Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

A Good Start To Numeracy : Effective Numeracy Strategies From Research And Practice In Early Childhood, Brian Doig, Barry Mcrae, Ken Rowe

Student learning processes

The Commonwealth-funded Project Good Start was a longitudinal study of children during their year before school and the first year of school, involving preschool centres and schools across Australia. It considered the questions: how can effective numeracy programs be identified at both year-before-school and the early years of school; and what constitutes evidence of effectiveness. This report provides a review of the international and Australian research literature on numeracy in early childhood that complements the Department of Education, Science and Training’s major review of the numeracy literature undertaken by Deakin University. It is designed to provide early childhood professionals and …

Acer 2002-2003 Annual Report, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

ACER Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Impact Of School Libraries On Student Achievement: A Review Of The Research, Michele Lonsdale

School and system improvement

This literature review was undertaken on behalf of the Australian School Library Association (ASLA). It was conducted over a four-week period in November–December 2002. The main purpose of the review was to report on the nature and extent of the evidence that has linked school libraries to student achievement from 1990 - 2002, to identify the strengths and gaps in existing data as it might relate to an Australian setting, and to suggest some strategies for developing further research in Australia.

Development Of A National Standards Framework For The Teaching Profession, Lawrence Ingvarson

Teaching standards and teacher evaluation

This paper was prepared for the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment and Training Taskforce on Teacher Quality & Educational Leadership. The brief for the paper was to 'Develop an issues paper to provide a basis for discussion and, where possible, propose options. The paper covers the following broad areas: definitions and purposes for standards (the meaning of standards, rationale for teaching standards, purposes for teaching standards: mapping the territory); defining performance-based teaching standards (professional principles; content standards; evidential standards ; performance standards; how are standards structured?); teaching standards: whose responsibility?; a national standards framework: issues and areas for action (accreditation …

Changes In Mathematics Achievement Over Time In Australia And Ethiopia, Tilahun Mengesha Afrassa

Shannon Research Press

This study has five major purposes: to develop a general theoretical model which considers the multivariate structure of the available data; to examine the changes of the mathematics achievement level of Australian lower secondary school students over time; to develop a common mathematics scale to enable investigation of mathematics achievement over time and across countries; to develop a theoretical model of student level factors influencing the mathematics achievements of lower secondary students in Australia and Ethiopia and to examine these hypothesised interrelationships between variables; and to investigate the views and attitudes of Australian and Ethiopian students towards mathematics and schooling …

Constructing And Using Educational Performance Indicators, Ken Rowe, Denise Lievesley

Student learning processes

Within the context of a growing international movement toward the adoption of ‘outcomes-based’ modes of educational provision and governance, this paper focuses on the context, nature, purpose and construction of educational performance indicators. Key issues related to types and sources of indicators, essential features of useful indicators, constructing and using performance indicators to advantage, and key elements of Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) are presented and discussed.

Fair And Meaningful Measures? A Review Of Examination Procedures In The Nsw Higher School Certificate, Geoff N. Masters

Assessment and Reporting

In September 1997 the New South Wales government introduced a number of significant reforms to the Higher School Certificate (HSC). The broad objectives of the 'new' HSC, which was implemented for the first time in 2000-01, are to increase the rigour and quality of the HSC curriculum; ensure HSC marks fairly reflect the standards achieved by students; provide more informative reports of students' HSC achievements; and enhance the chances for more equitable educational outcomes. Although the new HSC incorporates reforms of both HSC curricula and methods of assessing and reporting student achievement, the focus of this review is on new …

The Apc Summer Institute, 2002 : Reconfiguring Schooling For The 21st Century, Brian Caldwell, Bruce Wilson, Bert Van Halen, Gabrielle Leigh

APC Monographs

The APC Summer held in January 2001 aimed to provide: a two-day intensive program that linked theory and practice in a chosen area relevant to school leaders in their day to day work; an opportunity for practising school leaders to develop an operational framework to be applied to strategy planning or to the management of key projects in their school; a big picture framework in which school leaders can contextualise their work; and a series of exemplary practices whose underlying principles can be adapted for use in other settings.

Learning From International Studies Of Teaching : The Timss-R Video Study., James Hiebert, Hilary Hollingsworth

2002 - Providing World-Class School Education

This paper discusses the Third International Mathematics and Science Study - Repeat (TIMSS-R) Video Study. In addition to the broad goal of describing mathematics teaching in seven countries including a number of countries with records of high achievement, the study had the following research objectives: to develop objective, observational measures of classroom instruction to serve as appropriate quantitative indicators of teaching practice in each country; to compare teaching practice and identify similar or different lessons; and to describe patterns of teaching practice for each country.

