Summaries & explainers

This is a summary of findings from AERO’s 2022 analysis of student writing data – the most extensive investigation into this area ever conducted in Australia. 

Partnering with Learning First, we investigated issues influencing the effective use of evidence in policy development through a desktop review and interviews with senior policymakers.

This research summary explains the methodology for a data analysis of students' backgrounds and their influence on literacy and numeracy achievement.

In formative assessment, you gather and interpret information about student learning as it is happening in your classroom. It helps you to adapt your teaching to meet student needs. 

Explicit instruction breaks down what students need to learn into smaller learning outcomes and models each step. It allows students to process new information more effectively.

Spacing and retrieval involves separating learning over multiple lessons and providing opportunities for students to recall what they have learned. This helps to commit learning to long-term memory.

Mastery learning is a way of designing units of work so that each set of tasks focuses on a particular learning objective and students must master a task to move onto the next one.

Explanations of commonly used terms related to education evidence and research