This policy brief has been prepared by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) for the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) Regional Conference, held in Manila from 5 to 7 November 2024. This brief is in response to the conference sub-theme of, 'Learning, equity and well-being: foundational literacy,…

Providing a rich context has become a sine qua non of principled teaching of applied statistical thinking. With increasing opportunities to access secondary data, there should be increasing opportunity to work with rich context. We review the contextual information provided in 41 data sets suitable for introductory tertiary statistics teaching,…

The purpose of this study is to develop a valid and reliable scale to determine and evaluate the different dimensions of data literacy at school. The study is a quantitative descriptive survey model. The sampling for exploratory factor analysis was formed of 307 and confirmatory factor analysis 338 teachers and school administrators who are on…

A recent issue of the Australian Journal of Language and Literacy included an article reporting on a systematic narrative review of the research literature that indicated that there was insufficient evidence to conclude whether genre theory and systemic functional linguistics either 'worked' or 'did not work'. The criteria used to evaluate these…

Data literacy, which is considered among 21st century skills, is becoming increasingly important. In particular, incentives for data-driven decision-making draw attention to data literacy. Data literacy is also critical for teachers who need to use data in educational settings. Therefore, there is a need for data on whether teachers are equipped…

Rapidly developing technological advances have raised new questions about what makes us uniquely human. As data and generative AI become more powerful, what does it mean to learn, teach, create, make meaning, and express ourselves, even as machines are trained to take care of these tasks for us? With youth, and in the context of literacy and media…

Early childhood research and policy have promoted the use of language and literacy assessment data to inform instruction. Yet, there is a limited understanding of preschool teachers' data practices and sensemaking, particularly when considered from the perspectives of practicing teachers. In this multicase study, we used a phenomenological…

The growing use of analytics has increased the demand for more highly data literate graduates. Awareness of ambiguity in data has been suggested as a new data literacy skill. Here, we describe a student-centered semester-long project that can be used to teach this skill in an introductory analytics or database course. The project requires students…

The problem explored by this study was that teachers' perspectives are not implemented when selecting and utilizing phonics instruction in kindergarten through second grade classrooms. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore primary teachers' rationales and experiences when choosing and implementing phonics instruction in primary…

Purpose: This article advocates that privacy literacy research and praxis mobilize people toward changing the technological and social conditions that discipline subjects toward advancing institutional, rather than community, goals. Design/methodology/approach: This article analyzes theory and prior work on datafication, privacy, data literacy,…

The last decades have seen an unprecedented growth in the availability and accessibility of data, highly influenced by the ubiquity of digital media and the internet. As society contends with data's increasing impact on the nature of knowledge, communication, and privacy, it faces a pressing need for citizens who are intelligent producers and…

The Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) has created the first longitudinally linked dataset of Australian students' National Assessment Program -- Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) participation and results. This technical paper describes the creation of the Longitudinal Literacy and Numeracy in Australia (LLANIA) dataset, including the…

In this article, we contest globalised notions of data as 'universally' beneficial, necessary and 'evidence-based'. We do so by drawing upon narrative accounts of the problematic ways data impact educators researching and working in university and schooling settings over time and in varied national contexts. We reveal how data are transient and…

One of the most exciting products generated and refined through the Early Learning Network studies is a web-based classroom assessment tool known as OLOS -- the Optimizing Learning Opportunities for Students Observation System. The OLOS tool focuses on improving student outcomes by providing teachers with real-time data to support individualized…

The purpose of this case study was to examine one school district's 8th grade mathematics teachers' perceptions, analysis of, and use of their own students' formative interim data. Research has shown that teachers have difficulty with data literacy, and are not getting the trainings they need. Unfortunately, this may arise from the fact that a…