Staff Profiles
Dr Margaret Forster
Research Director, Assessment and Reporting
BA (Hons), DipEd LaTrobe, MEd Studs Monash, PhD Melbourne
Dr Margaret Forster is the Research Director of the Assessment and Reporting Research Program at the Australian Council for Educational Research.
Dr Forster has extensive experience in the area of assessment and reporting, and works as a consultant nationally and internationally. She has direct experience in the development of support materials for teachers, and policy makers. She conceptualised and co-authored the first Developmental Assessment Resource for Teachers (DART English Upper Primary), and is co-author of the ACER Attitudes and Values Questionnaire, and the Assessment Resource Kit (ARK) materials. She also wrote the introductory overview to the Discovering Democracy Assessment Resources , and prepared the introductory materials for the Curriculum and Standards Framework II information kit that were distributed to all schools in Victoria (Progress Maps: A Teacher's Handbook).
Dr Forster has a particular research interest in the collection and use of achievement data to improve learning. She co-directed the National School English Literacy Survey (NSELS) and co-authored the NSELS report. She has written a number of general research based publications on the reporting of student achievement including A Policy Maker's Guide to International Achievement Studies, and A Policy Maker's Guide to Systemwide Assessment Programs.
Dr Forster also has extensive experience in providing advice at policy level. She is a member of the Values Education Project Advisory Committee, the Queensland Expert Advisory Group for the Curriculum, Teaching, Assessment and Reporting project, and the Victorian Ministry of Education Assessment and Reporting Taskforce. Recent national consultancies on the revision and implementation of assessment and reporting frameworks include work with the Western Australian Curriculum Council, the VCAA and Education Queensland. Recent international consultancies include work for the World Bank Institute, for the Peruvian Ministry of Education, for AusAID in Papua New Guinea and the Philippines, for UNICEF, for the Scottish Executive, for the Hong Kong Curriculum Development Institute, and for the Chilean Ministry of Education.