The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) manages NAPLAN tests, the My School website publishes the results four months after completion and the numeracy NAPLAN test does not require students to write or explain the strategies used or how they developed an answer (Johnson, 2016: Perso, 2009). The NAPLAN test is problematic and “wicked” in many ways because it provides no evidence, instruction or pathway how to improve student outcomes, how to track student growth from test to test and does not demonstrate student's problem solving or thinking skills Johnson, (2016, p. 19). In 2018, the numeracy NAPLAN test is moving online as a replacement of paper based NAPLAN testing and according to the National Assessment Program (2016) it will provide better …show more content…
Teachers’ comments on the forum revealed low league tables do not take into account or reflect areas of low socio-economic status, account for students with English as a second language, diverse abilities, schools with limited resources, high teacher turnover rates and small class sizes in rural communities (Ballis, 2009). However, according to Gibbons (2017) a four year funded study to improve NAPLAN results at the Mountain View Adventist College involved all teachers in intensive professional development training through consistent, explicit instruction and implementing different teaching and learning strategies. The results found over 70 percent of student improved achievement in the 2016 NAPLAN test because students were more engaged in the content (Gibbons, 2017). This successful result was due to teachers introducing learning intentions, success criteria, modelling, discussions that offered learning expectations and stimulating engagement (Gibbons,
The Senate Standing Committee on Education and Employment (SSCEE, 2014) handed down its findings on the effectiveness of the National Assessment Program (NAP) in March 2014. While supporting the Australian governments’ ‘efforts to improve educational outcomes for all students’, they concluded that NAPLAN tests were not an appropriate measure for students where English is not their first language and students whose background was culturally diverse from mainstream Australia (SSCEE,2014 ).
The Australian Curriculum has been a 'long time coming', but its great that it is almost here now. The Australian Curriculum has been designed with some relation to Tyler and Skillbeck's models. It is suspected that theorists such as Piaget were also considered during the development. The Australian Curriculum relates to Piaget's stages of progression, with curriculum being designed for specific levels of maturation and development. With students of this generation, it was incredibly important that an updated, curriculum was to be designed so that it could facilitate the needs of the 21st century learners. This new generation of learners seem to be almost born with basic computer skills, so the ICT program has been completely redeveloped. The curriculum has also expanded to make way for Asian studies which will help students as they move into their careers. The Australian Curriculum has been developed to cover a broad range of topics, concerns and values that will be discussed throughout this paper.
The Australian Curriculum is fluid, ever-changing and highly politicised. There is constant debate surrounding what should, and should not be taught in Australian schools. The Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) Curriculum in particular, has undergone dramatic changes over the last few years. This essay will critically analyse two provocations relating to the HASS 7-10 curriculum, and some of the surrounding issues that HASS teachers contend with on a day to day basis. The first provocation, the purpose of Civics and Citizenship teaching is to teach about democracy, not for democracy, will be examined in relation to opinions regarding left-wing bias in the Civics and Citizenship curriculum, and the idea that the course teaches too much ‘for’
The development of a national curriculum for Australia is not a new endeavour (Marsh, 2010). The ideal is that national curriculum across Australia would mean that students are provided with a quality education that helps to shape the lives of the nations citizens and continue developing the productivity and quality of life within Australia. The Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA] have the task of developing and implementing a nationwide curriculum. ACARA (n.d.-c) claims have addressed needs of young Australians while considering that changing ways in learning and challenges will continue to shape students education in the future. A look at what the Australian Curriculum is, its purpose, structure and scope, learning theories and teaching processes and whether the curriculum has the capacity to meet the needs of 21st century learners will show that the initial construction of a national curriculum appears to be successful. However, the effectiveness of the Australian Curriculum will only be able to be evaluated in the future after implementation across the country.
In modern democratic society school curriculum has become a prioritised concern for many citizens. It is a key factor in the shaping of future generations and the development of society. Decades have lapsed and numerous attempts have been made to produce a national curriculum for Australia. In 2008 it was announced that the Rudd government in collaboration with State and Territories would produce a plan to move towards a national curriculum (Brady & Kennedy, 2010). To date this has been realised in the deliverance of the Australian Curriculum v1.2 which will be examined in this paper.
