Wednesday, 29 Oct 2025
Education systems work with an increasingly diverse groups of learners. Yet, traditional approaches to testing in schools have often emphasised ranking or categorising students, which can limit the insights available to teachers. Adaptive testing is one approach that can provide a more detailed understanding of where each student is in their learning, and what they need next to progress.
Recognising diverse learners
Inclusive education often focuses on meeting the needs of students who require additional support. It can also take into account learners who are progressing quickly, high-achieving or gifted, and would benefit from extended challenge.
While the terminology varies across systems, the challenge is similar - broad categories such as ‘pass/fail’ or ‘above/below’ average may not fully capture the complexity of student learning.
Assessment approaches that acknowledge this range can help teachers see a fuller picture of student learning.
How adaptive testing works
Adaptive testing typically begins with a common set of items (questions) and adjusts the difficulty level as students progress. A student who answers correctly may move on to more challenging items, while a student who encounters difficulty may receive less complex ones. In this way, the assessment adapts to the learner by providing personalised test pathways, which in turn helps to provide a more accurate, clearer view of their current level of understanding.
This approach draws on Item Response Theory (IRT), a statistical framework that considers both the learner and the question. Rather than focusing only on the number of correct answers, IRT looks at how students respond to questions of varying difficulty, and how these responses might reflect their underlying skills.
In classrooms, this information can support teachers to:
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identify students who may need additional support,
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recognise learners who may be ready for greater challenge, and
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plan lessons that respond to a wider range of learning needs.
Applying adaptive approaches in schools
Adaptive testing is now used across classrooms in Australia, with our long-standing PAT program, internationally with our Progressive Achievement for International Schools (PAIS) program, and in the Middle East, India and Malaysia with the International Benchmark Tests (IBT). All are available across key domains and help schools track progress over time.
These assessments are delivered digitally and provide instant reporting, allowing teachers to review performance at the item level, compare cohorts and highlight areas of strength and need, all while gaining robust insight into each student, individually.
From classrooms to systems
The value of adaptive assessment lies not only in the insights it offers about individual learners, but also in how these can be used at different levels of the education system. For teachers, timely information can guide differentiation and targeted support in the classroom. For school leaders, a clearer picture of progress across cohorts and subjects can inform curriculum planning, identify where resources are needed, and track the impact of interventions.
At a system level, such insightful measures of progress can also contribute to equity goals by highlighting patterns across schools or regions. This kind of evidence can help policymakers monitor how effectively diverse learners are being supported over time.
Making assessment meaningful
The usefulness of assessment also depends on how its results are interpreted and applied. Professional learning, collaboration among staff, and alignment with curriculum goals all play a part in turning assessment data into meaningful impact. Adaptive testing is not a replacement for teacher judgement or classroom observation, but instead, complement these practices by offering a detailed and accurate understanding of student learning.
As a not-for-profit research organisation with more than 95 years of experience, ACER continues to focus on developing evidence-based tools and approaches that help schools and systems respond to diverse learning needs and improve learning.