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Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER)

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Articles 1261 - 1290 of 1793

Full-Text Articles in Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research

Year 12 Subjects And Further Study., Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer) Sep 2005

Year 12 Subjects And Further Study., Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

LSAY Briefing Reports

The subjects studied in the senior secondary years have a significant influence on the educational and career options available to young people when they leave school, over and above other factors. They also represent an outcome of previous school and other experiences, which shapes interests, proficiencies and decisions about careers. One perspective on subject uptake in the senior secondary years focuses on changes over time in participation in particular areas of study. A second perspective looks at differences between students enrolled in various subjects. Survey data such as those derived from LSAY are needed to monitor the associations between subject …

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Political Efficacy And Expected Participation Among Lower And Upper Secondary Students. A Comparative Analysis With Data From The Iea Civic Education Study, Wolfram Schulz Sep 2005

Political Efficacy And Expected Participation Among Lower And Upper Secondary Students. A Comparative Analysis With Data From The Iea Civic Education Study, Wolfram Schulz

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

The process of political socialisation of adolescents includes more than the acquisition of knowledge about society, citizenship and the political system. In a democracy, citizens are expected to participate actively in the political process. Active participation, however, requires citizens to believe in their own ability to influence the course of politics, in other words, to feel politically efficacious. Therefore, enhancing control beliefs and the willingness to act politically could be viewed as important areas of civic and citizenship education. This paper examines changes in levels and relationships regarding efficacy and expected participation using data from students at different stages of …

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Pathways From School To Further Education Or Work : Examining The Consequences Of Year 12 Course Choices, Sue Thomson Sep 2005

Pathways From School To Further Education Or Work : Examining The Consequences Of Year 12 Course Choices, Sue Thomson

LSAY Research Reports

Particular subjects or subject combinations are traditionally more likely to act as gateways to higher education or to vocational education and training, while other combinations are more likely to lead to the workforce or perhaps to unemployment. In general, tertiary or vocational qualifications facilitate the transition to work, and graduates earn significantly more than those who enter the workforce directly from school. However, some groups of students are less likely to participate in further education and training, including low achievers and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The literature has pointed to differences in curriculum participation according to background variables such …

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Investigating The Links Between Teacher Professional Development And Student Learning Outcomes, Marion Meiers, Lawrence Ingvarson Sep 2005

Investigating The Links Between Teacher Professional Development And Student Learning Outcomes, Marion Meiers, Lawrence Ingvarson

Professional learning for teachers and school leaders

This report, in two volumes, describes an investigation of the links between teacher professional development and student learning outcomes. The study, funded by the Australian Government, provides a review of the research literature and of national and international initiatives linking professional development with student outcomes. It provides detailed case studies of the school-based trials of ten professional development programs in a number of different sites. It examines the repeated measures of student achievement from students in the classes of teachers in the school-based trials. Analysis and discussion of a common questionnaire completed by teachers in the school-based trials is provided. …

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Education And Labour Market Outcomes For Indigenous Young People., Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer) Aug 2005

Education And Labour Market Outcomes For Indigenous Young People., Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

LSAY Briefing Reports

This briefing issue summarises findings from research based on the 1995 and 1998 LSAY cohorts of Year 9 students, focusing on the Indigenous students in the surveys. Analyses of data indicate that Indigenous students in Year 9 have a generally positive perception of their schools, however fewer Indigenous students aspire to or do complete Year 12 than their non-Indigenous counterparts. The study highlights an array of differential outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students that contribute partially to explaining the lower rate of Year 12 participation among Indigenous students. [Author abstract, ed]

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Leaving School In Australia : Early Career And Labour Market Outcomes., Julie Mcmillan, Sheldon Rothman Jul 2005

Leaving School In Australia : Early Career And Labour Market Outcomes., Julie Mcmillan, Sheldon Rothman

LSAY Briefing Reports

This briefing uses key findings from two LSAY research reports to describe post-school education, training and labour market activities of young people during the period from 1996-2000. It also identifies some of the factors that affect young people's chances of obtaining full-time employment or not becoming unemployed. The results suggest that the early career and labour market outcomes of young people are largely positive. Making a good start upon leaving school, either by engaging in full-time work, an apprenticeship or university study increases the likelihood of success in subsequent years. [Author abstract, ed]

