International Developments (no.8) 2018

ISSN 1838-6172 No. 8 2018 In this issue Implementing large-scale assessments in education Innovation Super synthesis: What works in education for development Partner focus Improving learning outcomes in the Pacific and South Asia Policy Driving early childhood education quality in Indonesia Australian Council for Educational Research Australian Council for Educational Research The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) is one of the world’s leading educational research centres. Our goal is to support every learner, every learning professional, every learning institution and our learning society through our work. ACER has built a strong reputation as a provider of reliable support and expertise to education policymakers and professional practitioners since it was established in 1930. As a not-for-profit organisation, independent of government, ACER receives no direct financial support and generates its entire income through contracted research and development projects, and through products and services that it develops and distributes. national and international assessment programs for a broad range of international clients. ACER has been engaged in significant collaborative work with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as the leading partner in a consortium responsible for the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). ACER has experienced significant growth in recent years and now has more than 400 staff located in offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Dubai, Jakarta, London and New Delhi who are working on education projects across the world. ACER has official partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). ACER collaborates with UNESCO through the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the UNESCO Office in Bangkok on a variety of initiatives, including the development of empirically supported learning assessments for reading and mathematics, and associated tools and methodologies, that countries can use to effectively and appropriately monitor learning outcomes to inform educational policy. ACER provides research and assessment services, consultancy, support and professional development programs to governments and educational organisations in numerous countries. In addition, ACER develops, implements and evaluates regional, ACER also collaborates on a number of international development projects with organisations such as UNICEF, the World Bank, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the United Kingdom Department for International Development, contributing to educational evaluation and reform in a number of countries. Further, ACER is the International Study Centre responsible for the IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study and International Computer and Information Literacy Study, and jointly conducts the IEA Teacher Education Development Study with Michigan State University. ACER through its Centre for Global Education Monitoring (GEM) is tracking progress in the provision and quality of schooling through the systematic and strategic collection of data on educational outcomes, and factors that influence these. GEM aims to support improved policies, programs and practices in education and, ultimately, improved educational progress for all learners. ACER through its education and development program also supports Ministries of Education within the development sector to improve student learning. ACER’s education and development research program focuses on conducting and supporting research that aims to improve student learning in the development context. CONTENTS International Developments No. 8 2018 In this issue… Implementing large-scale assessments in education 04 Innovation International Developments is published by Australian Council for Educational Research 19 Prospect Hill Road Camberwell VIC 3124 Phone: +61 3 9277 5555 Australia Email: Website: www.acer.org Copyright © 2018 Australian Council for Educational Research Published May 2018 All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Copyright Act 1968 of Australia and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publishers. Editor: Steve Holden Design: ACER Creative Services Printed by: Allanby Press Photographic credits Cover and page 12, India Picture – Shutterstock Page 4, Chinnapong – Shutterstock Page 6, Sergey Uryadnikov – Shutterstock Page 8, SpeedKingz – Shutterstock Page 10, livcool – Shutterstock Page 14, Fabio Lamanna – Shutterstock Page 16, Derek Brumby - Shutterstock Page 18, Andrea Willmore – Shutterstock Page 20, Lukiyanova Natalia Frenta – Shutterstock Page 22, everything possible – Shutterstock ISSN 1838-6172 ABN 19 004 398 145 Super synthesis: Evidence of what works in education for development Evaluating the impact of teaching assistants 06 08 Partner focus Improving literacy and numeracy in the Pacific From access to quality: improving learning outcomes in South Asia 10 12 Policy Driving early childhood education quality in Indonesia What impact? Professional learning in Timor Leste Improving girls’ education in Malawi Latest from ACER international offices 14 16 18 20 In this issue... Implementing large-scale education assessments Prof Geoff Masters AO is CEO of ACER. 4 International Developments ACER is helping education researchers, policymakers and practitioners understand the issues related to the inception, design, implementation and reporting of large-scale education assessments, as Geoff Masters explains. A central question for governments and school systems around the world is what they can do to ensure that all students are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attributes necessary for effective participation in the future workforce and for productive future citizenship. To answer this question, countries require quality information on current levels of student achievement, the performances of subgroups of the student population − especially socio-economically disadvantaged students, Indigenous students and new arrivals − and recent trends in achievement levels within a country. Large-scale education assessments It is also important to understand how well a nation’s schools are performing in comparison with schools elsewhere in the world. Large-scale education assessments enable education policymakers, researchers and practitioners to investigate whether: • some school systems are producing better outcomes overall • some school systems have made improvements in achievement levels over time • some school systems are more effective in ameliorating the influence of socioeconomic disadvantage on educational outcomes • some school systems do a better job of developing th (...truncated)