Data analysis

Professor Geoff Masters AO, Dr Michele Bruniges AM and Sir Michael Barber gathered last month to discuss assessment reform and innovation. Here's a taste of what they had to say.

It’s a popular idea – educational assessments are either ‘summative’ assessments of learning or ‘formative’ assessments for learning. But just how fundamental is this distinction? And is it truly useful?

Staff-developed research programs are key to the curriculum improvement process at this school.

Professor Geoff Masters discusses recent developments in assessing student learning and how they will shape the future of assessment.

Across many professional areas there has been a surge of interest in Big Data, but what's the relevance of Big Data in education? Dr Michael Timms discusses.

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?

A commonly proposed strategy for raising achievement levels in schools is to specify high expectations or ‘standards’ of student performance and to hold students, teachers and schools accountable for achieving those standards. On the surface, it seems like an eminently sensible strategy. But is it?

By the turn of the century, the observation had been made in many countries that substantial increases in expenditure on schools had failed to deliver measurable improvements in student performance. But just how effective are incentives as an improvement strategy?

Educators at Melbourne's Mill Park Secondary College are getting more out of Year 12 exam data. There, teachers use it to identify patterns and inform future practice.

Educators have a range of data sources at their fingertips. At this Tasmanian school, the emphasis is on interpreting this data and putting it to good use.