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The Victorian Institute Of Teaching : Standards And Professional Learning, Jenny Wilkinson, Adrian Beavis, Lawrence Ingvarson, Elizabeth Kleinhenz Jul 2005

The Victorian Institute Of Teaching : Standards And Professional Learning, Jenny Wilkinson, Adrian Beavis, Lawrence Ingvarson, Elizabeth Kleinhenz

Teaching standards and teacher evaluation

The Victorian Institute of Teaching implemented its new registration procedures for Provisionally Registered Teachers (PRTs) in 2004. A pilot version of these procedures was trialled in 2003, and evaluated by ACER (Kleinhenz and Ingvarson 2004). Background information about the development of the Standards and Professional Learning Project can be found in this report. As part of the process for full registration, PRTs were required to prepare a portfolio with three components: an analysis of teaching and learning, collegiate classroom activities and a list of and commentary on professional activities undertaken. In 2004 the new requirements for PRTs were extended to …

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Attitudes, Intentions And Participation, Siek Toon Khoo, John Ainley Jul 2005

Attitudes, Intentions And Participation, Siek Toon Khoo, John Ainley

LSAY Research Reports

This report examines the relationship between students' attitudes to school and intentions to participate in education and training, and the influence of these attitudes and intentions on participation in Year 12 and in further education and training. Students' attitudes to school, educational intentions and attainments are considered in the context of earlier school achievement, social background, geographic location, language background and gender. These factors are related to attitudes, intentions and participation. [p.1]

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Assessing The Value Of Additional Years Of Schooling For The Non Academically Inclined, Alfred Dockery Jun 2005

Assessing The Value Of Additional Years Of Schooling For The Non Academically Inclined, Alfred Dockery

LSAY Research Reports

This paper seeks to assess the benefits of additional years of schooling for those Australian youth who are not well suited to further education. This has a very important policy context as school retention rates have increased markedly over recent decades and many traditional VET pathways have disappeared. Raising the compulsory schooling age is regularly put forward as a policy response to high youth unemployment rates. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence available to show how this may impact on those affected. If, for some segments of a cohort, schooling does largely serve as a signalling mechanism, then …

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Course Change And Attrition From Higher Education, Julie Mcmillan Jun 2005

Course Change And Attrition From Higher Education, Julie Mcmillan

LSAY Research Reports

This report examines the pathways of recent school leavers who enter the higher education sector in Australia. The focus is on the first three years after completing senior secondary school. The report has four broad aims: to provide estimates of the proportions of entrants who change courses or leave the higher education sector before completing a course; to identify factors associated with course change within the higher education sector; to identify factors associated with attrition from the higher education sector; and to examine the initial education, training and labour market destinations of those who leave the higher education sector before …

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The First Year Experience : The Transition From Secondary School To University And Tafe In Australia, Kylie Hillman Jun 2005

The First Year Experience : The Transition From Secondary School To University And Tafe In Australia, Kylie Hillman

LSAY Research Reports

This report examined the experiences of young people during their first year of tertiary education. The data used in this report are drawn from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY), which study the progress of cohorts of young Australians as they make the transition from secondary school to work and further education and training, beginning in Year 9. The group of young people who were in Year 9 in 1998, and who first entered tertiary education during 2002, are the focus of this report. Three sets of questions form the basis of the report. How satisfied are university and …

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An Evaluation Of The Bachelor Of Learning Management At Central Queensland University, Lawrence Ingvarson, Adrian Beavis, Charlotte Danielson, Louise Ellis, Alison Elliott Jun 2005

An Evaluation Of The Bachelor Of Learning Management At Central Queensland University, Lawrence Ingvarson, Adrian Beavis, Charlotte Danielson, Louise Ellis, Alison Elliott

Initial Teacher education

The term 'learning management' was created to capture the increased importance of individual learning in the knowledge society. The over-arching purpose of the degree is to graduate 'Learning Managers' who have a significantly different perspective and skill/knowledge base than in the past. Bachelor of Learning Management graduates will have a 'quality guaranteed' capacity to manage the learning of students and will be able to work collaboratively with other teaching professionals, a range of other supporting professionals and the community. The Bachelor of Learning Management is a distinctive approach to pre-service teacher preparation that has widespread education industry support. A feature …

