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Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER)

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Articles 1291 - 1320 of 1793

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

Using Data To Support Learning (Conference Proceedings), Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer) Jan 2005

Using Data To Support Learning (Conference Proceedings), Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

2005 - Using data to support learning

Research Conference 2005 is the tenth national Research Conference.Through our research conferences,ACER provides significant opportunities at the national level for reviewing current research-based knowledge in key areas of educational policy and practice.A primary goal of these conferences is to inform educational policy and practice.

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Using Data For School Improvement: A Practitioner's Approach, Wayne Craig Jan 2005

Using Data For School Improvement: A Practitioner's Approach, Wayne Craig

2005 - Using data to support learning

Over the past decade,Victorian government schools have become accustomed to the use of data as a means of evaluating school performance and identifying potential areas for improvement. In many instances however, the data has been relatively unsophisticated and the data has not been readily available to or useable by teachers, and students rarely had access to this information. The Victorian Education Department’s Accountability and Improvement framework, underpinned by a three year school charter, required schools to monitor, evaluate and report on performance data across a range of areas.

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Turning Data Into Information That Improves Teaching And Learning: The Wa Experience, David Axworthy Jan 2005

Turning Data Into Information That Improves Teaching And Learning: The Wa Experience, David Axworthy

2005 - Using data to support learning

This paper looks at some examples of the way in which the Western Australian Department of Education and Training is presenting student performance data and transforming it into information to assist teachers to modify their teaching practices and improve the learning of their students.

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Moving On From Count Me In Too: Evidence-Based Teaching And Learning In Numeracy In The Early And Middle Years Of Schooling, Lynn Tozer, Marilyn Holmes Jan 2005

Moving On From Count Me In Too: Evidence-Based Teaching And Learning In Numeracy In The Early And Middle Years Of Schooling, Lynn Tozer, Marilyn Holmes

2005 - Using data to support learning

New Zealand developed the Early Numeracy Project for Years 1–3 in 2000–2001, based on the New South Wales’ Count Me In Too, and much has happened in mathematics education since. Change is inevitable and numeracy has moved on.Today the New Zealand Number Framework, the Diagnostic Interview and Teaching Model now underpin numeracy teaching practice in over 14,000 classrooms from Year 1–9. Important developments to date have included a flexible national database and web site, well-developed supporting materials and data-rich annual evaluation reports which inform future direction and expectation of achievement. Because the Numeracy Project is evolving, further development and consolidation …

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Using Hsc Data To Give Principals Leverage, John Decourcy Jan 2005

Using Hsc Data To Give Principals Leverage, John Decourcy

2005 - Using data to support learning

What makes the difference in student achievement? What elements among ‘what makes the difference’ can a school principal influence? How does the principal influence these for the better? How do teachers best take account of the pedagogical information available in data? How can we use the data available to address these questions?

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Evaluation Of The Getting It Right Literacy And Numeracy Strategy In Western Australian Schools, Marion Meiers Jan 2005

Evaluation Of The Getting It Right Literacy And Numeracy Strategy In Western Australian Schools, Marion Meiers

2005 - Using data to support learning

This paper and the paper by Dr. Lawrence Ingvarson are companion pieces to Rosemary Cahill’s account of the intentions of the Getting it Right Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, and the model of professional development on which the strategy is based. In these papers, we present some findings from the ACER evaluation of Getting it Right. We provide detailed results from the surveys of principals undertaken in 2003 and 2004, including findings of the use of data to improve planning.These results provide evidence of the impact of the initiative, and evidence of an increase of the impact of the strategy over …

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Learning About Teaching And Teaching About Learning: Using Video Data For Research And Professional Development, Hilary Hollingsworth Jan 2005

Learning About Teaching And Teaching About Learning: Using Video Data For Research And Professional Development, Hilary Hollingsworth

