Indigenous Education Commons^™

Common Misconceptions And Instructional Best Practices For Teaching Fractions To Students In Grades Three, Four, And Five, Dan Fairchild

Mathematics Graduate Theses

This research paper will identify common misconceptions related to the teaching and learning fractions for students in grades three, four, and five. Different fraction subconstructs will be identified and instructional best practices will be identified for the teaching and learning of comparing fractions, ordering fractions, adding fractions, and subtracting fractions.

Creating An Effective School For Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Students, Gina Milgate, Brian Giles-Browne

Indigenous Education Research

In Australia, the Collegial Snapshot (CSS) process has been a culturally safe, engaging and empowering way for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and their parents and carers to share their insights and ideas about what makes an effective school. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents and carers through the Collegial Snapshot Process identified six key variables that make an effective school for their child including the Cultural Environment, Quality of Teachers, Community Engagement, Student Health and Wellbeing, Curriculum and School Leadership. The wealth of data collected from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and parents and carers complemented …

Making A Difference : Improving Outcomes For Indigenous Learners, Michele Lonsdale

Indigenous Education Research

This publication highlights ACER’s contributions to Indigenous Educational research over the past decade. This contribution has included research, policy analysis, program evaluation, professional development, and the development of assessment tools and other resources.

Reconciliation Action Plan, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Indigenous Education Research

ACER’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) was prepared by a Working Group including the Chair of the Advisory Committee on Indigenous Education (ACIE). This document has been endorsed by Reconciliation Australia. The RAP demonstrates ACER’s commitment to the reconciliation process and identifies how ACER intends to contribute to the RAP priorities over the next few years. The focus is on how ACER intends to work to create a culture of respect, to build more effective relationships and to create improved employment opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Footprints In Time : Who Am I? And Renfrew Word Finding Vocabulary Test : Report On Wave 2 Data, Sarah Buckley, Catherine Underwood, Nola Purdie

Indigenous Education Research

This report presents the results of administration of the Who Am I? and the Renfrew Word Finding Vocabulary Test for the LSIC Wave 2 data collection in 2009. Who am I? is a developmental assessment that requires the child to write their name, copy shapes, write letters, numbers and words in a small booklet, with simple instructions and encouragement from the interviewer. Who am I? is not language dependent and is suitable for children with limited English. The assessment takes about 10 minutes to complete and is suitable for preschool children and children in the first two years of …

Starting School : A Strengths‐Based Approach Towards Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Children, Stephanie Armstrong, Sarah Buckley, Michele Lonsdale, Gina Milgate, Laura Bennetts Kneebone, Louise Cook, Fiona Skelton

Indigenous Education Research

This paper highlights the need for a strengths-based approach to school readiness for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, in order to recognise the skills, cultural knowledge and understandings they already have when they transition to formal learning. The study, a joint project by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA), reviews the literature and uses a strength-based analysis of information from Footprints in Time: The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) to examine Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s abilities and knowledge at 4-6 years of age. …

Review Of The Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage : Key Indicators Report, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Indigenous Education Research

In May-June 2012, the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) conducted a review of the Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage (OID): Key Indicators report on behalf of the Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision. Stakeholder feedback was invited through several different means: an email survey, telephone interviews, participation in small group discussions and written submissions. Public sector users of the OID report made up a large proportion of the stakeholders who contributed to the review. Indigenous and non-Indigenous stakeholders across a wide range of organisations participated in the consultations.

The review found a range of different stakeholder views in …

How To Reach All Types Of Learners Through The Use Of Manupulatives In Grades Three, Four, And Five, Cadie Fairchild

Mathematics Graduate Theses

This paper is an examination of research concerning the use of manipulatives with third, fourth, and fifth grade mathematics instruction. The research discusses the power of child discovery, stages of representation, using manipulatives to support learning, eliminating manipulatives prematurely, and eliminating negative stereotypes linked to manipulative use. A major concern of teaching with manipulatives is the knowledge of the teacher. An educator’s role is to provide the best learning opportunities for students. Research reviewed for this paper indicates frequent hands on activities using manipulatives. They need to be aware of the many learning stages and how to address each individual …

Case 6: Armidale High School, Nsw - Backtrack Community Partnership, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Tender Bridge

