Education Commons^™

Torch : Tests Of Reading Comprehension, Leila Mossenson, Andrew Stephanou, Margaret Forster, Geoff N. Masters, Margaret Mcgregor, Prue Anderson, Peter Hill

Prof Geoff Masters AO

This set of twelve reading tests is designed to assist teachers of students from Year 3 to Year 10 in their assessment of students' reading comprehension skills. Each of the twelve reading tests consists of a reading passage and a corresponding answer sheet.

Back To School For Lessons On Teaching, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

Reforming schools and improving student achievement levels are priorities for governments around the world, but the question is which reform strategies are proving most effective?

Education Assessment In The 21st Century, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

The author argues that there is a need for significant reform in educational assessment. Instead of judging student success only in terms of year-level expectations, assessment needs to recognise the progress that all students can make in their learning, regardless of students' starting points.

Adaptive Testing For Psychological Assessment: How Many Items Are Enough To Run An Adaptive Testing Algorithm?, Michaela Wagner-Menghin, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

Although the principles of adaptive testing were established in the psychometric literature many years ago (e.g., Weiss, 1977), and practice of adaptive testing is established in educational assessment, it is not yet widespread in psychological assessment. One obstacle to adaptive psychological testing is a lack of clarity about the necessary number of items to run an adaptive algorithm. The study explores the relationship between item bank size, test length and measurement precision. Simulated adaptive test runs (allowing a maximum of 30 items per person) out of an item bank with 10 items per ability level (covering .5 logits, 150 items …

Using The Partial Credit Model To Identify And Adjust For Differences Among Assessors, Geoff Masters, Siek Khoo

Prof Geoff Masters AO

No abstract provided.

Profiles Of Learning: The Basic Skills Testing Program In New South Wales: 1989, Geoff Masters, Jan Lokan, Brian Doig, Siek Khoo, John Lindsey, Lynette Robinson, Susan Zammit

Prof Geoff Masters AO

The 1989 Basic Skills Testing Program in New South Wales provides the most comprehensive picture yet compiled of literacy and numeracy learning in Australian primary schools. In 1989, some 53,800 Year 6 students in NSW government schools were tested in five aspects of literacy and numeracy. Another 2,300 Year 3 students took part in a pilot study. This book discusses the writing of the tests, the analysis of results, and the reporting of results to parents, teachers and schools. The aim of the basic skills tests is to describe, in positive terms, the skills that students have mastered, to identify …

The Contribution Of Iea Research Studies To Australian Education, John Ainley, John Keeves, Jan Lokan, Petra Lietz, Geoff Masters, Sue Thomson

Prof Geoff Masters AO

This chapter is concerned with the contribution of the research studies conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) to Australian education. During a period of 50 years education across the world has undergone a remarkable transformation. Many of the changes that have occurred have been initiated by the United Nations Organization and its agen¬cies, particularly UNESCO. From its origins within the UNESCO Institute in Hamburg, IEA and its programs have evolved to develop the worldwide conduct of research in education both through the undertaking and reporting of studies as well as the informal training of …

Conceptual Understanding In History - How Do We Develop It?, Brian Doig, K Piper, Suzanne Mellor, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

This is a reprint of the findings for history of a 1992 survey carried out by the Australian Council for Educational Research, published in 1994. It looked at 2900 students in Victorian schools at Years 5 and 9, and assessed their geographical, historical, cultural and political understandings based on a set of tasks. The reports of the findings for history teachers are dramatically important.

Naplan And My School : Shedding Some Light On A Work In Progress, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

Debate about NAPLAN and the My School website has generated plenty of heat. Geoff Masters casts some light on what is essentially a work In progress.

An Investigation Of The Stability Of A Literacy Variable Over Time: Implications For Standards Monitoring, Siek Khoo, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

No abstract provided.

Conceptual Understanding In Social Education, Brian Doig, K Piper, Suzanne Mellor, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

Part of the Victorian Social Education Achievement Study commissioned by the Victorian Ministry of Education.