2005 - Using data to support learning

Although video technology has been available for several decades, the collection and use of classroom video data for supporting and improving teaching and learning can still be considered to be in its infancy.A variety of research and professional development projects have made use of video data, revealing promising initial outcomes and identifying many possibilities for its use. However, relatively little systematic research has been conducted on the feasibility and effectiveness of various types and uses of video in education (Brophy, 2004). This paper outlines the nature and virtues of video data, and describes several Australian examples of research and professional …

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Against The Grade: In Search Of Continuity In Schooling And Learning, Geoff N. Masters Jan 2005

Against The Grade: In Search Of Continuity In Schooling And Learning, Geoff N. Masters

Monitoring Learning

Learning is enhanced when learning opportunities are matched to individuals' current levels of knowledge, skill and understanding, so classroom activities are likely to be most effective in raising achievement levels if they are differentiated, in other words, if teachers recognise the wide variation in children's levels of progress; if they identify individuals' interests and current levels or attainment; and if they expect different kinds of learning from different students. Uniformly high expectations and a common curriculum for all may be less effective, and ultimately more inequitable, than providing differentiated learning and differentiate expectations of individual progress towards the same high …

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Learning About Learning And Teaching: Using The Evidence Of Student Achievement For Improvements At Individual, Class And School Level, Reg Allen Jan 2005

Learning About Learning And Teaching: Using The Evidence Of Student Achievement For Improvements At Individual, Class And School Level, Reg Allen

2005 - Using data to support learning

This paper describes the nature, use and importance of some powerful techniques through which teachers can use data to improve student learning. For a teacher, the central purpose of analysing data is to improve the learning of one or more particular students.That is, the individual teacher and the school take the students who come to them and seek to improve the learning of those students.This purpose is different from that of the sociologist seeking to understand patterns of participation, or that of the policy analyst seeking to understand the impact, if any, of policy settings.The possibly powerful generalisations about a …

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Using Online Assessment To Inform Teaching And Learning In Primary And Secondary Classrooms, Jim Tognolini Jan 2005

Using Online Assessment To Inform Teaching And Learning In Primary And Secondary Classrooms, Jim Tognolini

2005 - Using data to support learning

In the 1980’s there was a conscious effort around Australia and in many other countries around the world to shift the focus in assessment from notions of passing and failing to those of monitoring growth; from comparing students against each other to building up an image of what it is that students know and can do at particular stages in their development; and, from collecting marks to summarise performance to providing students and teachers with information from assessment activities that can be used to help diagnose potential weaknesses and strengths and lead to improved learning. The Australian Council for Educational …

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An Evidence-Based Approach To School Improvement: A Case Study Of The Victorian Catholic Education Office, Melbourne, Teresa Angelico Jan 2005

An Evidence-Based Approach To School Improvement: A Case Study Of The Victorian Catholic Education Office, Melbourne, Teresa Angelico

2005 - Using data to support learning

The evidence based approach is integral to efforts by the Victorian Catholic sector to continually improve its effectiveness.There has been a concerted effort in the Victorian Catholic sector to broaden the professional experience and judgement of system personnel, school leaders and teachers by locating it within the available evidence and generating research studies to continually explore and test it. Evidence generation and transfer have been instrumental in shaping the design of literacy and numeracy programs.There is an increasing emphasis on using evidence as a tool for professional learning and to inform decision making related to improving the overall performance of …

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Schooling The Yuk/Wow Generation, Erica Mcwilliam Jan 2005

Schooling The Yuk/Wow Generation, Erica Mcwilliam

APC Monographs

Working as I do in a university setting, when I talk to school teachers and school leaders I feel like I have come home. Teachers have seen wave after wave of ideas come through. Haven’t we all. We’ve watched them arrive, and we’ve seen the initial excitement that comes with them. We maintain our passion for teaching, even though we have seen the failure of many of these ideas over time. We are sceptical, and we do not indulge in mindless optimism. I like good teachers’ ‘nonstupid optimism’ and I like working in context, where that is possible. Mind you, …

