In this issue:

• What makes a good school?
• Assessing students’ social and emotional development
• The Australian Language Certificates
• ACER UPDATE

Following recent comments by Prime Minister Howard on factors he believes have contributed to the increase in enrolments in private schools in Australia and media coverage of this issue that followed, ACER's Chief Executive Professor Geoff Masters was invited to submit an opinion article for the Brisbane Courier-Mail on the characteristics of outstanding schools. The article, which was published on 22 January 2004 is reproduced

Continue reading »

Increasingly, parents and the wider society expect that schools educate students to reflect on and develop their core values. ACER has three survey programs that can assist schools to assess the quality of the values education they offer their students. The questionnaires reveal students' views of themselves and their world. They also assess the effect schools are having on their students' social, emotional and spiritual development.

Continue reading »

Registrations will open in March for the 2004 Australian Language Certificates (ALC) program, which celebrates and encourages the learning of Languages Other Than English (LOTE) in schools. The program is an initiative of the Australian Multicultural Foundation, which has provided financial support for the Certificates over the past thirteen years. It is administered and funded by ACER. A key aim of the program is to motivate students to continue learning a language by providing them with recognition of their achievements.

Continue reading »

 

Masters appointed College president

ACER chief executive Geoff Masters has commenced a 2-year term as President of the Australian College of Educators (ACE). During his term Professor Masters says he intends to place special emphasis on advancing the five objectives of the College, which are to provide a voice for the profession; to promote professional standards; to recognise and encourage excellence in practice; to support professional learning; and to raise the status of the profession) and on building the College membership.

 

iAchieve at home now available

During January ACER launched a new online assessment service for parents and students to use in the home. The iAchieve at home website currently provides assessment materials in English and mathematics suitable for children in Years 3 to 10.   These materials can be used to evaluate a child's progress and to identify areas of strength and weakness: information that complements teachers' reports.   It is recommended that students participating in the iAchieve at home program complete a test at the beginning and towards the end of the school year. The first test is available now at www.iachieveathome.com.au

 

Future teachers project

ACER's Teaching and Leadership research program has a new project entitled Future Teachers Project - Phase 1. The Victorian Institute of Teaching has asked ACER to:

• design an instrument for surveying the perceptions of beginning teachers and their employers about the effectiveness of current teacher education models in Victoria;
• analyse the findings;
• report on changes that stakeholders believe should be made to teacher education programs to better prepare future teachers; and
• report on practical steps that could be taken to ensure that future teaching graduations have the desired knowledge and skill.

ACER staff will working closely with the VIT's Accreditation team. The project is due to be complete in April.

 

VicRoads Consultancy

As part of the ongoing monitoring of the novice driver tests in Victoria, Vic Roads has requested ACER to review the test data from the last 12 months.