The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) is one of the world's leading educational research centres. ACER's mission is to create and promote research-based knowledge, products and services that can be used to improve learning across the life span. This annual report describes ACER's milestones and accomplishments for the 2016-2017…

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is one of the most influential assessments of student achievement conducted at regular interval every four years. It provides reliable data about the mathematics and science achievement of students in grade 4 and grade 8, as well as data that informs instruction, curriculum…

Different approaches are employed when teaching environmental issues. One approach, termed the "environmental scientific approach," perceives environmental education as part of life or earth sciences, providing factual, scientific knowledge. Another approach, termed the "environmental sustainability citizenry approach",…

The International Large-Scale Assessment (ILSA) is a rapidly growing field in education which has gained considerable attention of stakeholders across the globe. Historically, ILSA emerged from the developed context which has drifted to the developing contexts in a short span of time due to globalisation. Pakistan has participated in ILSA (i.e.,…

The Philippines implemented its educational reform commonly known as K to 12 Program in 2013 for Filipino learners' holistic development and global competitiveness. One indicator of the reform's effectiveness is the country's performance in international large-scale assessments like the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study…

The OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030 (E2030) project's overall goal is that of looking to the future in terms of how school curricula should evolve given the technological advances and other changes that societies are now facing. Towards that end, the E2030 project centres on the idea that education needs to equip students with the…

The King Abdullah Public Education Development Project or the "Tatweer" education reforms were created to improve the quality of teaching and learning in Saudi Arabia. It was a response to develop generations of Saudis who would contribute to the economic well-being of the nation. The Saudi Tatweer education reforms have been important…

Scholars of the global phenomenon of international student assessments (e.g., PISA, TIMSS) have paid little attention to the ways in which student users of these material objects are "configured" in nations that are located at the periphery of knowledge production. Our analysis takes the United Arab Emirates as its case study to capture…

School systems around the world are adopting more intellectually ambitious academic content in the hopes of improving their educational productivity. In the United States, these efforts have required significant changes to teachers' instructional practices, and increased attention to teachers' formal and on-the-job professional learning…

International surveys have served as agents of change for the introduction of reforms in curricula worldwide. The Israeli Ministry of Education set a goal of raising Israel's ranking in international surveys so that Israel will be among the 10 leading countries in the Program for International Student Assessment and Trends in International…

This study statistically investigates the characteristics of the intended curriculum for Japanese primary science, focusing on the learning content. The study used the TIMSS 2011 Grade 4 Curriculum Questionnaire data as a major source for the learning content prescribed at the national level. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to determine the…

The widespread use and availability of information and communication technologies (ICT) has greatly impacted how nations conceptualize innovation and the ways formal mass education can be used to advance socio-political and economic agendas. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have increasingly focused on the roles of science and…

Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act, supplanting No Child Left Behind and placing responsibility for public school improvement squarely upon each of the 50 states. With the federal government's role in school accountability sharply diminished, it now falls to state and local governments to take decisive action. Even though most…

This article charts some of the most notable ways in which the science curriculum has changed over the past 50 years and identifies the influence of members of the Association for Science Education (ASE) in both projects and policy developments. The world is different from that of 50 years ago but there are continuing issues about the teaching,…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to determine the effect of lesson study on teachers' mathematical understanding. This study reviewed a three year program called SEISMIC which implemented lesson study within a school district. The goal was to increase teacher and student understanding of mathematics' Teacher understanding of…