Pisa From Australia's Perspective, Jan Lokan

2002 - Providing World-Class School Education

This paper discusses the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey and the Australian teenagers that took part with students from thirty-one other countries. The paper describes the background to PISA, an initiative of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) keen to have measures of outputs from compulsory level schooling to accompany regularly collected country-level data on educational context and investment in education of human and monetary resources. The author describes the goals and features of PISA, its scope, Australian representatives and, school and background factors.

Information And Communication Technologies In Classrooms : Perspectives From An International Study, John Ainley, Diana Banks, Marianne Fleming

2002 - Providing World-Class School Education

Many countries have envisaged a significant role for information and communications technologies (ICT) in their education systems. For example, in Australia one of the goals in the declaration of the Ministerial Council on Education, Training and Youth Affairs on national goals for schooling stated that students should be confident, creative and productive users of new technologies and understand the impact of those technologies on society. A national action plan, Learning in an Online World, has set three priority areas for development making available connections of sufficient bandwidth to allow schools to integrate online services into curriculum practice; providing effective pre-service …

Providing World-Class School Education (Conference Proceedings), Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

2002 - Providing World-Class School Education

International achievement studies are capable of identifying international best practice in school education and providing decision makers at all levels—from policy maker to system manager to school leader to classroom teacher—with information that may be useful in their own efforts to improve student learning outcomes. These studies assist us in answering such questions as: What is ‘world-class’ education? and What characterises outstanding educational provision?

Civic Knowledge And Engagement: An Iea Study Of Upper Secondary Students In Sixteen Countries, Jo-Ann Amadeo, Judith Torney-Purta, Rainer Lehmann, Vera Husfeldt, Roumiana Nikolova

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

No abstract provided.

Enabling Learning : The Crucial Work Of School Leaders, Jean Russell

Educational leadership

This paper addresses several fundamental questions. What are the most important, most highly valued and most powerful learning outcomes for students? What do students tell us about their experience of school, about the things that enhance or diminish their involvement in learning? What changes in teaching and learning approaches would enhance students' engagement in learning and help achieve the desired learning outcomes? Are school leaders seen by teachers to be important to the process of bringing about change in teaching practices? The paper argues that, amidst the complexity that constitutes school life, school leaders can enable learning through the maintenance …

Graduate Skills Assessment : Stage One Validity Study, Sam Hambur, Ken Rowe, Luc T. Le

Higher education research

The Graduate Skills Assessment (GSA) is a new test with complex aims and is in the first stages of development and application. Principally, the test aims to assess a set of valued and widely applicable generic skills that may be developed by the university experience and which are relevant to university achievement and graduate work.

This publication reports on the validity of the first stage of the Graduate Skills Assessment test (GSA Stage One Validity Study), which covers the first two tests, Exit 2000 and Entry 2001. These tests involved the participation of 3663 students drawn from nine broad fields …

Leading And Managing For High Performance, John West-Burnham

APC Monographs

This paper explores some of the changing perceptions of leadership in education. It focuses in particular on the issue of 'performance', which is at the heart of much educational reform.

Mathematics And Science Achievement Of Junior Secondary School Students In Australia, Susan Zammit, Alla Routitsky, Lisa Greenwood

TIMSS Australia Monograph Series

The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 1998 assessed the mathematics and science achievement of students in their second year at high school. Testing for the study was carried out in 38 countries in 1998–99.1 Extensive information was collected from students, teachers and school principals about the context of mathematics and science teaching and learning. Among the countries participating in TIMSS 1998, 26 countries, including Australia, also participated in TIMSS 1994. It was therefore possible to report on any significant changes between the two studies. Two reports, TIMSS 1999 International Mathematics Report and International Science Report were released in …

Closing The Gap Between Research And Practice: Foundations For The Acquisition Of Literacy, Molly De Lemos

Literacy and numeracy

Over the years two main approaches have emerged in the teaching and learning of reading and writing. One is the 'whole language' approach; the other concentrates more on instruction in phonics. This paper focuses on the theoretical assumptions underlying these two approaches to the teaching of literacy, and the studies which have been undertaken, in the international arena, to find out how children progress, from their earliest educational years, in attaining both initial reading skills and lifelong literacy.

