[Catalist] School Mathematics and Science Achievement in Australia

[Michael McGarry]

Greetings Science Colleagues,


We all should now know that there has been a 20-year decline in school mathematics and science achievement in Australia as measured by TIMSS and PISA testing. The measured decline is absolute and comparative, with students in a number of overseas countries now outperforming students in Australia?


ACER URL 1: https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/geoff-masters/article/20-year-slide-in-maths-and-science-learning <https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/geoff-masters/article/20-year-slide-in-maths-and-science-learning>
ACER URL 2: http://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1023&context=ozpisa <http://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1023&context=ozpisa>
Assessment and Reporting in Years F to 10 in Australian Schools


“… How (do) most students experience learning progress in, say, mathematics at school.” “Students are grouped with their age peers and a mathematics curriculum is developed for each year of school. The role of teachers is to deliver this year-level curriculum to all students. At the end of each year, students are assessed and graded (using A to E or equivalent) on how well they have achieved the curriculum expectations for their year level. Those who demonstrate most of the year-level expectations receive high grades; those who demonstrate relatively few receive low grades.”


“The reality in each year of school, however, is that the most advanced mathematics learners are typically five to six years ahead of the least advanced learners. As a result, there is enormous overlap in the distributions of mathematics achievement in different years of school. The most advanced students in Year 7 have significantly higher levels of mathematics proficiency than the average Year 10 student, and the least advanced students in Year 10 have significantly lower levels of mathematics proficiency than the average Year 7 student.”


ACER URL 3: https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/geoff-masters/article/promoting-long-term-learning-progress <https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/geoff-masters/article/promoting-long-term-learning-progress>
Assessment and Reporting in Years 11 and 12 in Australian Schools


“For many students, assessment in the senior secondary school culminates in, and is dominated by, the ATAR. In other words, for many students, senior secondary assessments primarily result in a ranking, the purpose of which is to allow tertiary institutions to select prospective students. Because the focus is on attainment upon completing school, there has been little focus on using assessments to monitor learning progress across the senior years. And because, for many students, the ultimate goal is a percentile rank, there has been little interest in describing and understanding what individuals know, understand and can do upon completing school. In the senior secondary school, assessment in the interests of learning tends to take second place to assessment for the purposes of grading, ranking and selecting.”


ACER URL 4: https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/geoff-masters/article/reform-and-the-senior-secondary-school <https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/geoff-masters/article/reform-and-the-senior-secondary-school>
Yearly Achievement Standards and Science Understanding Content Descriptors


Question 1: Can ACARA’s Yearly Achievement Standards and their S-U Content Descriptions be used to ‘map’ a student’s long-term progress in Mathematics, and in Science?


Answer: NO


Schools could use ACER Certificates in Mathematics and Reading with PAT Tests.


ACER URL 5: https://www.acer.org/academy/certificates <https://www.acer.org/academy/certificates>
ACER URL 6: https://www.acer.org/pat <https://www.acer.org/pat> [Mathematics and Science and Reading]


Question 2: Why has there been a 20-year decline in school mathematics and in school science achievement in Australia?


Best Wishes,


Michael John McGarry

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