League Tables of Teachers Published

Posted on Friday September 3, 2010

A controversy has erupted in the United States over the publication of performance ratings of individual teachers. >> Read on...

Unlocking the Gates of School Segregation

Posted on Tuesday August 31, 2010

The children’s charity, Bernado’s, says that a complex and unfair school admissions system and school league tables are entrenching social segregation and education disadvantage in English schools. >> Read on...

Focus on Test Results Can Be Harmful to Student Learning

Posted on Saturday August 28, 2010

Students show greater motivation, are better behaved, are more likely to be independent and strategic thinkers, and achieve better results when teachers are not obsessed by grades. >> Read on...

Curriculum Matters as Well as Teachers

Posted on Wednesday August 25, 2010

The measurement of value added by teachers for the award of bonuses for increasing students’ test scores is likely to be confounded by curriculum effects. Some curriculum programs have a greater effect on student achievement than others according to a new study. >> Read on...

Measures of Value Added by Teachers and Schools Have Large Errors

Posted on Saturday August 21, 2010

High performing teachers and schools could miss out on proposed bonus payments while average teachers and schools are wrongly rated as highly effective because of large errors in measures of value added to student test results by teachers. >> Read on...

The Release of More Cane Toads

Posted on Thursday August 19, 2010

Cane toads that will destroy Australian education. A review of education policy initiatives by a former director of primary education in Queensland. >> Read on...

Media Release: Teacher Bonuses Fail to Improve Student Results

Posted on Tuesday August 17, 2010

The weight of research evidence is that teacher performance bonuses do not improve student results. Yet again, faith has ruled over evidence in the formulation of education policy. >> Read on...

Duels of Faith in Teacher Bonuses

Posted on Tuesday August 17, 2010

Both a Labor and a Coalition Government will implement teacher bonus schemes without regard to the evidence that cash bonuses for teachers have little impact on student achievement. Once again, faith rules over evidence in formulating education policy. >> Read on...

New School Results in England Show Students Were Drilled to Pass Tests

Posted on Saturday August 14, 2010

Primary school results just published in England provide an interesting insight on how standardised tests used for school accountability lead to inflated test scores and mislead about the school quality and progress in student learning. >> Read on...

Lessons from the US for Labor’s Cash Bonuses for Teachers and Schools

Posted on Friday August 13, 2010

Far from improving student achievement as Julia Gillard asserts, linking cash bonuses and teacher evaluation to student test scores is likely to narrow teaching and produce misleading and unreliable assessments of teachers. >> Read on...

Media Release: School Rewards Will Encourage Poaching and Cheating

Posted on Wednesday August 11, 2010

Rewards for schools which most improve their results will encourage them to cheat and rort their results, poach high achieving students from each other and discriminate against other students. >> Read on...

Competition Favours the Strong

Posted on Monday August 9, 2010

Competition between schools leads to a few winners and many losers. It exacerbates inequity and disregards the common good. It also fails to increase student achievement. >> Read on...

The New York Bubble Bursts

Posted on Friday August 6, 2010

The miraculous test results achieved in New York City in recent years were a mirage. The city’s test results have plummeted under new state standards implemented to stop test score inflation and bogus results. >> Read on...

Reducing the Achievement Gap Between Rich and Poor is a National Priority

Posted on Tuesday August 3, 2010

The massive achievement gap between rich and poor is the biggest challenge facing Australian education today. A huge funding effort is needed to transform our high quality, low equity education system into a high quality, high equity system. >> Read on...

War Declared on New York’s Phony Test Results

Posted on Sunday August 1, 2010

New York state education officials finally vow to end the phony test results in the state and New York City. >> Read on...

Abbott’s Education Rebate Will Give a Backdoor Funding Increase to Private Schools

Posted on Thursday July 29, 2010

The Coalition promise of a tax rebate on school fees will provide a backdoor funding increase and shift more students to private schools. It will further enhance privilege in education at the expense of greater equity. >> Read on...

Computers Widen Achievement Gap in Schools

Posted on Wednesday July 28, 2010

A new study finds that greater access to home computers and high speed internet reduces reading and mathematics achievement and increases racial and socio-economic achievement gaps. >> Read on...

Government Schools Lose from Government Funding of Private Schools

Posted on Tuesday July 27, 2010

A new study shows that government funding of private schools in Australia has increased socio-economic segregation between government and private schools and allowed private schools to improve school quality rather than reduce their fees. >> Read on...

‘Free Schools’ Will Increase Social Segregation

Posted on Sunday July 25, 2010

The creation of privately-operated, publicly-funded “free schools” in England is likely to increase social segregation without significantly improving student achievement, according to a leading academic. >> Read on...

New York Test Standards are Revealed as Too Low

Posted on Saturday July 24, 2010

New York’s amazing test results have been exposed as fraudulent in a study by researchers from Harvard and New York universities. Julia Gillard, take note. >> Read on...

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