BACKGROUND Description of the condition Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of neurodevel... more BACKGROUND Description of the condition Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of neurodevelopmental disorders. Children with ASD typically have difficulty with communication and social interaction, and may be overly dependent on routines, place extreme foci on items, and/or extremely dislike changes to their environment (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental-5, American Psychiatric Association, 2013). These symptoms appear on a continuum, with some children experiencing only mild symptoms, while others experience quite severe symptomatology. The reported prevalence of children diagnosed with ASD has increased over time. While the current rate of prevalence in the United States (US) is the same as the rate reported in 2012 (1 in 68 children), it is a significant jump from the 1 in 88 children reported in 2008; and the 1 in 150 children reported in 2002 (Autism Speaks, 2016; Centers for Disease control and Prevention, 2016). This growth in prevalence has also been seen in other countries. For example, the Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC) conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that in 2009, about 64,400 people had been diagnosed with ASD, and in 2012, this had increased to 115,400 (ABS, 2016). More recent population-level data have been collected by the ABS (see ABS, 2016), however it is currently not publicly available. Where possible, up-to-date prevalence rates will be included in our review. In addition to increasing numbers, recent research shows that the number of students with ASD attending mainstream schools is also increasing (Zainal & Magiati, 2016). The exact reason for the increase in prevalence is unclear, but may be related to changes in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) 1 , as well as increased awareness and better recognition of less severe cases that were otherwise previously diagnosed as anxiety, bipolar, or other related disorder. ASD often co-occurs with other neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders, including Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), learning difficulties, depression and anxiety. Anxiety symptoms have been noted in individuals with ASD since Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger first described this disorder more than 70 years ago (Lyons & Fitzgerald, 2007). Recent research continues to show that those with ASD exhibit significantly higher rates of anxiety symptoms when compared to (i) typically developing individuals (
In this lead article three emergent problems in the analysis of cross-national survey data are ra... more In this lead article three emergent problems in the analysis of cross-national survey data are raised in a context of 40 years of research and development in a field where persistent problems have arisen and where scholars across the world have sought solutions. Anomalous results have been found from secondary data analyses that would appear to stem from the procedures that have been employed during the past 15 years for the estimation of educational achievement. These estimation procedures are briefly explained and their relationships to the observed anomalies are discussed. The article concludes with a challenge to the use of Bayesian estimation procedure, while possibly appropriate for the estimation of population parameters would appear to be inadequate for modelling scores that are used in secondary data analyses. Consequently, an alternative approach should be sought to provide data on the performance of individual students, if a clearer and more coherent understanding of educational processes is to be achieved through cross-national survey research.
1. Background In January 2011, AusAID Scholarships Section commissioned a study to synthesise the... more 1. Background In January 2011, AusAID Scholarships Section commissioned a study to synthesise the existing data that have been collected on AusAID scholarships and subsequently develop a consistent methodology for collecting future data. The current body of information was generated by student surveys and tracer studies that have been overseen by both the Scholarships Section and by AusAID Country Posts.
This article examines the factors fostering and inhibiting student achievement in Germany and Spa... more This article examines the factors fostering and inhibiting student achievement in Germany and Spain at the 15-year-old level in the OECD Programme on International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2000. Both countries performed significantly below the OECD average not only in Reading but also in Mathematics and Science on this occasion. Since the two countries are similar in average levels of student achievement, it is of interest to consider whether similar patterns exist in the ways in which factors operate to influence student achievement in these two countries. Preliminary analyses were carried out with PLSPATH and subsequent two-level models were analysed separately using Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM) software. Some similar factors influenced reading achievement in the two countries, but substantial differences in explaining reading achievement were also found. Much of the difference between the two systems arise from the large components of variance in Germany at the school ...
Contents: Review of economic literacy world-wide - Gender differences in Economics - Content anal... more Contents: Review of economic literacy world-wide - Gender differences in Economics - Content analysis of Economics curricula - Levels of economic literacy - Economics as a school subject - Economic Literacy Survey - Queensland 1998 - The internet and data collection - Literacy benchmarking using Rasch scaling - Student's attitudes towards economics - Successful teaching strategies in Economics - School resources and Economic literacy - Policy recommendations - Hierarchical linear models - Path analysis.