Armidale High School is a comprehensive, partially selective high school in Armidale, NSW. The school has about 90 Aboriginal students out of a total school population of just over 600. The school has a range of community partnerships that have been initiated to cater for a wide variety of student career transition programs. Armidale High School (AHS) and BackTrack Youth Works (BYW) have had a strong partnership since 2006, when BackTrack first started working with young Indigenous people in Armidale. Since BackTrack began running programs at AHS, there has been a documentable increase in the number of young people who …

Growing Effective Cld Teachers For Today’S Classrooms Of Cld Children, Gayla Lohfink, Amanda Morales, Gail Shroyer, Sally Yahnke

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Using a case study design, this investigation examined the effective teaching characteristics of nontraditional, culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) student teachers placed in rural, elementary schools with high populations of Latino/a students. Data collected reflected high percentages of effective teaching characteristics in multiple domains with specific indicators reflective of consistent teaching over time. A discussion of these findings considered aspects within the distance-delivery model that facilitated the CLD participants’ development of effective teaching and noted (1) consistent leadership, (2) explicit teacher instruction within CLD school settings, and (3) the strong cohesive nature of the CLD participants’ cohort as positively affecting …

Read To Me I Love It! Evaluation Of The Better Beginnings Program For Remote Aboriginal Communities, Lennie Barblett

Research outputs 2012

Better Beginnings for remote Aboriginal communities started in 2010 with the aim of bringing literacy resources to families with children up to five years of age in remote communities. It was developed as part of the Better Beginnings program which is a universal program for children and their families that aims to develop literacy skills through fostering a love of books and language. A finding in the larger evaluation of this project (Barrat-Pugh, Rohl & Statkus, 2010) found that there was a need for targeted strategies and resources to better support Aboriginal families and hence Better Beginnings for remote Aboriginal …

Literature Review Relating To The Current Context And Discourse Of Indigenous Tertiary Education In Australia, Michele Lonsdale, Greta Rollo, Jenny Wilkinson, Ali Radloff, Stephanie Armstrong, Gina Milgate, Jenny Trevitt

Indigenous Education Research

This review outlines some of the themes that have emerged in the growing global discourse of Indigenous education in the higher education sector. The past decade and a half have seen increased numbers of Indigenous students and academic staff in universities, a proliferation of publications exploring Indigenous issues in the academy, and heightened interest in the nature and meaning of Indigenous knowledge and studies.

This review examined information provided by 22 Australian universities to gain a picture of the research fields and topics that are attracting most interest from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander graduates and academics. It also reviewed …

Enhancing Education, Sheldon Rothman, David Slattery, Sarah Buckley, John Ainley

Indigenous Education Research

The ‘Little children are sacred’ report concluded that improving the quality of education provided the key to solving, or at least ameliorating, the incidence of child sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities. The report identified poor educational outcomes as being at the heart of the exclusion of Aboriginal people from confidently participating in either their own culture or mainstream culture.

Two years after the release of the ‘Little children are sacred’ report and after the introduction of the NTER, data were collected on the health and development of all Australian children. Data from the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) …

Evaluation Of The Sporting Chance Program, Michele Lonsdale, Jenny Wilkinson, Stephanie Armstrong, David Mcclay, Sharon Clerke, Jocelyn Cook, Kanat Wano, Robert Simons, Gina C. Milgate, Meredith Bramich, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Program monitoring and evaluation

The objective of the Sporting Chance Program is to encourage improved educational outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students (boys and girls) using sport and recreation. Such outcomes may include an increase in school attendance, strengthened engagement with school and improved attitudes to schooling, improved achievement in learning, increased retention to Year 12 or its vocational equivalent and greater parental and community involvement with the school and students’ schooling. The program comprises two elements:

• School-based Sports Academies (Academies) for secondary school students; and

• Education Engagement Strategies (EES) for both primary and secondary school students.

The purpose of …

Indigenous Education: Finding Face, Making Space, Having Place., Lorna Williams

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

This keynote presentation uses an Indigenous storytelling methodology to relate the success factors that institutions, policy makers, administrators, teachers and communities can attend to in making changes to support the achievement of Indigenous learners. It draws on what Indigenous students, families and communities themselves have attributed their educational success. The article serves as a witness to their stories.

