International Developments (no.5) 2015

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS ISSN 1838-6172 No. 5 2015 Partner focus Measuring learning growth in a world of universal education Policy Assessments to support quality teaching and learning Innovation The cure for early grades assessment difficulties? Take a tablet 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 policy makers 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. ACER has experienced significant growth in recent years and now has more than 340 staff located in offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Dubai and New Delhi who are working on education projects across the world. 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, 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 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 (DFID), 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 (ICCS) and International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS), and jointly conducts the IEA Teacher Education Development Study (TEDS) with Michigan State University. ACER in 2013 established four strategic centres, each tasked with leading research and development in a key area of ACER’s work. One of these, the 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. CONTENTS International Developments International Developments is published by Australian Council for Educational Research 19 Prospect Hill Road Camberwell VIC 3124 Phone: (03) 9277 5555 Email: Website: www.acer.edu.au Copyright © 2015 Australian Council for Educational Research Published February 2015 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: Camten Graphics Photographic credits Cover and page 4, De Visu – Shutterstock Page 6, karelnoppe – Shutterstock Page 10, Tashatuvango – Shutterstock Page 14, De Visu – Shutterstock Page 18, meaofoto – Shutterstock No. 5 2015 In this issue… Data to inform policy Innovation The cure for early grades assessment difficulties? Take a tablet 06 Partner focus Measuring learning growth in a world of universal education 10 Policy Assessments to support quality teaching and learning Snapshot ISSN 1838-6172 ABN 19 004 398 145 04 Current international projects 14 18 In this issue… Data to inform policy The ACER Centre for Global Education Monitoring supports the monitoring of educational outcomes worldwide. Ray Adams explains how the Centre’s systematic and strategic collection of data on educational outcomes, and factors related to those outcomes, can be used to inform policy aimed at improving educational progress for all learners. Professor Ray Adams is the Director of ACER’s Centre for Global Education Monitoring and a Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne. 4 International Developments ACER has established four centres to consolidate and enhance its position as an international leader in several key areas of expertise. The Centre for Global Education Monitoring (GEM) is one of these centres. The core aims of GEM are: to strengthen the capacity of national systems to implement educational assessments, and use the results in policy development; to conduct international assessment programs; to participate in the shaping of international learning goals; to develop and maintain indicators of educational outcomes; and to report on and analyse international educational outcomes. In recognition of the importance of the GEM mission, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) became a founding partner of GEM in July 2014, when DFAT and ACER signed a three-year partnership agreement. DFAT’s support includes a $1.5 million grant that will help to enhance the effectiveness of the Australian Government’s development assistance in the education sector through GEM’s efforts to improve the such a way that student achievement can be benchmarked, tracked across grades and over time, and compared within countries and between countries. Strengthened assessment systems draw on background data to understand the contextual factors that affect student achievement. Strengthened assessment systems implement assessment programs that facilitate continuous internal capacity building, and also seek to build their capacity by drawing on external expertise when necessary. GEM is working with DFAT to achieve the goals of the partnership in three focus areas. The first and central focus area is system strengthening for learning improvement, recognising that countries and education systems vary in their technical capacity to gather, process, analyse and interpret data in support of the review and development of educational policy. GEM will be working with education systems in: designing data collection activities; developing and implementing survey based assessment and reporting programs; and analysing, interpreting and disseminating assessment data. availability and qu (...truncated)