Two internationally comparative studies of reading were conducted by the International Associatio... more Two internationally comparative studies of reading were conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), namely the Reading Comprehension Study in 1970/71 and the Reading Literacy Study in 1990/91. Eight educational systems participated in both studies at the 14- year-old level, namely Belgium (French), Finland, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, and the United States of America. The information on student, teacher, and school variables that were common to both studies provided the core evidence used for analysis in this thesis. The major results are described. A general factor, reasoning, could be identified as pertaining to the processes involved in reading comprehension at the 14-year- old level. The items that were administered on both occasions could be brought to a common scale using the one- parameter Rasch model. While the reading performance of students in Finland and Hungary improved between 1970/71 and 1990/91, students in Belgium (French), Italy, The Netherlands, New Zealand and the United States performed at a lower level in the Reading Literacy than in the Reading Comprehension Study. The performance of Swedish students remained stable over time. The two-level HLM analyses indicated that the average proportion of variance across countries at each level did not change greatly between 1970/71 and 1990/91 with approximately three-quarters of the variance occurring at the between-student level and one quarter of the variance at the between-group level. The three- level HLM analyses showed that 14-year-old students from Finland, Italy, and New Zealand achieved at a significantly above cross- country average while Hungary and the United States performed below average in 1970/71. In the three-level analysis of the Reading Literacy data, Finland emerged as the only country achieving above the grand mean while students in Belgium (French), The Netherlands, and Sweden performed below the cross- country average in 1990/91. It is important to note that these differences were observed after other variables in the three- level model such as socio- economic background of schools and reading materials in students' homes had been taken into consideration.
Life Education Australia's Being Healthy Being Active project involved the collection of stud... more Life Education Australia's Being Healthy Being Active project involved the collection of student voice related to the concept of school transition and the move from primary to secondary school. Students from around Australia participated in 82 focus groups, or student forums, to discuss their own positive experiences, as well as perceived needs and challenges related to their move to secondary school. Section One of this report is a literature review and environmental scan on student transition from primary to secondary school. Section Two describes the methods used to design and administer the Student Forums. This includes a description of the target population and sampling methods as well as the details of the achieved sample: 82 forums with 444 students across 15 schools. Section Three outlines the findings of the Student Forums. Section Four offers conclusions and recommendations to inform the next stage of the project, designing a suite of resources and training for teacher...
Not much is known about the ways in which assessment data have actually been used in education po... more Not much is known about the ways in which assessment data have actually been used in education policy to date. Understanding the role of assessments in informing system-level decision-making is a first step towards helping stakeholders improve the design and usefulness of assessments. Moreover, this understanding can help to further discussions about how assessment data can best be used to inform policy and practice and to evaluate the effectiveness of policy reforms. This paper presents results from a systematic review of 68 studies that examined the link between participation in large-scale assessment programs of students’ learning and education policy in 32 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Included studies either identified specific cases of assessment results being used by policymakers to inform education reform in their systems, or identified specific cases when assessment results had no impact on education policy in specific education systems. The review classified the av...
This article examines the factors fostering and inhibiting student achievement in Germany and Spa... more This article examines the factors fostering and inhibiting student achievement in Germany and Spain at the 15-year-old level in the OECD Programme on International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2000. Both countries performed significantly below the OECD average not only in Reading but also in Mathematics and Science on this occasion. Since the two countries are similar in average levels of student achievement, it is of interest to consider whether similar patterns exist in the ways in which factors operate to influence student achievement in these two countries. Preliminary analyses were carried out with PLSPATH and subsequent two-level models were analysed separately using Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM) software. Some similar factors influenced reading achievement in the two countries, but substantial differences in explaining reading achievement were also found. Much of the difference between the two systems arise from the large components of variance in Germany at the school ...
This paper presents results from a longitudinal study of sojourner students which was conducted a... more This paper presents results from a longitudinal study of sojourner students which was conducted at an international university in Germany from 2004 to 2007. The study followed a cohort of undergraduate students from the first week of their studies to their graduation. Participants completed three questionnaires: the Portrait Value Questionnaire (Schwartz et al., 2001), the Study Process Questionnaire (Biggs, 1987b), and the Student Background Questionnaire (Matthews, Lietz, & Darmawan, 2007). Structural Equation Modelling was used to examine how personal values influenced students’ learning approaches and how these, in turn, were related to students’ achievement. It was also examined how robust these relationships were once gender and discipline area (i.e., Social Sciences or Natural Sciences) were included in the models and whether or not they changed over time. Results showed that specific combinations of values were related to each learning approach. Certain consistency of these ...
Research methods and designs were also a focus at Central Queensland University in Rockhampton, w... more Research methods and designs were also a focus at Central Queensland University in Rockhampton, where she was a Senior Lecturer in Research Methods in the Faculty of Business and Associate Dean Research from 1997 to 2000. Dr Lietz has also worked outside academia, as a consultant to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). From 2000 to 2002, she was Assistant Project Director at International Survey Research (then ISR, now Towers-Watson) in London, a firm that conducts employee satisfaction surveys for globally as well as nationally operating companies.
