In January, 1974, the Interim ACT Schools Authority
assumed responsibility for pre, primary and secondary
schools in the Australian Capital Territory. It took
steps to provide a basis for the restructuring of
secondary education. The traditional six-year comprehensive
high school was to be replaced in 1976 by a
four-year high school and a two-year secondary college.
The Interim Authority decided that each school should be
responsible for its own curriculum which should not be
constrained by an external examination.
A system of course development and teacher assessment,
to replace the New South Wales Higher School Certificate
syllabuses and examination, was developed during 1974.
The Interim Authority sought the advice of the Australian
Council for Educational Research, and a report prepared by
it was used to stimulate public debate. After considering
a wide cross section of points of view the Interim Authority
decided that accredited courses would replace syllabuses,
teacher assessments, the examination and profile reports
the Certificate.
The ACT Schools Accrediting Agency, a committee of the
Interim Authority, was formed in 1975 to administer
accrediting assessment and reporting. The Accrediting
Agency negotiated the basis for tertiary entrance for
ACT students. It determined that a single aggregate
score, the Tertiary Entrance Score, should be calculated,
using aggregated scaled teacher assessments. Scores from
three major and one minor accredited-TES courses scaled by
the Australian Scholastic Aptitude Test total score would
be aggregated. A system-wide order of merit would be
created. The maximum aggregate score would be 360.
The basis for the aggregate was very different from that
which it was replacing. In New South Wales, five subject
scores with a possible maximum of 900 was used. An
examination of a number of comparison and correlation studies
presented in Part B indicates that ASAT scaling of teacher
estimates improves the correlation of teacher estimates with
the Higher School Certificate examination aggregate scores.
Some correlations between ASAT-scaled criteria and HSC
aggregates are in the order of 0.9. As is expected some
movement away from what was acceptable in 1975 occurred.
When examined in the light of the philosophy of school responsibility for curriculum and assessment the procedures
adopted certainly facilitate this, while at the same time
produce students' results which can be used as confidently
as external examination results have been.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219223 |
| Date | January 1978 |
| Creators | Morgan, Douglas E., n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Teacher Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Douglas E. Morgan |
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