(Research monograph n.45)

Pat Science : Getting Good Assessment Down Pat, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

A new school assessment resource in science from the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has just been launched, following more than two years of development and trial testing. Called PAT Science, the new addition to the Progressive Achievement Tests series complements PAT Reading and PAT Maths, which are now widely used in Australian schools. PAT Science fills an identified need for better classroom information about the progress students make in their science learning between Year 3 and Year 10. By the time they reach 15 years of age, 13 percent of Australian students are classified as 'at risk' of …

Computer Adaptive Testing : A Feasibility Study, Siek Khoo, Geoff Masters, Ray Adams

Prof Geoff Masters AO

The Australian National Office of Overseas Skills Recognition (NOOSR) commissioned ACER to investigate the feasibility of implementing computer adaptive testing (CAT) in NOOSR’s screening examinations for overseas trained professionals. The National Office administers screening examinations in seven professions (Dentistry, Dietetics, Occupational Therapy, Podiatry, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy and Veterinary Science) at venues throughout Australia and in up to fifty centres around the world. Surveys were conducted to gain an overview of the current methods and procedures used by NOOSR in the screening examinations. Issues related to the application of CAT to NOOSR’s screening examinations and the possible improvement of NOOSR’s assessment program …

Progression And Assessment; Developmental Assessment, Margaret Forster, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

No abstract provided.

The Partial Credit Model, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

This chapter demonstrates the elegant simplicity of the underlying concept on which the partial credit model (PCM) was built. This provides a valuable basis for understanding this highly influential polytomous item response theory (IRT) model, including its relationship to other models and the reasons for its widespread use.

Assessment: Lessons From Learning Research?, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

Keynote Address 1 - (includes video).

Advances In Measurement In Educational Research And Assessment, Geoff Masters, John Keeves

Prof Geoff Masters AO

Over the last three decades, there have been marked developments in the field of measurement in education and psychology. "Advances in Measurement in Educational Research and Assessment" presents the developments that have occurred and puts them into perspective. It discusses the continuing challenge to improve measurement both for research and for the assessment of student performance and learning in schools, and looks at the substantial advances that are likely to continue to occur in the future. The volume specifies procedures that have been developed to cover a wide range of situations in both research and the assessment of student learning. …

Improving Literacy : What Works?, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

Provides an overview of the key observations that emerge from reviews of international research into literacy learning. Discusses alphabetics, fluency and comprehension.

Setting And Measuring Performance Standards For Student Achievement : Australian Experience., Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

No abstract provided.

New Views Of Student Learning: Implications For Educational Measurement, Geoff Masters, R Mislevy

Prof Geoff Masters AO

Recent research in cognitive psychology has drawn attention to the important role that students' personal understandings and representations of subject matter play in the learning process. This chapter briefly reviews some of this research, and contrasts the kind of learning that results in an individual's changed conception or view of a phenomenon with the more passive, additive kind of learning assessed by most traditional achievement tests. To be consistent with a view of learning as an active, constructive process, educational tests are required that focus on key concepts in an area of learning, and that take into account the variety …

Phenomenographic Research And The Measurement Of Understanding: An Investigation Of Students' Conceptions Of Speed, Distance And Time, P Ramsden, Geoff Masters, Andrew Stephanou, E Walsh, E Martin

Prof Geoff Masters AO

No abstract provided.

Assessing Achievement In Australian Schools, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

This paper considers the educational and technical feasibility of introducing a comprehensive system of student performance measures which will allow valid and reliable national and international comparisons. The conclusion reached is that a useful system of student performance measures can be established in this country, and some specific recommendations are made for the implementation of such a system. But the discussion that follows also contains important caveats and warnings. Difficulties in establishing valid and reliable measures of student achievement are not to be underestimated. Many education systems, particularly large systems in Europe and the United States which have had performance …

The Construction Of Tertiary Entrance Scores: Principles And Issues, D Beswick, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

No abstract provided.

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.

Defining A 'Fear-Of-Crime' Variable: A Comparison Of Two Rasch Models, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

No abstract provided.

Rating Scale Analysis, Benjamin Wright, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

No abstract provided.