Key Factors Influencing Educational Outcomes For Indigenous Students And Their Implications For Planning And Practice In The Nt., Jonathon Carapetis, Sven Silburn

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

This presentation considers the intrinsic link between health and education and the benefits of collaborative research for improving the education and life outcomes of Indigenous children. The Council of Australian Governments’ Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage framework and the Closing the Gap generational strategy have resulted in significant new funding through a range of national partnership agreements to improve Indigenous child health, development and education. The focus of these reforms is consistent with the human development paradigm now advocated by international agencies such as UNICEF, WHO and OECD. They are also informed by recent advances in scientific knowledge regarding the developmental origins …

Creating Indigenous Classrooms Of Tomorrow Today: What Children Will Need To Know And How To Create It?, Lester-Irabinna Rigney

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Engagement or participation in education is a key factor affecting the life chances of all Australians. What will this look like in the future for Indigenous children who have an overall lower level of participation in education than non-Indigenous Australians? 21st century schooling for Indigenous students in the next decade will look very different to today. This paper discusses the characteristics of curriculum, policy and pedagogy for future schooling of Indigenous children. It uses national and international literature to explore 21st century learning that seeks to revolutionise the way we educate teachers and students. It highlights that Indigenous students live …

Educational Success: A Sustainable Outcome For All Indigenous Students When Teachers Understand Where The Learning Journey Begins., Jeannie Herbert

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

The statistics for educational outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students continually reinforce the notion of ‘failure’, of a specific cohort of students who are ‘not coping’, of the majority of teachers at a loss concerning what to do. Overall, it is a picture of doom and gloom, clearly demonstrating that education in this country has failed to live up to its promise for all students. In this presentation, research outcomes will be used to construct a different picture, a paradigm for a better future built on a strong foundation of sustainable education outcomes for the descendants of this …

Literacy And Numeracy Learning: Lessons From The Longitudinal Literacy And Numeracy Study For Indigenous Students, Nola Purdie, Kate Reid, Tracey Frigo, Alison Stone, Elizabeth Kleinhenz

ACER Research Monographs

In 2000, ACER commenced the Longitudinal Literacy and Numeracy Surveys for Indigenous Students (ILLANS), which set out to track the development of English literacy and numeracy skills in a group of Indigenous students from school entry through the early years of schooling and beyond, to establish a data-rich picture of educational opportunities for Indigenous students. Phase 1 of ILLANS collected data from Indigenous students at 13 schools across Australia that had been nominated by education systems as examples of good practice in education for Indigenous students. The first three years of the study were reported in the monograph Supporting …

Final Report : The Deadly Awards Nomination And Voting System Review And Research Project, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer), Michele Lonsdale

Indigenous Education Research

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) was commissioned in late 2010 by Vibe Australia to investigate the current nomination and voting system for the Deadly Awards and identify ways in which the current system could be strengthened. The Deadlys are in their 17th year. Beginning as a music award, the categories have expanded over the years to include sport, the arts, community awards and nominations for the Hall of Fame. Given their longevity and the debate that ensued after last year’s awards, it is timely to review the current nomination and voting system. The Deadly Awards are intended to …

Improving Educational Outcomes In The Northern Territory : Preliminary Advice To The Northern Territory Department Of Education And Training, With A Particular Focus On The Ongoing Improvement Of Students’ Literacy And Numeracy Achievements, Geoff N. Masters

School and system improvement

The primary focus of this review is on strategies for improving literacy and numeracy outcomes in the Northern Territory. Clearly, the role of school education is much broader than the development of students literacy and numeracy skills, but these are foundational skills on which almost all other school learning is based. It is also clear from research that low levels of literacy and numeracy by the middle years of school are associated with lower school completion rates and a range of post-school outcomes, including higher levels of unemployment, lower lifetime earnings, and poorer health outcomes. Although the primary focus of …

Analysis Of Year 12 Or Certificate Ii Attainment Of Indigenous Young People – Stage 1 : A Report Prepared For The Council Of Australian Governments Reform Council, John Ainley, Sarah Buckley, Adrian Beavis, Sheldon Rothman, Alice Tovey

Indigenous Education Research

The purpose of this paper is to assist the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Reform Council to analyse performance information relating to the Year 12 or Certificate II attainment of Indigenous young people and to understand better variations in performance across jurisdictions. As part of these analyses variations over time within each jurisdiction have been reported. The analyses use existing data sources. No new data have been collected. There are four strands to this work:

1. a statistical overview of educational attainments and participation;
2. multivariate analyses of influences on attainment;
3. a review of literature intended to inform an understanding of trends …

Content Fundamentals For A Tv Show Aimed At Indigenous Children Aged 3 To 6: A Literature Review And Discussion Paper, David Norris

Indigenous Education Research

The following literature review was undertaken to establish a foundation for the discussion of potential content (and the issues pertaining to the implementation of that content) for an educational television program aimed at Indigenous children aged 3 to 6. Specifically, the literature was read with an eye to identifying the most effective and relevant learning styles, teaching techniques and subject matters that will successfully engage, support and inform Indigenous children and their families in the transition from home/pre-school to school, and onwards into their early years of schooling.