BACKGROUND Description of the condition Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of neurodevel... more BACKGROUND Description of the condition Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of neurodevelopmental disorders. Children with ASD typically have difficulty with communication and social interaction, and may be overly dependent on routines, place extreme foci on items, and/or extremely dislike changes to their environment (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental-5, American Psychiatric Association, 2013). These symptoms appear on a continuum, with some children experiencing only mild symptoms, while others experience quite severe symptomatology. The reported prevalence of children diagnosed with ASD has increased over time. While the current rate of prevalence in the United States (US) is the same as the rate reported in 2012 (1 in 68 children), it is a significant jump from the 1 in 88 children reported in 2008; and the 1 in 150 children reported in 2002 (Autism Speaks, 2016; Centers for Disease control and Prevention, 2016). This growth in prevalence has also been seen in other countries. For example, the Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC) conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that in 2009, about 64,400 people had been diagnosed with ASD, and in 2012, this had increased to 115,400 (ABS, 2016). More recent population-level data have been collected by the ABS (see ABS, 2016), however it is currently not publicly available. Where possible, up-to-date prevalence rates will be included in our review. In addition to increasing numbers, recent research shows that the number of students with ASD attending mainstream schools is also increasing (Zainal & Magiati, 2016). The exact reason for the increase in prevalence is unclear, but may be related to changes in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) 1 , as well as increased awareness and better recognition of less severe cases that were otherwise previously diagnosed as anxiety, bipolar, or other related disorder. ASD often co-occurs with other neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders, including Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), learning difficulties, depression and anxiety. Anxiety symptoms have been noted in individuals with ASD since Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger first described this disorder more than 70 years ago (Lyons & Fitzgerald, 2007). Recent research continues to show that those with ASD exhibit significantly higher rates of anxiety symptoms when compared to (i) typically developing individuals (
In this lead article three emergent problems in the analysis of cross-national survey data are ra... more In this lead article three emergent problems in the analysis of cross-national survey data are raised in a context of 40 years of research and development in a field where persistent problems have arisen and where scholars across the world have sought solutions. Anomalous results have been found from secondary data analyses that would appear to stem from the procedures that have been employed during the past 15 years for the estimation of educational achievement. These estimation procedures are briefly explained and their relationships to the observed anomalies are discussed. The article concludes with a challenge to the use of Bayesian estimation procedure, while possibly appropriate for the estimation of population parameters would appear to be inadequate for modelling scores that are used in secondary data analyses. Consequently, an alternative approach should be sought to provide data on the performance of individual students, if a clearer and more coherent understanding of educational processes is to be achieved through cross-national survey research.
1. Background In January 2011, AusAID Scholarships Section commissioned a study to synthesise the... more 1. Background In January 2011, AusAID Scholarships Section commissioned a study to synthesise the existing data that have been collected on AusAID scholarships and subsequently develop a consistent methodology for collecting future data. The current body of information was generated by student surveys and tracer studies that have been overseen by both the Scholarships Section and by AusAID Country Posts.
This article examines the factors fostering and inhibiting student achievement in Germany and Spa... more This article examines the factors fostering and inhibiting student achievement in Germany and Spain at the 15-year-old level in the OECD Programme on International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2000. Both countries performed significantly below the OECD average not only in Reading but also in Mathematics and Science on this occasion. Since the two countries are similar in average levels of student achievement, it is of interest to consider whether similar patterns exist in the ways in which factors operate to influence student achievement in these two countries. Preliminary analyses were carried out with PLSPATH and subsequent two-level models were analysed separately using Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM) software. Some similar factors influenced reading achievement in the two countries, but substantial differences in explaining reading achievement were also found. Much of the difference between the two systems arise from the large components of variance in Germany at the school ...
Contents: Review of economic literacy world-wide - Gender differences in Economics - Content anal... more Contents: Review of economic literacy world-wide - Gender differences in Economics - Content analysis of Economics curricula - Levels of economic literacy - Economics as a school subject - Economic Literacy Survey - Queensland 1998 - The internet and data collection - Literacy benchmarking using Rasch scaling - Student's attitudes towards economics - Successful teaching strategies in Economics - School resources and Economic literacy - Policy recommendations - Hierarchical linear models - Path analysis.
