Papers by Patrick edward griffin
A 20-Year Study of Mathematics Achievement
Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 2006
Monitoring educational changes over many years is problematic when there are differences in curri... more Monitoring educational changes over many years is problematic when there are differences in curricula, the nature of the variables being measured, and the selection of participants. Rasch measurement techniques provide a procedure that enables each of these issues to be examined. Using archived and specially collected data, tests of numeracy undertaken in Tasmania over a 20-year period, from 1978 to 1997, were equated and mapped onto the same continuum through a combination of common item and common person equating. Examination of fit to the model showed that the nature of the measured construct had not changed over this period. Although test difficulty appears to have risen over the period, student achievement was relatively unchanged. The implications of these findings for longitudinal studies of achievement are discussed.
Masterly preparation: embedding clinical practice in a graduate pre-service teacher education programme
Journal of Education for Teaching, 2012
ABSTRACT This paper describes the implementation of the Master of Teaching degree which was intro... more ABSTRACT This paper describes the implementation of the Master of Teaching degree which was introduced at the University of Melbourne in 2008. The programme aims to produce a new generation of teachers (early years, primary and secondary) who are interventionist practitioners, with high-level analytic skills and capable of using data and evidence to identify and address the learning needs of individual learners. The programme marks a fundamental change to the way in which teachers have traditionally been prepared in the University of Melbourne and builds a strong link between theory and practice. This linking occurs within a new partnership model with selected schools. The model was influenced by the Teachers for a New Era programme in the USA and by the clinical background of senior faculty. The programme sees teaching as a clinical-practice profession such as is found in many allied health professions; this understanding is also embraced by the university’s partnership schools. These schools are used as clinical sites, actively involving their best teachers in the clinical training component. These teachers are recognised as members of the university and are highly skilled professionals who are capable of interventionist teaching and who use appropriate assessment tools to inform their teaching of individual children.
Implementation Issues with Games-Based Assessment
EDULEARN16 Proceedings, 2016
Accelerated apprenticeship training: evaluation study 1977/78: report no 1
Skilling me softly: a longitudinal study of the destination of adult literacy students
Moderation of Interviewer Judgment in Tests of Spoken English
Training and productivity
The Profiles in Practice School Reporting Software
Pressures, Priority and Progress: An International Perspective on School Assessment: Back to Basics
Serendipity and an Accidental Psychometrician
Leaders in Educational Research, 2014
How did I become an education researcher? Why did I settle on psychometrics as a career? How did ... more How did I become an education researcher? Why did I settle on psychometrics as a career? How did that decision lead me to the kinds of research projects I’ve been working on for more than 40 years? Before I was asked if I would write this story, I had never considered these questions. In fact I became a psychometrician quite by accident.
Developing assessment in schools and workplaces: an inaugural professorial lecture
ABSTRACT Incl. bibliographical references
International Journal of Educational Research, 2015
This paper describes a test of problem solving ability that was designed to minimise the differen... more This paper describes a test of problem solving ability that was designed to minimise the differential effects of language background. The developed test was validated by conducting a differential item functioning (DIF) analysis on a large and representative sample of government school students. The main importance of this tool can be viewed from the perspective that Australia has an increasing student population from non-English language backgrounds. Migrants from non-English speaking backgrounds are increasing, with almost half coming from Asia. The most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data (2011 census) indicate that 53% of first-generation Australians now speak a language other than English at home, and 20% of second-generation Australians (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2011). In Victoria in 2011, approximately 19.5% of the population were born overseas in non-main English-speaking countries while 23.1% spoke a language other than English at home . This demographic change has important implications for education in Victoria. One of the four major priorities of the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development's corporate plan is to ''improve outcomes for
Assessing Writing, 2015
Currently, complex tasks incur significant costs to mark, becoming exorbitant for courses with la... more Currently, complex tasks incur significant costs to mark, becoming exorbitant for courses with large number of students (e.g., in MOOCs). Large scale assessments are currently dependent on automated scoring systems. However, these systems tend to work best in assessments where correct responses can be explicitly defined. There is considerable scoring challenge when it comes to assessing tasks that require deeper analysis and richer responses. Structured peer-grading can be reliable, but the diversity inherent in very large classes can be a weakness for peer-grading systems because it raises objections that peer-reviewers may not have qualifications matching the level of the task being assessed. Distributed marking can offer a solution to handle both the volume and complexity of these assessments. We propose a solution wherein peer scoring is assisted by a guidance system to improve peer-review and increase the efficiency of large scale marking of complex tasks. The system involves developing an engine that automatically scaffolds the target paper based on predefined rubrics so that relevant content and indicators of higher level thinking skills are framed and drawn to the attention of the marker. Eventually, we aim to establish that the scores produced are comparable to scores produced by expert raters.
