Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Governance Models For Collaborations Involving Assessment, Australian Medical Assessment Collaboration (Amac), Ben Canny, Hamish Coates

Higher education research

This paper is driven by a desire to improve assessment in higher education to yield better outcomes for communities, professions and individuals. The analysis unfolds within the field of medicine but is conceptualised to be of much broader relevance to other professional fields and academic disciplines. The focus is on assessment during the course as opposed to assessment for admissions or licensing purposes. The interest in assessment is not simply to produce practitioners, but to develop better practitioners. As well, the remarks are bounded by the context of universities in Australia and hence the complex but important assumption of academic …

National Assessment Program : Civics And Citizenship Years 6 And 10 Report 2013, Julian Fraillon, Wolfram Schulz, Judy Nixon, Eveline Gebhardt

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

This report presents the findings of the 2013 National Assessment Program – Civics and Citizenship (NAP – CC) and is conducted under the auspices of the Standing Council on School Education and Early Childhood (SCSEEC) Education Council. Under the National Assessment Program, the Civics and Citizenship sample assessment is administered to a representative sample of Year 6 and Year 10 students on a triennial cycle. After three rounds of assessments – which were undertaken in 2004, 2007 and 2010 – this report looks at the 2013 assessment and examines emerging trends. The National Assessment Program – Civics and Citizenship measures …

National Assessment Program : Civics And Citizenship 2013 Year 6 And Year 10 : Technical Report, Kate O'Malley, Eveline Gebhardt, Renee Chow, Martin Murphy, Wolfram Schulz, Judy Nixon, Julian Fraillon

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

In 1999, the State, Territory and Commonwealth Ministers of Education, meeting as the tenth Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA), agreed to the National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-first Century. Subsequently, MCEETYA agreed to report on progress toward the achievement of the National Goals on a nationally-comparable basis, via the National Assessment Program (NAP). As part of NAP, a three-yearly cycle of sample assessments in primary science, civics and citizenship and ICT was established. The three previous cycles of NAP – CC were conducted in 2004, 2007 and 2010. As a result of a 2010 …

Monitoring Trends In Educational Growth: A Partnership Service To Monitor The Educational Growth Of Students In The Early To Middle Years Of Schooling, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Monitoring Trends in Educational Growth (MTEG)

Monitoring Trends in Educational Growth (MTEG) offers a flexible, collaborative approach to developing and implementing an assessment of learning outcomes that yields high-quality, nationally relevant data. MTEG is a service that involves ACER staff working closely with each country to develop an assessment program that meets the country’s monitoring needs while being based as closely as possible on a set of defined design principles and quality standards.

Implementing A Generic School Improvement Framework: Experience Of The National School Improvement Tool In Australian Settings, Elizabeth Hartnell-Young, Robert Marshall, Robert Hassell

School and system improvement

This is a collection of three papers presented at a symposium ‘Implementing a generic school improvement framework: experience of the National School Improvement Tool in Australian settings’ at the 27th International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI) , Yogyakarta Indonesia, 27 January 2014. Paper A: Development of a school improvement framework with broad application in different contexts by Dr Elizabeth Hartnell-Young, ACER. School improvement has been a focus of attention in Australia for some time, but the publication of results in international testing such as PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study), TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science …

An Analysis Of Earlier Reports Into Senior Assessment And Tertiary Entrance Procedures In Queensland, David Kelly

Queensland research and reviews

This paper is an analysis of selected major reports into Senior assessment and tertiary entrance procedures in Queensland; in particular:

• Public Examinations for Queensland Secondary School Students (1970, ‘the Radford Report’)
• A Review of School-based Assessment in Queensland Secondary Schools (1978, ‘the ROSBA Report’)
• Tertiary Entrance in Queensland: A Review (1987, ‘the Pitman Report’) The Review of Tertiary Entrance in Queensland 1990 (1990, ‘the Viviani Report’).

These reports mark stages in a long history. The first of them, the Radford Report, is almost 45 years old; the most recent, the Viviani Report, is almost 25 years old. The Radford Report …

An Account Of The Inner Workings Of Standards, Judgement And Moderation : A Previously Untold Evidence-Based Narrative, Claire Wyatt-Smith, Peta Colbert

Queensland research and reviews

This paper was commissioned to inform the Review of Queensland Senior Assessment and School Reporting and Tertiary Entrance Processes undertaken by Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). Specifically, the lead Investigator was tasked to address the hypothesis that the Queensland Studies Authority’s (QSA, also referred to as system) approach to specifying assessment criteria and standards remains dominant and salient across disciplines. It was also to consider the holistic and analytic judgement models that operate in District and State review panels. The original aims were therefore to consider the nature and function of standards in informing teacher judgements as reported through …

