Global education monitoring

Quality education is critical to ensuring that every child develops the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to succeed in life. That’s why the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Centre conducts research to enable education systems to measure where learners are at and to monitor learning progress.

A long-term partnership between ACER and the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the GEM Centre aims to ensure that education policies, practices and investments are influenced by high-quality evidence. The GEM Centre develops methods and tools for countries around the world to monitor progress towards achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 in education by 2030. Additional research provides evidence on key education themes for improving learning.

Global SDG 4 monitoring and reporting

• Pairwise Comparison Method Toolkit. A toolkit for countries to measure global learning outcomes, UNESCO Institute for Statistics and Australian Council for Educational Research
• Minimum Proficiency Levels Unpacked, Australian Council for Educational Research
• International Standard Setting Exercise, Australian Council for Educational Research
• Sustainable Development Goal 4.b in the Pacific – A pilot study for monitoring tertiary education scholarships for development, Amanda Haddow, Daniel Edwards & Lorissa Hazelman
• ACER-APCEIU Global Citizenship Education Monitoring Toolkit: For teachers, schools, and system leaders, Rachel Parker, Amy Berry, Payal Goundar & Karena Menzie-Ballantyne
• Being and becoming global citizens: Measuring progress toward SDG 4.7. Monitoring teacher and school readiness to enact global citizenship in the Asia-Pacific region. Phase II Report, Lao PDR, Rachel Parker, Payal Goundar & Karena Menzie-Ballantyne
• Policy brief: Monitoring and evaluating global citizenship education in the Asia-Pacific region, Payal Goundar and Rachel Parker
• Summary report. Being and becoming global citizens: Measuring progress toward SDG 4.7. Phase I: Monitoring teacher and school readiness to enact global citizenship in the Asia-Pacific region, Rachel Parker, Jennie Chainey, Payal Goundar, Sarah Richardson, Anna Dabrowski, Amy Berry & Claire Scoular
• Being and becoming global citizens: Measuring progress toward SDG 4.7: Phase I: Monitoring teacher and school readiness to enact global citizenship in the Asia-Pacific region, Australian Council for Educational Research
• Pairwise comparison method: Concept note, Australian Council for Educational Research
• Development of Reporting Scales for Reading and Mathematics, Ross Turner, Ray Adams, Ursula Schwantner, Dan Cloney, Claire Scoular, Prue Anderson, Alexander Daraganov, Jen Jackson, Sandra Knowles, Gayl O'Connor, Pam Munro-Smith, Stavroula Zoumboulis & Pauline Rogers
• The role of big data in education quality monitoring: implications at the global, regional and national levels 4 years ago, Ursula Schwantner, Amit Kaushik, Ross Turner, Charlotte Waters & Ray J. Adams
• Learning progressions as an inclusive solution to global education monitoring, Ray Adams, Jen Jackson & Ross Turner
• The UNESCO Institute for Statistics Reporting Scales: Concept note, Australian Council for Educational Research
• Learning Metrics Partnership, The Centre for Global Education Monitoring
• Shaping Reading Pedagogy and Assessment for Sustainable Learning, Prue Anderson, Mary Fearnley-Sander, Danielle Anzai, Maurice Walker, Juliette Mendelovits, Ross Turner & Ray J. Adams

Education system strengthening

• Principles of Good Practice in Learning Assessment, Australian Council for Educational Research & UNESCO Institute for Statistics
• Analysis of National Learning Assessment Systems [ANLAS] Toolkit, Global Partnership for Education & Australian Council for Educational Research
• Explaining students’ attitudes towards a sustainable future: Evidence from SEA-PLM 2019 data, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed & Petra Lietz
• The role of international large-scale assessments (ILSAs) in economically developing countries, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Michelle Belisle, Elizabeth Cassity, Tim Friedman, Petra Lietz & Jeaniene Spink
• Developing strategic plans for an aligned approach to 21st century skills integration, Claire Scoular & Ian Teo
• Citizen-led Assessments: A Model for Evidence-based Advocacy and Action to Improve Learning, Suman Bhattacharjea, Sehar Saeed, Rajib Timalsina & Syeed Ahamed
• The Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics Program: Thinking globally in a regional context, UNICEF & SEAMEO
• Pacific Islands Literacy and Numeracy Assessment: Collaboration and innovation, Michelle Belisle, Elizabeth Cassity, Ratieli Kacilala, Mere T. Seniloli & Torika Taoi
• Integrating the findings from the National Assessment of Student Achievement into the policy process, Lekha Nath Poudel & Gopal Prasad Bhattarai
• Using large-scale assessments of students’ learning to inform education policy, Mollie Tobin, Petra Lietz, Dita Nugroho, Ramya Vivekanandan & Tserennadmid Nyamkhuu
• Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics : Audit of curricula, Australian Council for Educational Research
• Improving Quality Education and Children’s Learning Outcomes and Effective Practices, Tim Friedman, Ursula Schwantner, Jeaniene Spink, Naoko Tabata & Charlotte Waters
• System-Wide Analysis of Assessment Practices (SWAAP): Concept note, Australian Council for Educational Research