Acer 2001-2002 Annual Report, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

ACER Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Science, Technology And Society In Science Education, Debra Tedman

Shannon Research Press

This study had four major purposes. First, the study developed and used scales to measure the strength and coherence of students', teachers', and scientists' views, beliefs and attitudes in relation to science, technology and society (STS). Second, the factors which influenced the development of strong and coherent views on STS by students, were examined. Third, the study investigated whether male and female students differed in the strength and coherence of their views on STS. Fourth, structured group interviews with teachers provided information for the consideration of the problems encountered by teachers and students in the introduction of STS courses.

Vet In Schools : Participation And Pathways, Sue Fullarton

LSAY Research Reports

The introduction of vocational education and training (VET) programs into secondary schools is a significant development in Australian education. VET programs are intended to broaden the range of curriculum offerings and provide young people with another pathway to work and tertiary education. A key feature of the secondary VET programs in Australia is that they comply with the National Training Framework and also form part of students' senior secondary certificate. This report uses a substantial national data set to analyses the levels of participation in VET in Schools, the characteristics of the young people who take VET programs, and their …

Participation And Achievement In Vet Of Non-Completers Of School, Katrina Ball, Stephen Lamb

LSAY Research Reports

This report examines the vocational and training (VET) activities and experiences of non-completers of Year 12 in the initial post- school years. It investigates differences between those who participate in VET after leaving school and those who do not. It also reviews VET achievement examining results in the VET courses undertaken by non-completers. The report provides information on the characteristics and success rates of non-completers who participated in VET, concentrating on the characteristics and achievement levels of those non-completers who participated in VET according to their specific study programs. The analyses were based on data from the Y95 cohort of …

Lsay Cohort Report The Year 9 Class Of 1998 In 1999 : Activities And Aspirations, Sue Fullarton

LSAY Cohort Reports

This report examines in detail the activities and aspirations of one of the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth (LSAY) program’s longitudinal cohorts at a single point in time. In this case the cohort is the national sample of Year 9 students who were in Year 9 in Australian secondary schools in 1998, and the reference period is 1999.

Graduate Skills Assessment. Summary Report, The Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer

Higher education research

n 1999 the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) was commissioned by the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA) to develop a test of generic skills which could be administered at university entry and exit level. Following consultation with university representatives and other stakeholders, written communication, critical thinking, problem solving and interpersonal understandings were selected as the components of the initial Graduate Skills Assessment (GSA).

Educational Measurement: Assessment Resource Kit., Geoff N. Masters

Assessment Resource Kit

Educational measurement is the process of estimating students' locations (abilities) on a measurement variable from their responses to a set of items. Educational measurement is one in a series of magazines in the ACER Assessment Resource Kit (ARK). It contains five chapters: 1. What is 'measurement'?; 2. Aspiring to measure; 3. A model for measuring; 4. Mapping variables; 5. Reporting measures.

Codebook: The Lsay 1996 Teacher Survey Technical Paper No. 13, Stephen Lamb

LSAY Technical Reports

Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth is a program of surveys of young people conducted by ACER with funding from the Commonwealth Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs. The surveys focus on the education and labour market experiences of groups of young Australians, beginning from their middle years of secondary schooling. Data collected include basic demographic variables, as well as information about educational and labour force participation extending over a number of years. Students participating in LSAY were originally sampled in 1995 from 298 schools nationally. In 1996 the schools from which the original sample of students was drawn, …

Research Into The Numeracy Development Of Aboriginal Students : Implications For The Nsw K-10 Mathematics Syllabus, Tracey Frigo, Lee Simpson

Indigenous Education Research

This paper is intended to present an overview of the literature and identify critical issues related to the acquisition and on-going development of numeracy skills among Aboriginal students in the compulsory years of schooling in New South Wales. The scope of the research reviewed is intended to reflect the diversity of Aboriginal circumstances and communities across NSW and to take into account rural, remote and urban situations

Does Vet In Schools Make A Difference To Post-School Pathways?, Sue Fullarton

2001 - Understanding Youth Pathways

This paper reports on research examining a number of ways in which participation in vocational education and training (VET) in schools might be associated with different post school pathways. The paper describes levels of participation, examines post-school destinations, and presents evidence that there are gender differences in these destinations that are associated with the level of participation in VET in schools.

Developing Effective Learning Programs For Adults, Rosemary Cafarella

APC Monographs

Discusses the challenge of designing and delivering professional development that has an impact on the participants, not only at the time of the activity, but also transfers into their practice, and into that of others around them.

Values In Educational Leadership : Do They Really Matter?, Paul Begley

APC Monographs

The author discusses values and their importance in decision-making in environments where value conflicts are common - for example in terms of racial, ethnic and religious diversity, and where there is a lack of consensus on the purposes of education.