Pre-service teachers (PSTs) need sound Knowledge About Language (KAL), both for their own professional communication and for their teaching practice. In the longer term, enhanced KAL will benefit our graduates in their implementation of the Australian Curriculum. This paper reports on work with First Year PSTs at one Australian university. We…

Large-scale assessment programs, such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), employ item response theory (IRT) and marginal estimation methods to estimate student proficiency in specific subjects such as mathematics, science, or reading. Each of these…

The Program for International Student Assessment Young Adult Follow-up Study (PISA YAFS) is a follow-up study with students who participated in PISA 2012 in the United States. The study is designed to measure how performance on PISA 2012 relates to subsequent measures of outcomes and skills of young adults on an online assessment, Education and…

In October 2020, the Canadian Teachers' Federation (CTF/FCE) released the "Canadian Teachers Responding to Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- Pandemic Research Study. National Summary Report. Overview" (ED610460). That document is an important baseline for understanding the impacts of teaching during a pandemic, and supports needed for teacher…

Every year, the BC Student Outcomes Program collects feedback from former students who took post-secondary programs at a participating B.C. post-secondary institution. Student feedback is essential to maintain quality and relevance in the education system. The former Diploma, Associate Degree, and Certificate students are surveyed within two years…

Since its introduction in 2017, NFER has been contracted by Ofqual to develop, deliver and analyse the results of the National Reference Test (NRT) in English and maths. The NRT is administered annually and shows if student performance in English and maths at GCSE level has changed from year to year. The NRT results are based on analysis of data…

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is an international comparative study of student performance in reading literacy at the fourth grade. PIRLS 2016 marks the fourth iteration of the study, which has been conducted every 5 years since 2001. New to the PIRLS assessment in 2016, ePIRLS provides a computer-based extension to…

2019 was the third year that the Teaching, School, and Principal Leadership Practices Survey (TSP) was available for free use by schools. The questions in this survey draw on a strong body of evidence about effective practices. The TSP asks teachers and principals to rate how often a practice occurs or how well the practice is done. This 2019…

The aim of the research reported here was to get some idea of the accuracy of grade boundaries (cut-scores) obtained by applying the 'similar items method' described in Bramley & Wilson (2016). In this method experts identify items on the current version of a test that are sufficiently similar to items on previous versions for them to be…

Several of the key measures in this year's Student Academic Experience Survey have moved in a positive direction, but these movements have tended to be relatively small. Value-for-money perceptions have improved, but not statistically significantly, while there has been no change in the proportion who would choose the same course and institution…

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is an international comparative study designed to measure trends in mathematics and science achievement at the fourth and eighth grades, as well as to collect information about educational contexts (such as students' schools, teachers, and homes) that may be related to student…

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is an international comparative study designed to measure trends in mathematics and science achievement at the fourth and eighth grades, as well as to collect information about educational contexts (such as students' schools, teachers, and homes) that may be related to student…

The chapters in this online volume comprise the TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center's technical report of the methods and procedures used to develop, implement, and report the results of TIMSS 2019. There were various technical challenges because TIMSS 2019 was the initial phase of the transition to eTIMSS, with approximately half the…

After two demanding years for everybody in higher education, and particularly for students, it is encouraging to see that in most parts of the UK, undergraduates are beginning to see better value-for-money, and fewer students are reporting poor or very poor value from their academic experience. With much more frequent 'face-to-face' teaching,…

Each year the National Reference Test (NRT) reports the proportions of students achieving at or above three key GCSE grades in English and mathematics. The NRT is therefore uniquely placed as a Key Stage 4 assessment which compares performance directly at ability level, to contribute to the evidence on the impact of disruption to education due to…