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Getting Professional Development Right, Lawrence Ingvarson Jan 2005

Getting Professional Development Right, Lawrence Ingvarson

Professional learning for teachers and school leaders

This paper examines the Western Australian Getting it Right reform as a strategy for professional learning and compares it with research on the characteristics of effective PD. The Getting it Right Strategy is clearly a comprehensive and well-resourced reform strategy with its main emphasis on building professional capacity among teachers and principals. The data we gathered as part of the evaluation, through school and classroom observations, interviews and surveys, left us in no doubt that the strategy was highly regarded by teachers and principals and was having a significant impact on practice. This paper will focus mainly on GiR work …

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Good Data, Bad News, Good Policy Making ..., Gabrielle Matters Jan 2005

Good Data, Bad News, Good Policy Making ..., Gabrielle Matters

2005 - Using data to support learning

The New Basics Trial in Queensland (2000 –04) was about improving educational outcomes. At its heart was the idea that, to do this, there must be an orchestration of the message systems of curriculum, teaching and assessment – and that these changes must be in practices, not merely in statements of intention or expectation. This paper spans the trial period (2000 –04) and the immediate post-trial period (2005), showing how research evidence informed policy-making. The New Basics approach (which introduced three suites of Rich Tasks covering three 3-year spans from Year 1 to Year 9) to curriculum, teaching, assessment, reporting, …

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Acer 2004-2005 Annual Report, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer) Jan 2005

Acer 2004-2005 Annual Report, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

ACER Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

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Acer 1980-2004 Annual Report Index, Margaret Findlay Jan 2005

Acer 1980-2004 Annual Report Index, Margaret Findlay

ACER Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

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In Teachers' Hands: Effective Literacy Teaching Practices In The Early Years Of Schooling, William Louden, Mary Rohl, Caroline Barratt Pugh, Claire Brown, Trevor Cairney, Jess Elderfield, Helen House, Marion Meiers, Judith Rivalland, Ken Rowe Jan 2005

In Teachers' Hands: Effective Literacy Teaching Practices In The Early Years Of Schooling, William Louden, Mary Rohl, Caroline Barratt Pugh, Claire Brown, Trevor Cairney, Jess Elderfield, Helen House, Marion Meiers, Judith Rivalland, Ken Rowe

Monitoring Learning

This project investigated the link between children’s growth in English literacy in the early years of schooling and their teachers’ classroom teaching practices. Using the LLANS literacy assessment tasks, 2000 children from every state and territory were assessed at the beginning and end of their first or second year at school. The teaching practices used by teachers whose students made most progress were explored. The effective teachers used a wide repertoire and demonstrated key teaching practices with greater consistency, skill and subtlety.

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Evaluation Of The Getting It Right Literacy And Numeracy Strategy In Western Australian Schools : Using Data To Support Student Learning, Marion Meiers Jan 2005

Evaluation Of The Getting It Right Literacy And Numeracy Strategy In Western Australian Schools : Using Data To Support Student Learning, Marion Meiers

Shaping educational policy

This paper and the paper by Dr. Lawrence Ingvarson are companion pieces to Rosemary Cahill’s account of the intentions of the Getting it Right Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, and the model of professional development on which the strategy is based. In these papers, we present some findings from the ACER evaluation of Getting it Right. We provide detailed results from the surveys of principals undertaken in 2003 and 2004, including findings of the use of data to improve planning.These results provide evidence of the impact of the initiative, and evidence of an increase of the impact of the strategy over …

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Engaging Indigenous Students At School: An Evaluation Of The Deadly Vibe Magazine, Nola Purdie, Louise Ellis, Alison Stone Dec 2004

Engaging Indigenous Students At School: An Evaluation Of The Deadly Vibe Magazine, Nola Purdie, Louise Ellis, Alison Stone