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Png Curriculum Reform Implementation Project : Implementation Project Report On The Pilot Curriculum Standards Monitoring Test, Chris Freeman, Prue Anderson, George Morgan Jun 2005

Png Curriculum Reform Implementation Project : Implementation Project Report On The Pilot Curriculum Standards Monitoring Test, Chris Freeman, Prue Anderson, George Morgan

Monitoring Learning

This report presents an analysis of the test data from the Curriculum Standards Monitoring Test (CSMT) Pilot program, conducted in 2003 - 2004. It has been prepared by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) on behalf of the Department of Education (DoE), with the support of the Curriculum Reform Implementation Project (CRIP). The terms of reference for the pilot CSMT required ACER and Curriculum Development Division (CDD) to conduct an assessment of PNG student achievements in literacy and numeracy in Grades 3, 4, 5 and 8 against the then current curriculum, taking into account also the outcomes of the …

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Indigenous Students And Literacy And Numeracy: What Does The Research Say?, Nola Purdie, Alison Stone May 2005

Indigenous Students And Literacy And Numeracy: What Does The Research Say?, Nola Purdie, Alison Stone

Indigenous Education Research

Indigenous students typically achieve at significantly lower levels than non-Indigenous students by the time they reach year 3. This article reports on the findings of a longitudinal study conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research called the Longitudinal English Literacy and Numeracy Survey for Indigenous Students commenced in 2000. The findings show that there are several key underlaying factors present in schools that support growth in achievement for Indigenous students: leadership; good teaching; student attendance and engagement; and Indigenous presence at the school.

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Codebook: The Lsay 1995 Year 9 Sample Wave 10 (2004) Technical Report No. 33, Kylie Hillman May 2005

Codebook: The Lsay 1995 Year 9 Sample Wave 10 (2004) Technical Report No. 33, Kylie Hillman

LSAY Technical Reports

In 1995, a nationally representative sample of approximately 13,000 Year 9 students was selected to form the first cohort of the new Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth program. The sample was constructed by randomly selecting two Year 9 classes from a national sample of 300 schools designed to represent state and sector. Reading and numeracy tests were administered to students in their schools to provide information on school achievement for use in later analyses of educational and labour market participation. Students also completed a background questionnaire about their educational and vocational plans and attitudes to school. In 1996, these students …

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Codebook: The Lsay 1998 Year 9 Sample Wave 7 (2004) Technical Report No. 32, Kylie Hillman Apr 2005

Codebook: The Lsay 1998 Year 9 Sample Wave 7 (2004) Technical Report No. 32, Kylie Hillman

LSAY Technical Reports

In 1998, a nationally representative sample of approximately 14,000 Year 9 students was selected to form the second cohort of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth. The sample was constructed by randomly selecting two Year 9 classes from a sample of schools designed to represent state and sector. Reading and numeracy tests were administered to students in their schools to provide information on school achievement for use in later analyses of educational and labour market participation. Students also completed a background questionnaire about their educational and vocational plans and attitudes to school. Details on the 1998 survey are provided in …

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Numeracy In The Early Years: Project Good Start, Sue Thomson, Ken Rowe, Catherine Underwood, Ray Peck Mar 2005

Numeracy In The Early Years: Project Good Start, Sue Thomson, Ken Rowe, Catherine Underwood, Ray Peck

School and system improvement

Project Good Start investigated the effectiveness of numeracy programmes for Australian children in the year before school and the first year of schooling. Qualitative and quantitative data was collected from pre-schools, early childhood centres and primary schools, tovinvestigate the practice and learning experiences that best support children’s early numeracy development.

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A Review Of The Empirical Evidence Identifying Effective Interventions And Teaching Practices For Students With Learning Difficulties In Year 4, 5 And 6, Nola Purdie, Louise Ellis Feb 2005

A Review Of The Empirical Evidence Identifying Effective Interventions And Teaching Practices For Students With Learning Difficulties In Year 4, 5 And 6, Nola Purdie, Louise Ellis

School and system improvement

The present literature review arises in the context of the Australian Government's policy initiative of working with the States and Territories to ensure that all Australian children achieve acceptable standards of literacy and numeracy. A key Government priority has been to focus on achieving real, sustained improvements in the literacy and numeracy skills of Australian children to better prepare them for their futures. Ensuring all students gain at least a minimum acceptable standard in literacy and numeracy is critical in overcoming educational disadvantage.