Guatemala Rising, One Girl At A Time: Findings From The 2009–2010 Abriendo Oportunidades Evaluation, Nicole Cushman

Adolescents and Young People

This report documents the process, key results, and lessons learned during the evaluation of the 2009–10 cycle of the Abriendo Oportunidades program. Abriendo is one of very few youth-serving programs in Guatemala that specifically targets one of the country’s largest and most vulnerable and underserved population segments; namely rural indigenous girls and young women ages 8–24. The program divides this critical demographic into age-appropriate cohorts and works with them to build their health, social, and economic assets as key strategies to improve health and education outcomes, improve gender equality and promote community development—thereby contributing to breaking the poverty cycle that …

Using Television To Improve Learning Opportunities For Indigenous Children, Michele Lonsdale

Indigenous Education Research

This report is based on a review of the literature on the importance of early childhood learning, the nature of Indigenous learning needs, and the role of educational television programs in improving learning outcomes for preschool-aged children. The report is intended to provide an evidence base for a proposal to develop an educational television program aimed primarily at Indigenous children from three to six years. (In this report the term ‘Indigenous’ refers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.) There is an extensive body of research that shows the critical importance of early childhood in children’s learning and development, including for …

School Attendance And Retention Of Indigenous Australian Students, Nola Purdie, Sarah Buckley

Indigenous Education Research

Engagement in education is a key factor affecting the life chances of all Australians, and for Indigenous Australians in particular. Higher levels of educational attainment improve employment opportunities, are associated with higher income and promote participation in all societal activities. This paper evaluates the quality of available evidence regarding strategies for improving school attendance, with emphasis on Australian research. It examines the causes and consequences of non-attendance; measures of attendance and retention; examples of existing programs and initiatives; different program approaches, such as sanctions, incentives, and cultural relevance; what constitutes good evidence; what works in attendance and retention programs; and …

Contextual Factors That Influence The Achievement Of Australia’S Indigenous Students: Results From Pisa 2000–2006, Lisa De Bortoli, Sue Thomson

OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Australia

Results from international programs that assess the skills and knowledge of young people have indicated that Australia’s Indigenous students perform at a significantly lower level than non- Indigenous students. An in-depth comparison of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students’ performance on the Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) across three cycles is provided in an accompanying volume to this report, while the current report provides an understanding of how various aspects of students’ background and psychological constructs relate to each other and to student performance. Chapters 2 through 5 each focus on a different group of potential influences on the performance of …

An Interdisciplinary Study Of Africa For Tens : The Dogon Of Mali, Hope Salas Gray

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This thesis presents a Social Studies curriculum guide on Africa, specifically, the Dogon people of Mali. It contains a detailed outline of possible curricular units on The Geography of Africa and Mali; Traditional Cultural Practices of the Dogon; and the Dogon Today. Related lesson plans explore ways to teach and learn about the Dogon through age-appropriate primary and secondary sources, especially by reading Dogon stories, looking at Dogon art, architecture, and ceremonies, and listening to Dogon music. These resources are discussed at length in the Annotated List of Classroom Resources section of this thesis. The curriculum also includes a step-by-step …

Successful Sustainable Literacy Practice For Indigenous Students, Nola Purdie

Indigenous Education Research

The author discusses current approaches to the literacy education of Indigenous students within the context of best practice literacy education for all students. Issues addressed include: Literacy and disadvantaged groups; Literacy programs for Indigenous Australian Students; Teachers and literacy learning; Assessment and measurement of literacy learning; and good literacy curriculum.

The Achievement Of Australia's Indigenous Students In Pisa 2000-2006, Lisa De Bortoli, Sue Thomson

OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Australia

The three-yearly PISA assessments provide an opportunity to monitor the performance of Australian students in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy. In particular, the assessments allow us to examine the performance of particular equity groups; to look at how well particular groups of 15-year-old students, approaching the end of their compulsory schooling are prepared for meeting the challenges they will face in their lives beyond school. A special focus for Australia has been to ensure that there is a sufficiently large sample of Australia’s Indigenous students so that valid and reliable analysis can be conducted. This has been achieved in each …