Auditing The Office For Learning And Teaching Resource Library, Philip Hider, Barney Dalgarno, Sue Bennett, Ying-Hsang Liu, Carole Gerts, Carla Daws, Barbara Spiller, Robert Parkes, Pat Knight, Raylee Macaulay, Lauren Carlson

Information Management

The Australian government Office for Learning and Teaching’s (OLT) Resource Library was a key means of disseminating the outcomes from projects funded by itself and its predecessor organisations, the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) and the Carrick Institute. In order to apply the recommendations and resources emanating from these projects, it is vital that educators and other stakeholders are aware of, and effectively able to use, the Resource Library. Based on anecdotal evidence indicating a lack of awareness of the Resource Library and problems with consistently being able to search for and retrieve relevant resources from the database, the …

Agpt Registrar Satisfaction Survey 2013, Rebecca Taylor, Hamish B. Coates

Higher education research

The General Practice Education and Training Limited (GPET) Registrar Satisfaction Survey (RSS) is used for ensuring continuous improvement in the training of doctors in General Practice. Designed by the Australian Council of Educational Research (ACER) in conjunction with GPET and advisors from the Association of Chief Executives (ACE), the RSS gauges the level of registrar satisfaction with the quality of their training, with training providers, and with career progression. It was designed and implemented to help ensure that professional training programs delivered by Regional Training Providers (RTPs) meet the standards and requirements of both the Royal Australian College of General …

Pisa 2012 : How Australia Measures Up : The Pisa 2012 Assessment Of Students’ Mathematical, Scientific And Reading Literacy, Sue Thomson, Lisa De Bortoli, Sarah Buckley

OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Australia

PISA seeks to measure how well young adults at age 15 (and, therefore, near the end of compulsory schooling in most participating education systems) are prepared to use their knowledge and skills in particular areas to meet real-life challenges. PISA’s orientation reflects a change in the goals and objectives of curricula, which increasingly address how well students are able to apply what they learn at school. This report presents the results of the PISA 2012 assessment for Australia. It presents the results for Australia as a whole, for the Australian jurisdictions and (where relevant) for the other participants in the …

A Review Of Victoria’S Developmental Learning Framework For School Leaders, Lawrence Ingvarson

Professional learning for teachers and school leaders

The Department of Education and Training, Victoria launched the Developmental Learning Framework for School Leaders (DLF) in March 2007 as a central component of the 2003 Blueprint for Government Schools (DET, 2003). Six years later, a decision was made to review the DLF and seek advice on the extent to which it may need revision or redevelopment.In June 2013, the Bastow Institute of Educational Leadership commissioned the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to conduct an independent review of Framework for School Leaders (DLF). The brief was to conduct a critical assessment of the content, design, and usability of the …

Pisa In Brief : Highlights From The Full Australian Report : Pisa 2012 : How Australia Measures Up, Sue Thomson, Lisa De Bortoli, Sarah Buckley

OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Australia

PISA is a survey that measures the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds, who are near the end of compulsory schooling in most participating education systems. PISA in Brief summarises the results from the PISA 2012 assessment of students’ mathematical, scientific and reading literacy skills. It tells us about how students performed in the assessment and describes some wider findings about what lies behind their results.

Solomon Islands Standardised Tests Of Achievement (Sista). English And Mathematics. Year 4 And Year 6. Report 1 Main Study 2013, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Assessment and Reporting

The SISTA program is a key monitoring tool of the Solomon Islands Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development and has the capacity to serve multiple functions to a wide range of educational stakeholders. This report provides analysis of year 4 and year 6 Literacy and Numeracy of SISTA 2013. The SISTA results contain a wealth of data about how well students have responded to items that are indicators of curriculum attainment. The observed improvements in overall performances may be attributed to: a. Better tests and improved alignment of the tests with the target population; and b. In the case …

School–University Partnerships In Initial Teacher Preparation: An Evaluation Of The School Centres For Teaching Excellence Initiative In Victoria, Glenn Rowley, Paul R. Weldon, Elizabeth Kleinhenz, Lawrence Ingvarson

Initial Teacher education

This report presents the findings of an evaluation of School Centres for Teaching Excellence (SCTE) initiatives introduced by the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) during 2011. SCTEs are partnerships of universities and schools designed to establish leading practice in providing quality pre-service teacher education, continuing professional learning and research opportunities. The initiative was funded through the Smarter Schools National Partnership on Improving Teacher Quality.

Towards A Growth Mindset In Assessment, Geoff N. Masters

Assessment and Reporting

The approaches we take to assessing learning, the kinds of tasks we assign and the way we report success or failure at school send powerful messages to students not only about their own learning, but also about the nature of learning itself. Assessment and reporting processes shape student, parent and community beliefs about learning – sometimes in unintended ways.

