Education systems across the globe have enacted national testing regimes to monitor and report student achievement progress as an outcome of teaching performance. This paper reports on an investigation of strategies that Principals of high achieving schools use to achieve school results, based on NAPLAN reports (the National Assessment Program in…

This study analysed students' attitudes towards school and the relationship between these attitudes and reading performance. Using a sample of 57,572 Year 7 and 9 students from 306 Victorian government schools, the analysis combined two de-identified data sets -- students' responses to the Student Attitudes to School Survey and their performance…

Neoliberal approaches to education policy have led to increases in teacher and student accountability, a preference for evidence-informed measurable outcomes and the standardisation of teaching and learning. Judgements of quality teaching and teacher practice are increasingly focused narrowly on students' testable knowledge and skills. This is…

Academically engaging adolescents with learning difficulties continues to be a challenge for teachers and education authorities around the world. This paper reports on one part of a broader study to address the impasse present between research and practice in meeting the needs of adolescents with learning difficulties. Drawing on the mounting…

According to international studies of achievement in mathematics amongst Australian secondary school students, results have declined over time when compared with other countries. The National Assessment Program -- Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an Australian government initiative to measure whether students have the knowledge, understanding,…