Assessing end-of-school attainment

Is there a ‘best’ way to establish the levels of knowledge, understanding and skill that students have attained in a subject by the end of Year 12

Measuring and rewarding school improvement

There is now a widely held view that the most effective strategy for improving countries’ educational performances is to improve the day-to-day work of schools. This view follows several decades of significant increases in government expenditure on school education in developed countries, often with little or no accompanying evidence of improvements in the quality or equity of educational provision. A number of countries have introduced incentives – both rewards and sanctions – in an attempt to ‘drive’ improvements in the work of schools. Many of these incentive schemes have followed the model adopted in business of specifying and measuring desired outcomes, holding employees accountable for delivering those outcomes through a system of rewards and/or sanctions, and leaving it to employees to decide on the best strategies to maximise the desired results. Two decades of experience in the implementation of incentive schemes of this kind in the United States were reviewed recently. The review committee concluded that the benefits of incentive programs that hold schools accountable for student outcomes had been ‘quite small’ and that the research evidence on whether such schemes are capable of producing meaningful increases in student achievement was ‘not encouraging’. Equally concerning was the committee’s finding that incentive schemes sometimes distort the work of schools. At a fundamental level, the theory of action underpinning incentive schemes of this kind is now being questioned. At the same time, there is growing questioning of the appropriateness of the business model adopted by outcomes-based incentive schemes. This paper argues for the use of ‘practice-based’ measures of school improvement to complement ‘outcomes-based’ measures. Given that the ultimate purpose of rewards for school improvement is to improve practices and processes in schools, it seems logical to use evidence of improved practices and processes in making judgements about school improvement. This discussion paper uses judgements made as part of one Australian education system’s school review processes to explore the feasibility of developing ‘practice-based’ measures of school performance and improvement. During 2010, each of the 1257 schools in this system was evaluated on eight different aspects of school practice. For each aspect, practices were judged as Low, Medium, High or Outstanding. Preliminary analyses suggest that useful practice-based measures could be constructed from judgements of this kind

Educational measurement: Assessment Resource Kit.

Educational measurement is the process of estimating students\u27 locations (abilities) on a measurement variable from their responses to a set of items. Educational measurement is one in a series of magazines in the ACER Assessment Resource Kit (ARK). It contains five chapters: 1. What is \u27measurement\u27?; 2. Aspiring to measure; 3. A model for measuring; 4. Mapping variables; 5. Reporting measures.https://research.acer.edu.au/ark/1001/thumbnail.jp

Building a world-class learning system

This study sought to understand how five jurisdictions – British Columbia, Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong and South Korea, which have all performed unusually well in international achievement surveys over the past two decades – are approaching school education and its transformation. Geoff Masters describes key aspects of the learning systems these jurisdictions have established, comments on how they are now redesigning their learning systems for the future, and discusses insights into what may be required for any jurisdiction to perform well on measures of the kind currently used in international surveys

Against the grade: in search of continuity in schooling and learning

Learning is enhanced when learning opportunities are matched to individuals\u27 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\u27s levels of progress; if they identify individuals\u27 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 performance standards. Issues addressed in this article include: variability within grades, condition for learning, classroom structures, standards-based reforms, achieving continuity, deep learning, shared maps of learning, assessment for learning, flexible learning arrangements, and monitoring growth

Building a world-class learning system: Insights from some top-performing school systems

The result of a multi-year study, this book explores how five school systems - British Columbia, Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong and South Korea - have been rethinking and reforming their schools systems. It addresses questions including: What policies need to be in place for every child to experience an engaging and supportive learning environment that motivates not only high performance but a desire to keep learning? What do students really need to know and be able to do to thrive in a changing world? How can systems engage in ongoing improvement while also cultivating innovation? The book provides a framework for looking at learning systems comprehensively, with chapters focused on system aspirations; curriculum and assessment; student, teacher, and leader support; and the ecosystem that supports learning

Fair and meaningful measures? A review of examination procedures in the NSW Higher School Certificate

In September 1997 the New South Wales government introduced a number of significant reforms to the Higher School Certificate (HSC). The broad objectives of the \u27new\u27 HSC, which was implemented for the first time in 2000-01, are to increase the rigour and quality of the HSC curriculum; ensure HSC marks fairly reflect the standards achieved by students; provide more informative reports of students\u27 HSC achievements; and enhance the chances for more equitable educational outcomes. Although the new HSC incorporates reforms of both HSC curricula and methods of assessing and reporting student achievement, the focus of this review is on new HSC assessment and reporting procedures and, in particular, on the procedures used in 2001 to set examinations, mark student responses and report student results

Reimagining the purpose of assessment

Assessment is commonly understood as the process of judging how well students have learnt what they have been taught. It comes at the end of a sequence that begins with a curriculum or course syllabus. Teachers are expected to deliver this body of specified content, students are expected to learn it, and assessment is the process of judging and grading students on how well they have learnt what teachers have taught. This is a common view of assessment among students, parents and many teachers. I will argue in this presentation that this traditional understanding of what it means to learn successfully is no longer serving us well. It results in many less advanced students falling further behind in their learning, being written off as poor learners, and eventually disengaging from school. It also fails to challenge and extend some of our most advanced students, resulting in less progress than they are capable of making. The alternative is to use assessment to monitor learning – that is, to establish and understand where learners are in their long-term learning progress; to evaluate growth over time; and to provide teachers, students, parents, school leaders, system managers and governments with quality information to promote further learning. Shifting the focus from judging and grading to monitoring would be a significant change in assessment practice with the potential to better support successful learning

International Achievement Studies: Lessons from PISA and TIMSS

In early December 2004, the results of two international studies were released providing the most recent evidence we have on how levels of school achievement in Australia compare with international standards. ACER\u27s chief executive Geoff Masters compares the results and outlines lessons we can learn from the findings

Using Research to Advance Professional Practice

This paper discusses quality in professional practice - whether as an engineer, accountant or orthopaedic surgeon - and how it depends on expert knowledge of the field, a deep understanding of underlying principles, accumulated experience in the practice of the profession, a familiarity with recent advances in the professional knowledge base, and mastery of the best available techniques and tools. Teaching qualifies as a profession to the extent that it requires the application of specialised knowledge and skill developed through research and high-level education and training. Quality in teaching practice depends on familiarity with recent advances in the professional knowledge base, and mastery of the best available techniques and tools. The author identifies and discusses a number of categories of professional knowledge that applies to development of the teaching profession