This submission from the Australian College of Educators has been informed by the Panel's Emerging Issues Paper and by discussion among ACE members. In this Submission ACE has focussed on defining the fundamental questions it expects the Panel to answer, and on spelling out the principles it expects the panel to bring to finding answers.
An article called "Our achievement Gap Mania" penned by Frederick M Hess from the conservative think-tank The Heritage Foundation (National Affiars, Fall 2011) created outrage amongst Hess's erstwhile colleagues. It argued that the US obsession with closing the achievement gap had cost dearly in terms of programs and policies that meet the needs of high performing students. This article takes a look at some of the debate - of most relevance to the Australian context
This month's selection of articles includes a number of opinion pieces from education commentators. Once again Christopher Pearson makes the list. It also includes: an article by Denise Ryan who won the ACE Victorian Branch Media Award this year; a link to and commentary on Ben Jensen's latest publication; and a number of articles related to MySchool, national curriculum and the latest PISA results.
This book explores the negative consequences of a raft of inter-related reform strategies implemented in the United States to improve the quality of school education. These strategies include increased emphases on accountability, testing, freedom of choice, charter schools and merit pay for teachers. One of the key objectives of author Diane Ravitch is "to explain how these mistaken policies are corrupting educational values".
On 16 November 2010 a Grattan Institute report by Ben Jensen created waves across the Australian education community because it cited research that concluded that smaller class sizes do not bring returns on investment. This article looks at the debate, the politics surrounding it and and asks why this report had such unprecedented press attention.
According to the authors, this book is both "a collection of ideas for citizens who want real change and a to-do list for politicians looking to base public policies on the kind of future Australia needs".
