Authentic digital representation of creative works in education: addressing the challenges of digitisation and assessment. This project will investigate the digitisation and marking of portfolios for the purposes of summative assessment in the visual arts and design senior secondary school courses. The aim is to enhance moderation, compare between media and course contexts, compare methods of marking, and generally increase the authenticity of the assessment.
Performance-based assessment of professional standards for school leaders. Descriptions of school principals' professional standards are common in the English speaking countries. These standards, however, are rarely accompanied by adequate methods for making judgements about performance against the standards.
The project will apply both substantive and modern test theory innovations to construct scales, develop test items, and operationalise and verify scoring rubrics to demonstrate assessabl ....Performance-based assessment of professional standards for school leaders. Descriptions of school principals' professional standards are common in the English speaking countries. These standards, however, are rarely accompanied by adequate methods for making judgements about performance against the standards.
The project will apply both substantive and modern test theory innovations to construct scales, develop test items, and operationalise and verify scoring rubrics to demonstrate assessable variation in leaders' performance within a standards framework. To enhance performance, these outcomes and the variation in accomplishment that leaders may be expected to display, will be made available to assessors, leaders and aspiring leaders as characteristics of accomplished performance.
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Improving teacher assessment using exemplars and online moderation. This project aims to assess the dependability of teacher judgement using psychometric scaling and online moderation. The project will use an innovative approach to connect achievement standards and judgement-practice for middle-year students in Australian education system. Expected outcomes of the project include the development of scaled work samples exemplifying A-E standards of achievement, refined methods for the consistency ....Improving teacher assessment using exemplars and online moderation. This project aims to assess the dependability of teacher judgement using psychometric scaling and online moderation. The project will use an innovative approach to connect achievement standards and judgement-practice for middle-year students in Australian education system. Expected outcomes of the project include the development of scaled work samples exemplifying A-E standards of achievement, refined methods for the consistency and comparability of assessment decisions, and a new approach to moderating teacher judgements. This project should provide significant benefits in building teachers’ assessment capabilities, shaping policy and teacher preparation.Read moreRead less
Outcomes-focused Learning Environments, Affective Outcomes and Achievement Standards in Senior School Classes in Western Australia. Given the controversy in the media about outcomes-focused education and the acute lack of research into its implementation and effectiveness, this research is timely and useful. It could have far-reaching implications for educational systems about how to effectively create outcomes-focused learning environments and whether educational standards are being maintained. ....Outcomes-focused Learning Environments, Affective Outcomes and Achievement Standards in Senior School Classes in Western Australia. Given the controversy in the media about outcomes-focused education and the acute lack of research into its implementation and effectiveness, this research is timely and useful. It could have far-reaching implications for educational systems about how to effectively create outcomes-focused learning environments and whether educational standards are being maintained. It will provide information about how teachers can use action research, involving feedback from students, to guide the improvement of learning environments. Training opportunities will be provided for one Master's and two doctoral students.Read moreRead less
Investigating the feasibility of using digital representations of work for authentic and reliable performance assessment in senior secondary school courses. Nationally, school curricula are increasingly focused on performance outcomes, such as technology literacy, because of the need for a highly skilled workforce. The study aims to provide credible assessments of these outcomes to ensure that they become an integral part of the delivered curriculum and in so doing better meet the needs of a di ....Investigating the feasibility of using digital representations of work for authentic and reliable performance assessment in senior secondary school courses. Nationally, school curricula are increasingly focused on performance outcomes, such as technology literacy, because of the need for a highly skilled workforce. The study aims to provide credible assessments of these outcomes to ensure that they become an integral part of the delivered curriculum and in so doing better meet the needs of a diverse set of students and enhance school retention with the ensuing economic and social benefits to the students and society. A capacity to conduct reliable assessments around agreed standards will also further the national curricula consistency agenda.Read moreRead less