Equity and inclusion

• Supporting schools’ and teachers’ use of assessment to inform learning of all students Ursula Schwantner & Soumaya Maghnouj
• Equity and Equality in learning in Asia-Pacific: What do results from large-scale assessments tell us? Gender in focus policy brief, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Anna Dabrowski, Jacqueline Cheng, Victoria Klimova & Isabella McCallum
• Policy brief: Teacher professional development for students with disability in the Asia-Pacific, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Anannya Chakraborty
• Teacher professional development for disability inclusion in low- and middle-income Asia-Pacific countries: An evidence and gap map, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, David Jeffries, Anannya Chakraborty, Toby Carslake, Petra Lietz, Budiarti Rahayu, David Armstrong, Amit Kaushik, Kris Sundarsagar
• Equitable Learning Assessments for Students with Disabilities (NEQMAP Thematic Review) by UNESCO Bangkok, UNESCO Bangkok, Anannya Chakraborty and Amit Kaushik

Early childhood education and development

• Monitoring learning in the early years. A review of early childhood assessments to support global monitoring, Dan Cloney, David Jeffries, Stephanie Templeton, Ursula Schwantner, Juliette F. Mendelovits, Amy Berry, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Nicola Andrews, and Bethany Davies 
• Measurement of young children’s learning for program evaluation, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake and Petra Lietz 
• Effective child-focused education and nurturing care interventions, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake and Petra Lietz
• Parent-focused interventions in economically developing countries, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake and Petra Lietz
• Income supplementation interventions in economically developing countries, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake and Petra Lietz
• Quality-focused interventions in early childhood education and care (ECEC) in economically developing countries, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake and Petra Lietz
• Integrated interventions in early childhood education and care (ECEC) in economically developing countries, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake and Petra Lietz
• Improving young children’s learning in economically developing countries: What works, why, and where? Scoping review, Jen Jackson, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Toby Carslake and Petra Lietz

Education in emergencies 

• Building resilient education systems: A rapid review of the education in emergencies literature, Pina Tarricone, Kemran Mestan and Ian Teo
• Applying a new policy monitoring tool for education in emergencies, Pina Tarricone, Kemran Mestan & Ian Teo
• Learning Recovery and Addressing the Learning Crisis: Technical paper, Pina Tarricone, Kemran Mestan, Ian Teo and Yung Nietschke
• Learning Recovery and Addressing the Learning Crisis: Policy Brief, Pina Tarricone, Kemran Mestan, Ian Teo and Yung Nietschke
• Flexible strategies for ensuring quality learning outcomes in education in emergencies, Pina Tarricone, Ian Teo, Kemran Mestan, Kris Sundarsagar, Ashtamurthy Killimangalam, Nordin Abd Razak

Student and teacher mental health and wellbeing 

• School-based interventions that support mental health and psychosocial wellbeing in low- and middle-income countries, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Anna Dabrowski, Katherine Dix and Toby Carslake
• Policy brief: Investigating school-based programs that support student mental health and psychosocial wellbeing in low- and middle-income countries, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Anna Dabrowski and Katherine Dix

GEM Centre partnership

• GEM Centre: Completion Report for Phase 3 Funding, 2020–2023, Australian Council for Educational Research
• GEM Centre: Pathways to Impact, Australian Council for Educational Research
• Mid-term evaluation report (final): Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Centre Phase 3, Valerie Haugen
• GEM Centre: Completion Report for Phase 2 funding, 2017-2020, Australian Council for Educational Research