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Continuity And Growth : Key Considerations In Educational Improvement And Accountability., Geoff N. Masters Feb 2005

Continuity And Growth : Key Considerations In Educational Improvement And Accountability., Geoff N. Masters

Monitoring Learning

The author first discusses traditional styles of curriculum delivery, commenting on the characteristics of 'annual packages', where students are taught and expected to learn curriculum content that is common to those in their current grade. He then comments on various ways in which students are currently organised and taught in attempts to overcome the limitations of grouping by age/grade, and uses examples from research to evaluate the relative effectiveness. He addresses a range of significant issues, including conditions for learning, classroom structures and standards-based reforms, before looking at some of the possibilities for improved practice in future. These include an …

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Factors Affecting The Impact Of Professional Development Programs On Teachers' Knowledge, Practice, Student Outcomes & Efficacy, Lawrence Ingvarson, Marion Meiers, Adrian Beavis Jan 2005

Factors Affecting The Impact Of Professional Development Programs On Teachers' Knowledge, Practice, Student Outcomes & Efficacy, Lawrence Ingvarson, Marion Meiers, Adrian Beavis

Professional learning for teachers and school leaders

This report examines effects of structural and process features of professional development programs on teachers’ knowledge, practice and efficacy. It is based on four recent (2002-2003) studies undertaken through the Australian Government Quality Teacher Programme, designed to enhance teacher quality. The total data set for the survey study includes 3,250 teachers who had participated in eighty individual professional developmental activities within these studies. Teachers were surveyed at least three months after participating in an activity, which provided them with the opportunity to gauge the impact of programs on their practice. To investigate factors affecting impact, a theoretical model was developed …

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Perspectives On School Leadership : Taking Another Look, Thomas J. Sergiovani Jan 2005

Perspectives On School Leadership : Taking Another Look, Thomas J. Sergiovani

APC Monographs

The author argues that in many respects leadership has failed us. Not that we should be overwhelmed by this. We just need to know, so we can work on it. There are, I believe, three reasons for the failure of leadership. First, we’ve come to view leadership as behaviour, rather than action; as something psychological rather than spiritual; as having to do with persons rather than ideas. Second, in trying to understand what drives leadership, we’ve overemphasised bureaucratic and personal authority, neglecting professional and moral authority. In the first reason we separated the hand of leadership from the head and …

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Primary Teacher Work Study Report, Jenny Wilkinson, Lawrence Ingvarson, Elizabeth Kleinhenz, Adrian Beavis Jan 2005

Primary Teacher Work Study Report, Jenny Wilkinson, Lawrence Ingvarson, Elizabeth Kleinhenz, Adrian Beavis

Teacher workforce and careers

This research was conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) in 2005. The study was a result of the New Zealand Primary Teachers Collective Agreement 2004-2007 which specified that a workload study be complete to consider how the work of a teacher could be better structured, resourced and organised to support more effective classroom teaching. The purpose of the study was to gain an understanding of the nature and patterns of primary teachers' work. The research was commissioned by the New Zealand Ministry of Education.

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From Accounting To Accountability: Harnessing Data For School Improvement, Lorna Earl Jan 2005

From Accounting To Accountability: Harnessing Data For School Improvement, Lorna Earl

2005 - Using data to support learning

There was a time in education when decisions were based on the best judgements of the people in authority. It was assumed that school leaders, as professionals in the field, had both the responsibility and the right to make decisions about students, schools and even about education more broadly. They did so using a combination of intimate and privileged knowledge of the context, political savvy, professional training and logical analysis. Data played almost no part in decisions. In fact, there was not much data available about schools. Instead, leaders relied on their tacit knowledge to formulate and execute plans. In …

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Benchmarks And Growth And Success... Oh, My!, G Gage Kingsbury Jan 2005

Benchmarks And Growth And Success... Oh, My!, G Gage Kingsbury

2005 - Using data to support learning

This paper will discuss some recent research concerning US attempts to use student proficiency standards to identify schools that are struggling. It will also discuss a model that combines growth and standards to improve our ability to identify successful schools. Finally, it will discuss the use of an assessment system that fosters improvement in education.