Pathways of Educational Leadership: Monitoring and Developing Skill Levels Among Educational Leaders in Australia
School Leadership in the Context of Standards-Based Reform, 2012
This chapter reports on the development of an educational leadership framework used for assessing... more This chapter reports on the development of an educational leadership framework used for assessing existing and prospective educational leaders. The framework is based on an elaboration and operationalization of the Sergiovanni domains of leadership, and is linked to learning theory with a focus on Vygotsky’s work in order to help identify the professional development needs of teachers who aspire to occupy leadership roles in schools. A questionnaire was developed to assess leaders within the framework. Items were developed using a procedure reported by Griffin and Gillis (2001) and the Victorian Department of Education (2007), combining the ideas of Glaser (1981), Rasch (1960) and Vygotsky (1978), as illustrated by Griffin (2009). The questionnaire was field tested with more than 1,000 teachers. It showed evidence of high reliability and discriminating power based on leadership experience and training. It did not discriminate on the basis of gender, school size, school sector or location. The questionnaire was used as the basis for development of a 360° survey tool which is used in Victoria by teachers and school leaders to identify strengths and areas for improvement in their leadership practice. The framework is discussed in the context of the Victorian education and accountability system and its consequences for leadership development.
Performance assessment of higher order thinking
Journal of applied measurement, 2014
This article describes a study investigating the effect of intervention on student problem solvin... more This article describes a study investigating the effect of intervention on student problem solving and higher order competency development using a series of complex numeracy performance tasks (Airasian and Russell, 2008). The tasks were sequenced to promote and monitor student development towards hypothetico-deductive reasoning. Using Rasch partial credit analysis (Wright and Masters, 1982) to calibrate the tasks and analysis of residual gain scores to examine the effect of class and school membership, the study illustrates how directed intervention can improve students' higher order competency skills. This paper demonstrates how the segmentation defined by Wright and Masters can offer a basis for interpreting the construct underlying a test and how segment definitions can deliver targeted interventions. Implications for teacher intervention and teaching mentor schemes are considered. The article also discusses multilevel regression models that differentiate class and school eff...
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2011
To many teachers, assessments are still used as the endpoint of instruction. Though scholars and ... more To many teachers, assessments are still used as the endpoint of instruction. Though scholars and researchers have advocated the use of assessment data as evidence to inform teaching, teachers need to be shown how this is done and involvement in professional development (PD) program that equips teachers with these skills is pertinent. In addition, many authors and researchers (to name a few: Penn-Edwards, 2010; Schulman & Armitage, 2005 and Zakaria & Care, 2010) have consistently testified that for PD programs to yield effective results they must also target teacher beliefs. The study aims to identify how a teachers' professional development program known as the Assessment and Learning Partnerships (ALPs) program changes teacher beliefs, knowledge and teaching practice and the degree to which this occurs. ALPs is currently participated by teachers of more than 200 schools across the state of Victoria, Australia. It promotes the use of a specific style of evidence-based teaching and its operation within a developmental learning paradigm is designed to lead to an improvement of student learning outcomes. Teachers based their teaching on developmental learning framework and evidence is used to identify students' zones of proximal development which illustrate student readiness in learning. Teachers then use this information to scaffold student learning and target intervention. Data is collected longitudinally at two points of time over a period of one year. Three domains are tapped onto: teacher beliefs, knowledge and practice through the use of survey, knowledge test, teaching observations and semi-structured interviews. Data will then be triangulated to provide information about change in beliefs and practice. The discussion in this paper focuses on the data collected from the first round of survey administration. This data serves as baseline measures and used to establish association and relationships between teacher beliefs and practice.