Indigenous Education Research

Closing the divide between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students is one of the most pressing current educational imperatives. A multifaceted approach is needed to achieve this, given the diversity of educational disadvantage experienced by Indigenous students, and the contexts within which they obtain their education. One innovative approach to overcoming the disparity between Indigenous and non- Indigenous educational outcomes is that developed by Vibe Australia through its publication of the magazine Deadly Vibe. Deadly Vibe is a magazine for Indigenous students that aims to enhance their academic and social outcomes of schooling, including literacy and numeracy learning, self-esteem and self-concept, regular …

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Measuring Student Well-Being In The Context Of Australian Schooling : Discussion Paper, Julian Fraillon Dec 2004

Measuring Student Well-Being In The Context Of Australian Schooling : Discussion Paper, Julian Fraillon

Wellbeing

This report was commissioned by the South Australian Department of Education and Children's Services as an agent of the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA). The report constitutes Phase 1 of a planned two phase process. Specifically this report defines a measurement construct for student well-being; outlines a methodology for measuring student well-being; and provides recommendations for ongoing work in the measuring, reporting and monitoring of student well-being (Phase 2).

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Immigrant Status And Home Language Background : Implications For Australian Student Performance In Pisa 2000, John Cresswell Oct 2004

Immigrant Status And Home Language Background : Implications For Australian Student Performance In Pisa 2000, John Cresswell

ACER Research Monographs

The primary focus of this report is to examine the effect that immigrant status and home language background may have on the performance of Australian students who participated in the OECD/Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2000). Approximately 5477 students from 231 schools across Australia participated in the study. In this report, two sets of analyses were conducted. The first set focuses on immigrant status of students and the second set of analyses provides data on those students who speak a language other than English at home compared to students from an English home language background.

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What Do We Know About The Experiences Of Australian Youth? An Easy Reference Guide To Longitudinal Surveys Of Australian Youth Research Reports, 1996–2003, Robyn Penman Sep 2004

What Do We Know About The Experiences Of Australian Youth? An Easy Reference Guide To Longitudinal Surveys Of Australian Youth Research Reports, 1996–2003, Robyn Penman

LSAY Research Reports

This reference guide is not simply a summary of each report – rather the findings from 36 reports have been summarised thematically to show what we know about the experiences of Australian youth as they move through education and training into the labour market and adult life. The bracketed notations in the right hand margin indicate the report number and the relevant page(s) on which each piece of information is based and where further information can be found.

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The Importance Of Teaching: Ensuring Better Schooling By Building Teacher Capacities That Maximize The Quality Of Teaching And Learning Provision – Implications Of Findings From The International And Australian Evidence-Based Research, Ken Rowe Aug 2004

The Importance Of Teaching: Ensuring Better Schooling By Building Teacher Capacities That Maximize The Quality Of Teaching And Learning Provision – Implications Of Findings From The International And Australian Evidence-Based Research, Ken Rowe

Student learning processes

Given the level of consensus regarding the importance of school education as an essential element of micro- and macro economic reform, policy issues surrounding school and teacher effectiveness are of particular importance. However, much of the traditional and prevailing dogmas surrounding ‘factors’ affecting students’ experiences and outcomes of schooling throughout their primary and secondary years, especially socio-cultural and socio-economic factors, are now understood to be products of methodological and statistical artifact, and amount to little more than ‘religious’ adherence to the moribund ideologies of biological and social determinism. Above all, a good deal of this ‘discourse’ is not supported by …

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Teacher Education Courses In Victoria: Perceptions Of Their Effectiveness And Factors Affecting Their Impact, Lawrence Ingvarson, Adrian Beavis, Elizabeth Kleinhenz Aug 2004

Teacher Education Courses In Victoria: Perceptions Of Their Effectiveness And Factors Affecting Their Impact, Lawrence Ingvarson, Adrian Beavis, Elizabeth Kleinhenz

Initial Teacher education

Investment in teacher education is a major strategy to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in our schools. Agencies, such as the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT), with responsibility for the accreditation of teacher education, can use feedback about the effectiveness of different modes of teacher preparation to support providers. It is vital that data for this purpose be valid and reliable. The Future Teachers Project (FTP) was designed to collect such data. It was designed to address two major questions: What are the perceptions of stakeholders (beginning teachers and their employers) about the effectiveness of current teacher education …

