Projects
CARI leads ACER’s assessment reform effort through project-based initiatives in New Thinking, New Metrics, New Technologies and the provision of new assessment resources.
CARI's New Thinking projects are designed to share knowledge and ideas and raise awareness about assessment reform in schools and the broader community.
Assessment advocacy
The focus of assessment to improve learning is on understanding – by diagnosing in detail – where learners are in their learning and monitoring learning progress over time, and using this understanding to inform the best next teaching steps to take to support that learning progress.
Read more about Assessment advocacyNetworking/exemplary practices
ACER’s longstanding and ongoing support of assessment is evident in the range of assessment tools it develops that enable educators to monitor learning across the lifespan. ACER also develops a variety of professional learning courses, programs and research conferences, and publications.
Read more about Networking/exemplary practicesCommunicating student learning progress
ACER has investigated alternatives to the traditional ‘school report’ as a way of communicating the progress students make in their learning.
Read more about Communicating student learning progressAssessment Reform and Innovation samples
This project chronicled different schools’ assessment reform experiences, presented in web-based interactive timelines.
Read more about Assessment Reform and Innovation samplesCARI's New Metrics projects focus on improving how we monitor long-term progress in specific areas of learning.
Assessment of creativity
The purpose of this project was to investigate the assessment of creativity in schools.
Read more about Assessment of creativityImprovements to the described regions of the PAT scales
The focus of this project was on enhancing the descriptive elements of the PAT scales for two instruments:
- PAT Reading Comprehension, and
- PAT Maths
Assessment of general capabilities
The major activity of this project was to investigate ways of assessing the 21st-century skills of critical thinking, creative thinking and collaboration.
Read more about Assessment of general capabilitiesDisplaying and interrogating learning domains
ACER will investigate more effective ways of displaying and interrogating the structure of learning domains.
Read more about Displaying and interrogating learning domainsCARI's New Technology projects are dedicated to investigating how technology can continue to improve assessment and learning.
Computer Adaptive Testing
The goal of this project is to assess options, develop strategies and plans regarding research and use of adaptive methods in computer-based test delivery at ACER.
Read more about Computer Adaptive TestingUsing information from computer-based assessments to improve learning
The use of technology in assessment has become widespread. Initially, the gains in efficiency that result when scoring and reporting processes can be automated were seen as the primary advantage of this change of mode. It is increasingly being recognised, however, that an innovation of even greater importance is the potential of computer-delivered assessments to give previously inaccessible insights into learning processes.
Read more about Using information from computer-based assessments to improve learningAssessments in interactive digital learning environments
This project will investigate ways of using advances in technology to increase the information provided for learning and assessments in digital environments.
Read more about Assessments in interactive digital learning environments