School nurse assessment of primary school children: Analysis of data from the school entrant health questionnaire
International Journal of Nursing Practice, 1998
Edgecombe GA, Avant KC, Griffin P, Corneille K. International Journal of Nursing Practice 1998; 4... more Edgecombe GA, Avant KC, Griffin P, Corneille K. International Journal of Nursing Practice 1998; 4: 40–50 School nurse assessment of primary school children: Analysis of data from the school entrant health questionnaire The School Entrant Health Questionnaire (SEHQ) has been used by the School Nursing Program in Victoria since April, 1997. The SEHQ assists school nurses in developing a health profile of primary grade children and in discriminating between children with problems and children without problems. The SEHQ assesses children in 11 domains: general health, medications, immunisations, dental health, speech/language, hearing, vision, disabilities, general development, behaviour and emotional well‐being, and family stress. The SEHQ was found to be reliable and valid, and to provide an excellent means of distinguishing between students who had problems and needed intervention and those who did not. This paper presents an analysis of data from the first testing of the SEHQ.
Developing of two instruments to measure attitudes of Vietnamese parents and students toward schooling
Journal of applied measurement, 2013
The attitudes of parents and students towards schooling are often considered to be important fact... more The attitudes of parents and students towards schooling are often considered to be important factors associated with students' educational outcomes. This article presents the process of constructing and calibrating two scales to measure the attitudes of students and parents in Vietnam, and then linking these two scales to compare the two groups. A set of items that covered both development and opportunity aspects of education was designed. After the items were trialled, a final version of 13 items was compiled. The two scales yielded scores that were shown to have logical, face, content and construct validity.
The Influence of Evidence-Based Decisions by Collaborative Teacher Teams on Student Achievement
Springer International Handbooks of Education, 2014
This chapter provides a description of a model in which it is hypothesised that student learning ... more This chapter provides a description of a model in which it is hypothesised that student learning is in part an outcome of a combination of teacher factors. In particular the effects of a culture in which the interpretation and use of student assessment data is used to inform differentiated teaching strategies and practices is examined. Teachers participate in professional learning activities within collaborative teams to develop their data interpretation skills, and engage in a cycle of decision making, implementation, evaluation, and review in their use of data, to enhance student learning outcomes. In examining measures of these activities, and student learning outcomes, links are inferred between teachers’ activity and engagement in the group process of decision-making, their metacognitive capabilities in the context of an approach to developmental teaching and learning, and the progress of students. Test data were interpreted in a developmental assessment framework, drawing on synthesis of relevant theoretical frameworks outlined by Griffin (Stud Educ Eval 33:87–99, 2007). Mirroring teachers’ levels of engagement, activity and metacognition, student gains in literacy are reported. With teachers distributed across the possible range of skills, and students similarly distributed, it is clear that not all students are progressing at equal rates, and that there is a strong trend toward the higher achieving students not progressing at the same pace as students less able, in the first instance. The probable contributing factors to this phenomenon are discussed.
Large-Scale Testing and its Contribution to Learning
The Enabling Power of Assessment, 2014
The primary purpose of large-scale testing is seen by many to be accountability at policy level. ... more The primary purpose of large-scale testing is seen by many to be accountability at policy level. However, it has wider potential. In this chapter we provide a description of the context in which large-scale testing has been designed to generate information useful for intervention by teachers.
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Papers by Patrick edward griffin