This essay describes three general approaches to evaluating and providing feedback on the outcomes of learning. Each approach is based on a particular way of thinking about what it means to learn successfully, and each has implications for how students view …

Digital Fluency : Skills Necessary For Learning In The Digital Age, Gerald K. White

Digital learning research

This article examines the skills that will be required for the 21st century that will need to be embedded in educational curricula in order achieve them. It begins by considering how communicating between people has changed and current educational responses. A view of 21st century skills follows with an argument for some core subjects that will be necessary. Learning and teaching are then discussed leading to a view about what is needed in order to develop digital fluency in education, for now and the future.

Strengths And Weaknesses Of Queensland’S Op System Today, Reg Allen

Queensland research and reviews

The purpose of this paper is to inform the Queensland Review of Senior Assessment and Tertiary Entrance Processes by describing the strengths and weakness of the Overall Position (OP) system in Queensland as it is in the opening years of the second decade of the twenty-first century. The paper is intended to provide a basis for consideration of possible changes to the current system. It therefore focuses on those underlying features that set the fundamental shape of the system.

Background Paper No. 1 : Senior Assessment And Tertiary Entrance In A Nutshell, Gabrielle Matters

Queensland research and reviews

The purpose of this paper is to describe senior assessment and tertiary entrance in Queensland in a nutshell. It does not purport to be an academic paper, a procedural manual, or the definitive description of senior assessment and tertiary entrance procedures in Queensland. Its focus is on describing and explaining the key features of the system to an audience that is not necessarily acquainted with the intricacies of the Queensland system. And it is simply an aide mémoire for those who are part of the system. Not all aspects of senior assessment and tertiary entrance are mentioned and technical discussion …

Overview Of Senior Assessment And Tertiary Entrance In Australia And Other Countries, Doug Mccurry

Queensland research and reviews

This paper presents an overview of senior assessment and tertiary entrance procedures in Australia and other countries. This paper provides background information to inform the deliberations of the Queensland Review of Senior Assessment and Tertiary Entrance. It includes an overview of the commonalities and differences in the senior secondary assessment systems and certificates in the different the Australian states and territories. Also included is overview of the senior secondary assessment and tertiary entrance systems of some 30 countries. It includes information about the use of examinations, tests and school based assessments for certification and selection for tertiary entrance. This information …

Networking Young Citizens : Learning To Be Citizens In And With The Social Web, Suzanne Mellor, Terri Seddon

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

Many claims are made, both in the popular press and the professional education literature, about the significance of the social web in enabling civic participation. However empirical evidence supporting these claims is sparse and contested rather than strongly-indicative. The Monash University pilot research project, Networking Young Citizens, relates to the discussion about the ways in which the social web might support the civic participation, especially of young people, by examining the ways in which Web 2.0 was integrated into teaching and learning in the school, and any other processes of civic socialisation that were consciously adopted in three schools.

This …

Review Of National And International Practice In Voluntary Certification For Principals, Brian Caldwell

Educational leadership

The purpose of the project was to undertake and report on a global scan of schemes for the voluntary certification of school leaders that have been established by professional associations and institutions. The focus was on the certification of principals or those aspiring to the principalship. A distinction was made between certification that is awarded by a government or government agency, and certification that is awarded by an independent professional body. Five national and one state (US) voluntary principal certification programs were identified in the scan. Ten critical issues to be addressed in a scheme for voluntary certification were drawn …

Quality Educational Leadership Through Principal Certification: A Consultation Paper Seeking Input On School Principal Certification To Recognise And Enhance Educational Leadership In Australian Schools, Paul Kilvert

Educational leadership

This consultation paper seeking input on school principal certification to recognise and enhance educational leadership in Australian schools was used as the basis for a series of forums with principals in each Australian state and territory to clarify and develop the Australian Principal Certification Program.

Understanding Learning : Lessons For Learning, Teaching And Research, John Hattie, Gregory Yates

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

No abstract provided.

Challenges And Opportunities For Neuroscience : How To Explain The Connection Between Socio-Cultural Practices And Cognition?, David Clarke, Hilary Hollingsworth

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Concurrent Session Block 3

Learning, Remembering And Forgetting In The Mammalian Brain, Pankaj Sah

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Concurrent Session Block 3

Do Boys And Girls Read Differently Online? Evidence From Pisa 2009 Digital Reading Assessment, Tom Lumley, Dara Ramalingam, Juliette Mendelovits

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Concurrent Session Block 3

From Experimental Psychology To A Science Of Learning, Ottmar Lipp, Sacha Develle

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Concurrent Session Block 3

Being The Best Learner You Can Be: Translating Research Into Educational Practice, Donna Nitschke

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Concurrent Session Block 3

The Benefits Of Music For The Brain, Sarah Wilson

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Concurrent Session Block 3

Debunking The Pseudo-Science Behind ‘Boy Brains’ And ‘Girl Brains’, Cordelia Fine

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Concurrent Session Block 2