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Assessing reading: How assessment can be used to target teaching and enhance understanding of reading comprehension
Get PDFThe skills demonstrated by a proficient reader are not easy to untangle. Current research acknowledges that reading comprehension is a highly complex area of ability, one that needs to be understood as the coordination of several integrated processes. Using example test questions and data, this presentation explores how assessment can help us make sense of reading comprehension in a way that curricula and commonly used teaching strategies cannot. Assessment is evidence that informs us about the skills involved in the reading process, how they relate to each other, and how they develop in complexity. When assessment is understood in this way, as much more than a tool to compare a student’s ability with that of their peers, it can be used to identify the actual skills individual students are consolidating and which specific steps will help their development
Teacher Development Multi-Year Study Series. Evaluation of Australia’s investment in teacher development in Lao PDR: Interim report 1
Get PDFThe Government of Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) is undertaking significant primary education reforms, supported by the Australian Government\u27s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) through its flagship Basic Education Quality and Access in Laos program (BEQUAL). The Australian Government has commissioned a study to investigate how the BEQUAL program is making a difference to improving teaching quality and student learning outcomes. This research is part of a multi-year study series undertaken by DFAT\u27s Education Analytics Service to investigate teacher and learning development initiatives in three countries: Lao PDR, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu. In 2019, the new curriculum for Lao language and other subjects was introduced for Grade 1 and is being phased in across all five primary grades. The new curriculum promotes teaching practices that support pedagogies focused on student-centred approaches, active learning, assessment of student learning progress, and a phonics approach to teaching reading. Teachers are being provided with teacher guides and other teaching and learning resources, and receive face-to-face orientation on the new curriculum. In BEQUAL-targeted districts, education support grants are also available to facilitate additional in-service support for teachers and principals. This study has provided the opportunity to investigate teaching quality and student literacy outcomes in Lao PDR over two rounds of data collection, with another planned for October 2022. The Baseline Report captured ‘state of play’ information in 2019 prior to major curriculum changes, as well as the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This summary provides an overview of findings and recommendations from the second year (2021) of the study, following two years of BEQUAL support for the implementation of the new Grade 1 Lao language curriculum
Greater insight for tertiary admissions decisions
No full textUsing the Special Tertiary Admissions Test (STAT) to assist with candidate selection has just become easier, following the addition of proficiency band descriptors
Infographic: From one teacher to another – reflecting and connecting
Get PDFIn our annual Teacher magazine reader survey, we ask you to share one piece of advice with a fellow educator. In this infographic, we share some of the responses we received from educators in India on the themes of reflecting and connecting.https://research.acer.edu.au/teacher_graphics/1180/thumbnail.jp
Teacher professional development for disability inclusion in low- and middle-income Asia-Pacific countries: An evidence and gap map
Get PDFIn the Asia‐Pacific region, around one‐third of the children who are out‐of‐school have a disability and given that teacher readiness and capability are key contributors for inclusive education, it is high time for a mapping of disability inclusive teacher professional development (TPD) interventions in this region. The key objective of this evidence and gap map (EGM) is to locate evidence on interventions for in‐service TPD focussing on education for the inclusion of students with a disability in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs) in the Asia‐Pacific region. A broad range of bibliographic databases and repositories were searched electronically to identify the evidence published between January 2000 and December 2021. Key search platforms included the British Education Index (BEI), Education Research Complete (ERC), Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), SCOPUS, 3ie Development Evidence Portal (Evidence Hub) and the Campbell Collaborations Systematic Reviews and EGMs portal (Better evidence for a better world). In addition, potential program evaluations/impact reports, reviews, case studies, and program descriptions/summaries were sought through ‘snowballing’ based on searching bibliographies and reference lists of papers located during the search process, as well as specific searches of relevant grey literature. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to contain sufficient details about TPD interventions that support early childhood educators and kindergarten to Year 12 teachers to understand the needs of students with disabilities and aid them to create inclusive mainstream classrooms and/or provide improved support for students with disabilities in special education settings. A total of 820 records were entered into the MS Excel file in which the entire data extraction process was managed. All records were screened against the predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data were extracted independently by two reviewers and any differences were resolved through consultations. All included studies and their characteristics were extracted from the MS Excel file and uploaded to the ACER server in.csv file format. The interactive, online EGM is available here: https://datavis.acer.org/gem/disability-inclusion-TPD/. Fifty studies from 16 countries out of the 41 LMICs in the Asia‐Pacific region were identified, whereby Thailand had the largest number of studies with evidence (7) followed by China, Vietnam, and India (5 each). Two main gaps in research about professional learning were identified. First, only three studies reported interventions aimed at supporting mental health among students with a disability. Second, no studies were found that reported on how teachers could support positive student behaviour. These gaps are important because research has persistently suggested that experiencing disability is an important risk factor for young people developing mental health conditions. This report illustrates the critical value of evaluating and publishing evidence from disability inclusive TPD interventions in LMICs, including any that are ongoing, or are components of highly resource intensive large‐scale education sector programs