Birman, Beatrice F., et al. "State And Local Implementation Of The "No Child Left Behind Act." Volume VIII--Teacher Quality Under "NCLB": Final Report." US Department Of Education (2009): ERIC. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
The main concerns for most people, especially parents, are what can the students learn from the classes and how can they apply it to their lives. In some cases, people feel as though new methods of teaching the subject would bring better results, such as lower t...
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Teacher Follow-up Survey, Washington, DC, 2001.
As argued in “Making the Grade,” the No Child Left Behind Act seeks to reduce gaps in testing areas that have allowed kids to advance without having high-quality skills in subjects such as math and reading. By discovering what kids are slipping through the gaps in testing, it will be easier for schools to aid these students and make sure they are not left behind. Other main goals of this act include to find teachers who are not well educated in the subjects they are currently teaching, and to locate those schools who fail t...
One of the major foundations of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, a national law requiring public schools to distribute standardized tests at least once a year, is that schools may be sanctioned by the federal government as a result of poor test grades. Obviously, this threat places an extraordinary amount of stress on schools to do well on their exams and holds teachers and administrators more accountable. However, it also causes teachers to teach the test rather than their curriculum, allowing students to perform better on exams without actually understanding the tested material (Karp). Test-teaching has become so common that students may actually take classes helping them to improve test scores, and whole days of public school are spent teaching kids better and faster ways to eliminate wrong answers (Gallagher). Such usage of classroom time and faculty effort is by no means useful to any child?s education, and its pervasiveness is unacceptable.
Presents the results of a study on the effectiveness of computer-based integrated learning system (ILS) in schools in the United States. Subjects in which ILS is used; ILS' ability to track students' progress on learning activities; ILS' effectiveness in improving student learning; Underutilization of ILS in American schools; Potential of ILS to transform the classroom.
In conclusion, the initial intentions of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) were to close the achievement gap between low achieving students and schools and their counterparts; but have fallen short in many important aspects along the way. Teachers have become de-sensitized to the reasons they initially desired to be educators and have lost their vision of how to implement instruction due to standards of NCLB and the consequences for not meeting those mandated goals. Likewise, students must perform, many times, above their level in order to be labeled “adequate” by the federal government and their schools. In some cases, there is a disproportionate burden placed on schools, teachers, and students, all for the sake of what is federally deemed as average achievement.
Research in recent times implies that NAPLAN heavily influences the way teaching and learning is planned and executed in schools. Hughes (2003) refers to this type of accountability testing as backwash, explaining that teachers can too easily fall into the trap of simply “teaching to the test” in order for their students to achieve good results. Borlagdan (2014) claims that this phenomenon of teaching to the test can actually “distort” and “narrow” the content within the curriculum, by more time being spent in preparation for the test than actually moving through the content in the curriculum meticulously. Despite this research, ACARA’s info-graphic brochure clearly states that familiarisation is important, but drilling and excessive practice is unnecessary (ACARA, n.d). In addition, Barry McGaw, the chairman of ACARA defends that “NAPLAN takes o...
Everyone knows that when it comes to making a difference in a child’s academic and life achievements, their teachers play a large role. A teacher’s ability to relate to their students, and teach them to achieve both socially and academically contributes to how effective they are. What does it mean to be an effective teacher? Overall there seems to be an emphasis on teacher effectiveness related to how well their students are performing on standardized testing. As teachers we know there is more to being an effective teacher then just teaching our students based on tests. This paper will identify different definitions of an effective teacher along with how to assess teachers on being effective.
During the 2014-2015 school year, I observed first-hand different performing groups representing two campuses. Both campuses were located in the same district and had similar demographics with the exception of Title I status. Ironically, the groups were taught by spouses. The husband taught at a campus located in a better neighborhood where programs with a high level of student engagement. The wife’s campus was Title I, with a lower level of student involvement in activities. Both groups performed the same literature, had similar practice schedules and were taught in the same manner. The students from the lower income neighborhood did not see much value in extra practice and preparation for the competition. The results of the District Competition for these two groups, taught by spouses, showed that that group from the higher income neighborhood, scored significantly higher than the campus with the higher percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunch. Unfortunately the teacher of the Title I campus’s group left the campus at the year’s end because the students simply didn’t have a desire to produce higher