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Codebook: The Lsay 1995 Year 9 Sample Wave 9 (2003) Technical Report No. 31, Kylie Hillman May 2004

Codebook: The Lsay 1995 Year 9 Sample Wave 9 (2003) Technical Report No. 31, 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 6 (2003) Technical Report No. 30, Kylie Hillman May 2004

Codebook: The Lsay 1998 Year 9 Sample Wave 6 (2003) Technical Report No. 30, 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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Evaluation Of The Standards And Professional Learning Project 2003, Elizabeth Kleinhenz, Lawrence Ingvarson, Charlotte Danielson Apr 2004

Evaluation Of The Standards And Professional Learning Project 2003, Elizabeth Kleinhenz, Lawrence Ingvarson, Charlotte Danielson

Teaching standards and teacher evaluation

In February 2003, the Victorian State Minister for Education and Training launched the ‘Standards and Professional Learning Project’ as the first major policy initiative of the new Institute. The brief of the project was: to develop professional teaching standards for full registration, and to support new teachers (who were mostly newly graduated teachers from tertiary teacher education programs) to move from provisional to full registration at the end of their first year of teaching. This involved designing and implementing evidence based assessment processes to show that the standards had been met. These assessments would provide guarantees of teacher quality to …

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Location, Location, Location : Implications Of Geographic Situation On Australian Student Performance In Pisa 2000, John Cresswell, Catherine Underwood Apr 2004

Location, Location, Location : Implications Of Geographic Situation On Australian Student Performance In Pisa 2000, John Cresswell, Catherine Underwood

ACER Research Monographs

The primary focus of this report is to examine the effect that geographical location may have on the performance of students from schools from all parts of Australia who participated in the OECD/Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2000). Approximately 5477 students from 231 school across Australia encompassing schools in Major Cities, Inner Regional areas, Outer Regional areas, Remote areas and Very Remote areas participated. Results for Australian schools located in Major Cities and Inner Regional areas were above the OECD average in reading literacy. Outer Regional areas and Remote/Very Remote areas were at or below the OECD average.

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Invited Submission To Inquiry Into The Sex Discrimination Amendment (Teaching Profession) Bill 2004, By The Australian Senate Legal And Constitutional Legislation Committee, Ken Rowe Apr 2004

Invited Submission To Inquiry Into The Sex Discrimination Amendment (Teaching Profession) Bill 2004, By The Australian Senate Legal And Constitutional Legislation Committee, Ken Rowe

Student learning processes

This submission focuses on two areas of relevance (with brief summaries), namely: 1. The ‘declining’ trends in male to female teacher ratios in Australian schools during the last decade, and possible reasons for the ‘gender imbalance’. Despite prevailing anecdote and popular myth, there is a pressing need to know more about senior secondary students’ students’ attitudes towards, and perceptions of teaching as a career – particularly those of males – prior to any proposed amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act 1984. 2. It is important to be informed about relevant findings from local and international evidence-based research that shed light …

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Post-School Plans : Aspirations, Expectations And Implementation : A Report Prepared For The Smith Family, Adrian Beavis, Martin Murphy, Jennifer Bryce, Matthew Corrigan Mar 2004

Post-School Plans : Aspirations, Expectations And Implementation : A Report Prepared For The Smith Family, Adrian Beavis, Martin Murphy, Jennifer Bryce, Matthew Corrigan

Vocational, adult and professional education research

This report highlights the important role of vocational education and training such as TAFE as an alternative for students with no plans to study at university. The report was based on the surveys of almost 19,000 teenagers. The study suggests that the most important factors for predicting post-school plans are gender, ability and the vocational orientation of the student. Students appear to have a good understanding of all these factors and plan their post-school destinations accordingly.

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