Maintaining a precise, invariant unit in state, national and international educational assessment. School achievement testing is a high stakes activity for state and national governments, not just for school students. Significant educational policy decisions turn on comparisons of test results over time, and among states and nations. These decisions rest on assumptions about the validity and precision of national testing. In particular, current measurement systems assume that assessment scales h ....Maintaining a precise, invariant unit in state, national and international educational assessment. School achievement testing is a high stakes activity for state and national governments, not just for school students. Significant educational policy decisions turn on comparisons of test results over time, and among states and nations. These decisions rest on assumptions about the validity and precision of national testing. In particular, current measurement systems assume that assessment scales have common units. Empirically, it is clear that many factors can compromise this assumption, making it rarely justified. This study will serve the national interest by building the theory and technology necessary to solve this problem.Read moreRead less
Maintaining invariant scales in state, national and international level assessments. Large scale assessments involve comparisons between countries, states within a country, and within these over time. For many reasons, identical items cannot be administered to every student. Nevertheless, the items must operate invariantly across groups. The Rasch models, which have invariance as an intrinsic property, are powerful in checking for such invariance. This project brings the basic research of the ....Maintaining invariant scales in state, national and international level assessments. Large scale assessments involve comparisons between countries, states within a country, and within these over time. For many reasons, identical items cannot be administered to every student. Nevertheless, the items must operate invariantly across groups. The Rasch models, which have invariance as an intrinsic property, are powerful in checking for such invariance. This project brings the basic research of the Chief Investigators to the industry partners to study, apply and document ways in which violations of Rasch models and different data collection formats are reflected as changes of scale, and how these might be controlled both statistically and empirically.Read moreRead less
Innovative measurement approaches to optimise the comparability of large-scale and high-stakes performance assessments. Over 1.2 million Australian school children participate in national and high-stakes state assessments each year. This project aims to produce improved and novel methods for assessing students using open-ended tasks so that educators can more accurately compare students’ achievements and track their progress. In turn, this aims to support decision makers to enable better educati ....Innovative measurement approaches to optimise the comparability of large-scale and high-stakes performance assessments. Over 1.2 million Australian school children participate in national and high-stakes state assessments each year. This project aims to produce improved and novel methods for assessing students using open-ended tasks so that educators can more accurately compare students’ achievements and track their progress. In turn, this aims to support decision makers to enable better educational outcomes. The investigators aim to refine a rubric used in the National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) so that Writing assessments are as accurate and comparable as possible. Methods also aim to be designed to enable more accurate and comparable assessments of Australian children in areas not covered by NAPLAN such as History and The Arts.Read moreRead less
DEVELOPING CREATIVE THINKERS THROUGH THE ARTS - A longitudinal and comparative mapping of student learning in an innovative Arts programme. Recent curriculum reforms which integrate learning areas, increase community participation and emphasise learning rather than teaching were driven by industry's demand for school-leavers who demonstrate creative initiative. Monitoring student progress however relies on domain-specific outcome statements. This project monitors students? progress towards crea ....DEVELOPING CREATIVE THINKERS THROUGH THE ARTS - A longitudinal and comparative mapping of student learning in an innovative Arts programme. Recent curriculum reforms which integrate learning areas, increase community participation and emphasise learning rather than teaching were driven by industry's demand for school-leavers who demonstrate creative initiative. Monitoring student progress however relies on domain-specific outcome statements. This project monitors students? progress towards creative competencies as they are fostered by an integrated Arts programme. We will map how K-10 students in 120 AWESOME Festival project classes develop critically and creatively over three years. Complex innovative data-collecting requires the development of interactive evaluative software. Theoretical findings on arts learning and appropriate thinking skills will be presented in an academic book, Re-Thinking Thinking.
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Measuring the effectiveness of specialist science enrichment programs. Australia faces critical problems in science education with student attitudes to science in decline and a shortage of science teachers. We also face significant problems in indigenous education. This project will determine the ability of science enrichment centres to change student attitudes and to motivate them towards science using exciting and innovative new education facilities. Results will provide valuable data to allo ....Measuring the effectiveness of specialist science enrichment programs. Australia faces critical problems in science education with student attitudes to science in decline and a shortage of science teachers. We also face significant problems in indigenous education. This project will determine the ability of science enrichment centres to change student attitudes and to motivate them towards science using exciting and innovative new education facilities. Results will provide valuable data to allow future funding priorities to be optimised.Read moreRead less