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Although there has been intense criticism of NAPLAN in educational policy debates in Australia, little scholarly efforts have been made to understand the underlying cognitive mechanisms that contribute to the public narrative about the national testing program. We aim to provide tentative evidence about the way public perceptions about NAPLAN may be formed. Our results show empirical support for the incentive, interpretative, and institutional effects, which suggest ways that national testing program can be improved. That is, it needs to (a) provide a diverse range of incentives to promote people's self-interest (incentive effect); (b) demonstrate good alignment with the core values, social norms, and attitudes of the given society (interpretative effect); and (c) build a consensus about the institutional use of the test results (institutional effect). We conclude with practical implications and recommendations about seeking public support for the seemingly unpopular national educational policy.

Missing covariates is a common issue when fitting meta-regression models. Standard practice for handling missing covariates tends to involve one of two approaches. In a complete-case analysis, effect sizes for which relevant covariates are missing are omitted from model estimation. Alternatively, researchers have employed the so-called "shifting units of analysis" wherein complete-case analyses are conducted on only certain subsets of relevant covariates. In this article, we clarify conditions under which these approaches generate unbiased estimates of regression coefficients. We find that unbiased estimates are possible when the probability of observing a covariate is completely independent of effect sizes. When that does not hold, regression coefficient estimates may be biased. We study the potential magnitude of that bias assuming a log-linear model of missingness and find that the bias can be substantial, as large as Cohen's "d" = 0.4-0.8 depending on the missingness mechanism.

This study presents empirical findings demonstrating predictive validities of noncognitive variables for mathematics achievement among primary and secondary school students from cross-country perspectives. Results based on TIMSS 2015 assessment showed that confidence was a moderately strong predictor of mathematics achievement in all TIMSS participant countries (100%). Interest, on the other hand, was a moderately strong predictor in most countries for eighth-graders (77%) but only in about a dozen countries for fourth-graders (20%), showing a stronger interest-achievement link for the secondary school students, from the cross-national perspective. The sense of belonging measure demonstrated a lack of its relevance to primary school students' achievement. Further, bullying showed predictive relevance for student achievement only in three countries (South Africa, Jordan, and Egypt). The study concludes that while confidence was a universally relevant predictor of student achievement across all countries/regions, predictive utilities of interest, sense of belonging, and bullying appeared to be heavily dependent on a grade-level and country/regional context.

This article examines the relationships between family socioeconomic status (SES) and mathematics achievement across countries while taking into account (a) the country's development status and (b) the types of resources (physical versus human) available at home. The 2012 round of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data were analyzed using the necessary condition analysis (NCA) procedures. The study found that only the human resource aspects of family SES, that is, parental education and parental occupational status, were statistically significant necessary conditions for mathematics achievement across more developed, OECD countries. By contrast, none of the 10 SES variables showed statistically significant, necessary conditions for mathematics achievement across less developed, non-OECD countries. Therefore, the necessary conditions for countries' mathematics achievement differ depending on their developmental status and by different measures of family SES. Some practical implications are discussed along with limitations and directions for future studies.

The current popularity of flipped learning may be attributed to its reported successes in bringing about enhanced learner engagement and positive learning outcomes. This study aims to improve our understanding of flipped learning (FL) outcomes by examining factors of learner engagement, academic capability, and epistemological beliefs. Data were collected and statistically analyzed from 231 undergraduate students enrolled in a general biology or general chemistry course at a Korean university implemented with the FL model. The results indicated that learners' epistemological beliefs influenced neither pre-class nor in-class engagement, but that academic capability did affect both pre-class and in-class engagement. Only content/learning-related outcomes, not generic competencies or satisfaction, were affected by both academic capability and epistemological beliefs. Both pre-class and in-class engagement levels affected most types of FL outcomes except generic competencies, which were only affected by the extent of in-class engagement. Learners' affective engagement was not influenced by epistemological beliefs, but directly and indirectly affected FL outcomes via behavioral and cognitive engagement. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed along with recommendations.