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Assessment For Learning: Using Statewide Literacy And Numeracy Tests As Diagnostic Tools, Philip Holmes-Smith Jan 2005

Assessment For Learning: Using Statewide Literacy And Numeracy Tests As Diagnostic Tools, Philip Holmes-Smith

2005 - Using data to support learning

Assessment of learning dominates assessment efforts around the world, and systems, whether intentionally or unintentionally, typically portray such programs as the best means of raising the standards of learning. At the classroom level, such programs are rarely appreciated and most teachers have little faith in either the reliability or validity of such State-mandated tests. While it is clear that school administrators take the results of such programs very seriously, few classroom teachers give any more than cursory attention to the results for their own class.This is a shame for a number of reasons. First and foremost amongst these reasons is …

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Data For Schools In Nsw: What Is Provided And Can It Help?, Max Smith Jan 2005

Data For Schools In Nsw: What Is Provided And Can It Help?, Max Smith

2005 - Using data to support learning

Lifting the performance of New South Wales (NSW) students in literacy, numeracy and other key outcome areas to world-class standards is a central priority of this Government.The crucial responsibilities, shared between schools and the system, for effective educational provision are articulated in the most recent Framework for School Development and Accountability for NSW government schools.The role of 108 very senior officers, School Education Directors, recently appointed to regions across the state, is to ensure the effective implementation of this framework.The aim is to consolidate and focus existing accountability, improvement and reporting policies to improve and enrich student outcomes. Essential to …

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What Is The Nature Of Evidence That Makes A Difference To Learning?, John Hattie Jan 2005

What Is The Nature Of Evidence That Makes A Difference To Learning?, John Hattie

2005 - Using data to support learning

The major argument of this presentation is to move the discussion away from data towards interpretations, from student outcomes to teaching successes and improvements, and from accountability models located about schools to located first in the classroom to support such evidence-based teaching and learning.The asTTle model, which has been developed in New Zealand, will be used in the Keynote presentation to demonstrate such a model. By locating evidence in the classroom we can improve the quality of information and interpretations sent to students, parents, Ministries, Ministers, and thence the community.We can influence the major agent that influences student and learning …

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Data-Driven School Improvement Through The Vce Data Service, Glenn Rowley, Peter Congdon Jan 2005

Data-Driven School Improvement Through The Vce Data Service, Glenn Rowley, Peter Congdon

2005 - Using data to support learning

As the holder of student achievement data spanning three sectors and four levels, the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) has a responsibility to provide these data to schools in ways that enable school staff to use them effectively and easily. With the discontinuation of the publication of school achievement indices, the VCAA was forced to confront a range of issues surrounding the question of which data belonged to the student, which was the property of the school, and which belonged to the general public. In 2002, a new balance was struck. A key component in this balance was the …

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Researchers And Practitioners Working Together To Ensure Data-Informed Practice In Secondary School : Evidence From Vic, Sa And Nsw Schools, Carmel Richardson Jan 2005

Researchers And Practitioners Working Together To Ensure Data-Informed Practice In Secondary School : Evidence From Vic, Sa And Nsw Schools, Carmel Richardson

2005 - Using data to support learning

The advantage of ‘ability-adjusted’ analyses of educational data is their capacity to provide fairer assessments of school and student achievement than reliance on raw scores alone. School performance evaluations based on students’ unadjusted (raw) marks favour schools with higher intakes of bright and advantaged students.The learning gains of middle and lower ability students are overlooked, and the achievements of students and schools in disadvantaged areas are not valued, while focus is concentrated on those achieving the highest marks. With ‘ability-adjusted’ analyses of school data, any student who achieves higher marks than similar ability peers is acknowledged as having performed well.This …

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An Evidence-Based Approach To Teaching And Learning, Michele Bruniges Jan 2005

An Evidence-Based Approach To Teaching And Learning, Michele Bruniges

2005 - Using data to support learning

A Greek philosopher might suggest that evidence is what is observed, rational and logical; a Fundamentalist – what you know is true; a Post Modernist – what you experience; a Lawyer – material which tends to prove or disprove the existence of a fact and that is admissible in court; a Clinical Scientist – information obtained from observations and/or experiments; and a teacher – what they see and hear. The past decade has seen a high level of engagement and commitment by Australian schools to the collection, analysis and interpretation of information about students to inform teaching and learning. Rapid …

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