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52 stories
Week 12: School-community partnerships
NAB Schools First helps learning communities become well resourced and passionately committed to improving outcomes for all learners.
The NAB Schools First awards are designed to promote and recognise effective partnerships between schools and their local communities. ACER’s research is showing how strong school-community partnerships improve outcomes for students.
‘Our focus is on capacity building,’ explains Sharon Clerke, Project Director of NAB Schools First at ACER. ACER has developed the criteria and application guidelines, evaluated the first three years of the project and undertaken extensive research into school-community partnerships. ACER sends individual feedback letters to every school that submits an application, addressing how to improve partnerships and how to get more out of them. Whether a school wins an award or not, participation has a positive effect. There are many schools that might not otherwise have thought about developing a partnership before finding out about NAB Schools First.’
The aim, Sharon says, is to bring resources, people, knowhow and networks together so schools become central in the community. ‘NAB Schools First is rewarding school-community partnerships that bring the community’s expertise into the school and is giving recognition to teachers, community groups and businesses whose common goal is to improve educational outcomes,’ she says.
The awards program evolved from ACER’s commitment to helping school communities, particularly those in disadvantaged areas, to achieve their educational goals. ACER and the not-for-profit Foundation for Young Australians took their idea for a program that would recognise excellence in school-community partnerships to NAB and from this partnership evolved the national awards program.
‘Capacity building is central to the program,’ explains Sharon. ‘ACER was keen to develop a program that would enable school and community skills and expertise to be pooled in the interests of improving student outcomes.’
ACER’s research into the awards and the evaluation of the program, Sharon says, has also shown that school-community partnerships lead to positive student outcomes. ‘From our analysis of the 2009 Impact Award winners,’ she says, ‘there’s a distinct correlation between school-community partnerships and improved educational outcomes in terms of academic and vocational outcomes, and wellbeing and engagement,’ and that’s a win for everyone involved.
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Week 52: State of the art psychometric and statistical analysis
Week 51: Assessing civics and citizenship
Week 50: International research into teaching and learning
GOAL 1
Learners and their needs
every learner engaged in challenging learning opportunities appropriate to their readiness and needs
GOAL 2
The Learning Profession
every learning professional highly skilled, knowledgeable and engaged in excellent practice
GOAL 3
Places of learning
every learning community well resourced and passionately committed to improving outcomes for all learners
GOAL 4
A Learning Society
a society in which every learner experiences success and has an opportunity to achieve their potential
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Pursuing Quality and Equity through Evidence
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