Psychometric properties of the Dyadic Coping Inventory (DCI)
Get PDFA survey conducted by The Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics (Badan Pusat Statistik/BPS Indonesia) last year has found that the divorce rate in Indonesia had increased up to 53,50% compared to the data in 2020, and more than half of the divorce cases happened because of “unsolved conflicts between couples”. Out of various studies on marital or romantic relationships done internationally, it suggests that dyadic coping could be the protective factor in the relationship between stress and the couples’ well-being. According to a meta-analysis study held in 2015 along with systematic literature reviews published in 2019 and 2022 regarding the construct, the Systemic Transactional Model (STM) of dyadic coping proposed by Guy Bodenmann, as well as the instrument used to measure it, the Dyadic Coping Inventory/DCI (also developed from the same model), are considered the most frequently used model and instrument in assessing dyadic coping together with other related construct (e.g., relationship satisfaction). The Dyadic Coping Inventory has been translated into 25 languages and has been adapted in 14 countries. Unfortunately, this instrument had only been translated from English to Indonesian and had not been tested, specifically for its validity and reliability on the Indonesian population. The purpose of this study is to examine the psychometric property of the Indonesian version of Dyadic Coping Inventory. The study is conducted by following the International Test Commission (ITC) guidelines for translating and adapting tests (2017). A total of 104 participants were involved in this research (during pilot study). Results showed that the instrument has an overall high internal consistency (α = .93). Evidence for validity based on content and response processes were also acquired through experts’ judgement and cognitive interviews. Further studies should include a larger sample size to test the Indonesian version of DCI and perform a factorial analysis (validity based on internal structure).https://research.acer.edu.au/ical/1005/thumbnail.jp
The role of international large-scale assessments (ILSAs) in economically developing countries
No full textIncreasingly, economically developing countries are using large-scale assessments (LSAs) frequently to monitor progress toward the sustainable development goals for the 2030 education agenda. In this chapter, the two regional assessment programs, namely the Pacific Island Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (PILNA) and the South East Asia Primary Learning Metric (SEA-PLM), are discussed in terms of the key factors that contribute toward uptake of evidence from LSAs in the education policy-making cycle. The objective is to understand the applicability and usefulness of LSAs in these contexts
Review of the Australian Core Skills Framework and Digital Literacy Skills Framework and relevant assessment tools. Final report
Get PDFThis is the final report of a project commissioned in 2020 by the then Department of Education, Skills and Employment to review the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF) and Digital Literacy Skills Framework (DLSF) and tools available to support assessment using these frameworks. The review explored the development and history of the ACSF and DLSF, their use and application in the Australian context and examined features of selected international adult skills frameworks and curriculum. Through this desktop research and range of consultation activities with stakeholders, the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has investigated current use of the ACSF and DLSF and identified issues that indicate a need for framework reform or change. This report documents the findings from the review and proposes recommendations that will better position the frameworks to support agile responses to swiftly changing skill needs. The first main recommendation is to consider the Digital Capability Framework (when available) as a replacement for the DLSF. The second is to continue to maintain the ACSF as the pre-eminent Australian framework for language, literacy and numeracy (LLN)
Is it necessary to use two-way items? Testing the effects of using favourable and unfavourable items
Get PDFThe topic of ethnicity is a topic that is often discussed in research, especially psychology research. Considering that Indonesia is a country with many ethnicities, therefore, ethnicity is a very important and relevant topic to be discussed in many studies. In this regard, robust tests measuring ethnicity are needed to collect data and further the data can be validly interpreted. The purpose of this study was to psychometrically evaluate the effects of the method of using two-way items (favorable and unfavorable) on two scales, Ethnic Experience and Ethnic Identity. This evaluation will lead to an evaluation of possible new factors that may arise due to the use of two-way items. The approach used is the Multitrait Multimethod (MTMM), with Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), to test the four alternative models used. The results of this study indicate that two (CTCM, and CTUM) of the four proposed models have a satisfactory fit. This proves that there is indeed an effect from the method of using two-way items (favorable and unfavorable).https://research.acer.edu.au/ical/1014/thumbnail.jp
