Dr Fiona Mueller and the Page Research Centre were recently featured in an article published in The Age:
“Students would face national exams in years 6, 10 and 12 under a radical policy overhaul to fix Australia’s ‘inconsistent’ school assessment system, which the federal opposition said warrants serious consideration.
“A landmark report by Nationals-backed think tank Page Research Centre warns that the different assessments across states, ‘grade creep’ and unchecked AI use are harming the integrity of Australia’s school system.”
“The report recommends the government commission a feasibility study into the development of three new national exams to measure student progress from kindergarten to year 12.”
“Opposition education spokesman Julian Leeser said now was the time to question existing approaches and demand change.”
“Dr Fiona Mueller, director of research at the Page Research Centre, said Australian education policies are disproportionately influenced by unproven, experimental approaches to curriculum, teaching, student assessment and other critical areas.
“‘As many Australians are aware, state and territory education authorities are now racing to introduce what they refer to as “evidence-based reforms” to curriculum and teaching,’ Mueller said. ‘However, we need to pay equally close attention to the third key element of schooling – student assessment.
“‘The world’s highest-performing education systems are unequivocal about the importance of formal examinations for measuring student achievement across the curriculum in valid and reliable ways. The OECD calls these “trusted signals of achievement”.’”
