marion O. Meiers, Siek Toon Khoo

Marion Meiers

Differentiating The Curriculum : A Lot Of Effort For Little Gain, S Atkins, Gayl O'Connor, L Rowe

Gayl O'Connor

The Learning Federation (TLF) project employs emerging technologies to produce online curriculum content to encourage student learning and support teachers in Australian and New Zealand schools. Teachers and students in 20 schools participated in a field trial of a differentiated curriculum model that incorporated online curriculum content and associated assessment components. Teacher and student interviews were conducted to collect information in accordance with the study aims, which were to ascertain the extent to which the Differentiated Curriculum model resulted in increased knowledge by the teacher of individual student achievement; increased knowledge of the next appropriate activity for teaching and learning; …

Modelling Mathematics Problem Solving Item Responses Using A Multidimensional Irt Model, Margaret Wu, Ray Adams

Prof Ray Adams

This research examined students' responses to mathematics problem- solving tasks and applied a general multidimensional IRT model at the response category level. In doing so, cognitive processes were identified and modelled through item response modelling to extract more information than would be provided using conventional practices in scoring items. More specifically, the study consisted of two parts. The first part involved the development of a mathematics problem-solving framework that was theoretically grounded, drawing upon research in mathematics education and cognitive psychology. The framework was then used as the basis for item development. The second part of the research involved the …

A Thousand Resources For Science Teachers, Gayl O'Connor

Gayl O'Connor

The Science Education Assessment Resource (SEAR) project is an online resource bank of science assessment tasks for the compulsory years of schooling (P-10). The bank includes a variety of items that can be used for diagnostic, formative or summative assessment purposes. The Australian Council for Educational Research is responsible for the overall management of the project, working in collaboration with Curriculum Corporation and other organisations.

Pisa 2000 Technical Report, Ray Adams (Ed), Margaret Wu (Ed)

Professor Ray Adams

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) was launched by the OECD to provide internationally comparable evidence on student performance. This technical report is the product of a collaborative effort between the countries participating in PISA and the experts and the institutions working within the framework of the International PISA Consortium.

Better Than Beige : Designing Assessment Tasks To Enhance Learning And Measure Growth In The Early Years Of School, Prue Anderson, Marion Meiers

Prue Anderson

'I think of our school as beige. We tend to be the average of 'like' schools. Can we do better than that?' In order to promote growth in student learning and demonstrate achievement schools require rich assessment tasks that enhance the teaching and learning cycle and provide a valid and reliable measure of growth. This paper examines the five linked sets of assessment tasks that have been developed to progressively measure growth in literacy and numeracy in the first three years of school. The tasks were designed for the ACER Longitudinal Literacy and Numeracy Survey (LLANS). The tasks are based …

Enhanced Mathematics Learning: Does Technology Make A Difference?, Katherine Dix

Dr Katherine Dix

Broadening Assessment, Improving Fairness? Some Examples From School Science, Jan Lokan, Ray Adams, Brian Doig

Prof Ray Adams

Following a review of equity issues in testing, especially in relation to science, two assessment programmes in school science, each of which was designed both to probe a range of aspects of student performance and for use in a large-scale study, are discussed. Both have been developed and used in the 1990s, one is Australia only and the other in many countries. The programmes and the range of aspects they attempt to assess are described and results are cited for several groups of students. Issues of fairness through broadening of large-scale assessments to include tasks requiring students to construct their …

Empowering Classroom Teachers For The 21st Century: Meeting The Challenge Of Advancing Children's Mathematical Development, Catherine Pearn

Catherine Pearn

In this paper, the specific concerns for literacy and numeracy as we enter a new era are addressed through a discussion of an innovative mathematics early intervention program, which the author and classroom teachers have developed and applied. 'Mathematics Intervention' is an innovative program developed by three classroom teachers to identify, then assist, children in year 1 'at risk' of not coping with the current mathematics curriculum. The program incorporates assessment tools and learning activities based on recent research about children's early numerical learning. It develops the basic concepts of number upon which children build their understanding of mathematics. All …

The Importance Of Efficient Strategies In Developing Numeracy In The Early Years, Catherine Pearn

Catherine Pearn

A mathematics intervention program has been established at Elm Primary School for children at risk of not succeeding with Grade 1 mathematics. The program is based on current research that shows that children become numerate by progressing through five counting stages. The development and results of clinical interviews used for testing are discussed along with strategies that have been used to assist children overcome common difficulties identified by the testing. The importance for classroom teachers to be able to identify each child's strategies and thus their counting stage is stressed as a starting point for numeracy teaching in early years. …

Student Progress, Charting Of, Geoff Masters, Ray Adams, M Wilson

Prof Ray Adams

This article looks at the charting of students' progress. It examines learning as an active process, conventional achievement testing, testing for conceptual understanding, constructing ordered outcome categories, and collecting observations.

Reforming The Assessment Of Student Achievement In The Senior Secondary School, Geoff Masters, P Hill

Prof Geoff Masters AO

The challenge that confronts agencies responsible for assessment and reporting in the senior secondary school is to extend systematic assessment procedures to broader range of learning outcomes than those currently assessed by public examination, to develop methods of reporting which are more descriptive of individual achievement and which provide a better basis for describing and maintaining standards, and to provide results which are sufficiently comparable across schools to enable fair comparisons of applicants for tertiary study. Some recent developments in assessment and reporting practice are considered with a view to identifying methods and approaches capable of satisfying this diverse set …

A Sense Of Direction In Criterion-Referenced Assessment, Geoff Masters, John Evans

Prof Geoff Masters AO

This paper describes some experimental work undertaken by the authors with teachers in a number of Australian schools to provide criterion-referenced assessments of student achievement. In these investigations we work closely with individual teachers using assessment materials developed within each school. We analyze students' performances on these materials, provide teachers with computergenerated reports, and assist teachers to use these reports to monitor the progress of their students and to diagnose individual strengths and weaknesses.