Two internationally comparative studies of reading were conducted by the International Associatio... more Two internationally comparative studies of reading were conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), namely the Reading Comprehension Study in 1970/71 and the Reading Literacy Study in 1990/91. Eight educational systems participated in both studies at the 14- year-old level, namely Belgium (French), Finland, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, and the United States of America. The information on student, teacher, and school variables that were common to both studies provided the core evidence used for analysis in this thesis. The major results are described. A general factor, reasoning, could be identified as pertaining to the processes involved in reading comprehension at the 14-year- old level. The items that were administered on both occasions could be brought to a common scale using the one- parameter Rasch model. While the reading performance of students in Finland and Hungary improved between 1970/71 and 1990/91, students in Belgium (French), Italy, The Netherlands, New Zealand and the United States performed at a lower level in the Reading Literacy than in the Reading Comprehension Study. The performance of Swedish students remained stable over time. The two-level HLM analyses indicated that the average proportion of variance across countries at each level did not change greatly between 1970/71 and 1990/91 with approximately three-quarters of the variance occurring at the between-student level and one quarter of the variance at the between-group level. The three- level HLM analyses showed that 14-year-old students from Finland, Italy, and New Zealand achieved at a significantly above cross- country average while Hungary and the United States performed below average in 1970/71. In the three-level analysis of the Reading Literacy data, Finland emerged as the only country achieving above the grand mean while students in Belgium (French), The Netherlands, and Sweden performed below the cross- country average in 1990/91. It is important to note that these differences were observed after other variables in the three- level model such as socio- economic background of schools and reading materials in students' homes had been taken into consideration.
Life Education Australia's Being Healthy Being Active project involved the collection of stud... more Life Education Australia's Being Healthy Being Active project involved the collection of student voice related to the concept of school transition and the move from primary to secondary school. Students from around Australia participated in 82 focus groups, or student forums, to discuss their own positive experiences, as well as perceived needs and challenges related to their move to secondary school. Section One of this report is a literature review and environmental scan on student transition from primary to secondary school. Section Two describes the methods used to design and administer the Student Forums. This includes a description of the target population and sampling methods as well as the details of the achieved sample: 82 forums with 444 students across 15 schools. Section Three outlines the findings of the Student Forums. Section Four offers conclusions and recommendations to inform the next stage of the project, designing a suite of resources and training for teacher...
Not much is known about the ways in which assessment data have actually been used in education po... more Not much is known about the ways in which assessment data have actually been used in education policy to date. Understanding the role of assessments in informing system-level decision-making is a first step towards helping stakeholders improve the design and usefulness of assessments. Moreover, this understanding can help to further discussions about how assessment data can best be used to inform policy and practice and to evaluate the effectiveness of policy reforms. This paper presents results from a systematic review of 68 studies that examined the link between participation in large-scale assessment programs of students’ learning and education policy in 32 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Included studies either identified specific cases of assessment results being used by policymakers to inform education reform in their systems, or identified specific cases when assessment results had no impact on education policy in specific education systems. The review classified the av...
This article examines the factors fostering and inhibiting student achievement in Germany and Spa... more This article examines the factors fostering and inhibiting student achievement in Germany and Spain at the 15-year-old level in the OECD Programme on International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2000. Both countries performed significantly below the OECD average not only in Reading but also in Mathematics and Science on this occasion. Since the two countries are similar in average levels of student achievement, it is of interest to consider whether similar patterns exist in the ways in which factors operate to influence student achievement in these two countries. Preliminary analyses were carried out with PLSPATH and subsequent two-level models were analysed separately using Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM) software. Some similar factors influenced reading achievement in the two countries, but substantial differences in explaining reading achievement were also found. Much of the difference between the two systems arise from the large components of variance in Germany at the school ...
This paper presents results from a longitudinal study of sojourner students which was conducted a... more This paper presents results from a longitudinal study of sojourner students which was conducted at an international university in Germany from 2004 to 2007. The study followed a cohort of undergraduate students from the first week of their studies to their graduation. Participants completed three questionnaires: the Portrait Value Questionnaire (Schwartz et al., 2001), the Study Process Questionnaire (Biggs, 1987b), and the Student Background Questionnaire (Matthews, Lietz, & Darmawan, 2007). Structural Equation Modelling was used to examine how personal values influenced students’ learning approaches and how these, in turn, were related to students’ achievement. It was also examined how robust these relationships were once gender and discipline area (i.e., Social Sciences or Natural Sciences) were included in the models and whether or not they changed over time. Results showed that specific combinations of values were related to each learning approach. Certain consistency of these ...
Research methods and designs were also a focus at Central Queensland University in Rockhampton, w... more Research methods and designs were also a focus at Central Queensland University in Rockhampton, where she was a Senior Lecturer in Research Methods in the Faculty of Business and Associate Dean Research from 1997 to 2000. Dr Lietz has also worked outside academia, as a consultant to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). From 2000 to 2002, she was Assistant Project Director at International Survey Research (then ISR, now Towers-Watson) in London, a firm that conducts employee satisfaction surveys for globally as well as nationally operating companies.
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