This best-evidence synthesis reviews the past 20 years of rigorous reading intervention research to identify effective programs of instruction for Grade K-3 English Learners (ELs), as well as to determine the average effect of reading instruction on reading outcomes for this population. We identified 10 studies, all of which only included students in Grades K, 1, and/or 2. These studies evaluated the effects of seven programs, reporting 76 effect sizes. We did not identify any studies that included Grade 3 ELs. To guide researchers and practitioners, we describe each program and discuss associated effect sizes in foundational skills, fluency, comprehension, and oral language. "Proactive Reading," delivered in a small group setting, produced some of the largest effects on foundational skills, fluency, and reading comprehension outcomes. "Sound Partners" was also shown to be effective even when delivered for a shorter duration, in a one-to-one setting. Finally, for practitioners and researchers aiming to improve oral language outcomes, "Early Vocabulary Connection," delivered to small groups of students for 20 weeks, had the largest effects on oral language outcome measures. The primary limitation of this review was the small number of studies meeting the best-evidence synthesis criteria. Future research is needed to better understand the impact of reading interventions on reading outcomes for ELs in Grades 2-3 and the impact of meaning-focused intervention on reading outcomes. In particular, additional research is needed to identify interventions that have the potential to meaningfully improve reading comprehension and oral language outcomes for K-3 ELs.

A recurrent narrative in the recent literature on international student mobility is that overseas study is motivated by a desire for onward international mobility or oriented towards specific goals such as an international career. However, the way in which transnational mobility after graduation is perceived and experienced by international students is largely unexplored. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 55 current and graduated international students from three UK universities, this paper employs Bourdieu's central concepts of habitus and capital to explore differentiated mobility aspirations and experiences. In so doing, this article nuances, and calls for a need to problematise, the meaning and power associated with post-study mobility across borders.

As a growing base of evidence links student success with attendance, many states have chosen to include measures of student absenteeism in their accountability systems under ESSA. Consequently, school districts face strong incentives to improve attendance. We report on a randomized field experiment in which parents of early elementary students received personalized information about the academic content their child missed while absent. Following an absence, school staff sent postcards to parents detailing how many days of school their child had missed alongside a handwritten note from their teacher summarizing the academic material covered during the absence. We randomized the intervention across schools and classrooms in two urban school districts. The analysis sample included 5,552 students in preschool through second grade. Overall, the treatment reduced absences by 8.3% (95% CI, 2.6-14.0%). The results provide evidence that a postcard intervention designed and implemented by schools and teachers rather than 3rd parties can be effective in reducing absences. The teachers' annotations with personalized academic and absence information are a unique feature of the intervention that suggests areas for further research.

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a multidimensional open thinking scale (OTS) in order to measure adult learners' open thinking as a key learning outcome of open educational practices (OEP) through a three-phase process of item generation, theoretical analysis, and psychometric analysis. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of data from 610 students in 24 countries revealed a clear structure consisting of six constructs of open thinking: "openness to multiple perspectives," "openness to new learning," "openness to collaboration," "openness to sharing," "openness to change," and "openness to diversity and inclusion." Known-groups validity tests showed that the more frequently a learner is exposed to OEP, the higher the OTS scores obtained. Results suggest that OTS could contribute to OEP and research by defining and elaborating on the concept of open thinking, exploring its relationship to learners' OEP experiences, and measuring and developing students' open thinking.

This pilot study was conducted to identify the effects of an 8-week aquatics program with peer-led learning on the functional fitness, postural stability, self-efficacy, and quality of life in older adults. Twenty older adults with a mean age of 65.5 were assigned to either a non-peer-led group or a peer-led-group. Both groups received 60-min aquatics classes twice per week. Variables were measured by the Senior Fitness Test, postural stability tests, the Activity-Specific Balance Confidence scale, the Falls Efficacy Scale--International, the Exercise Self-efficacy scale, and a quality of life question. The results showed a significant main effect of time on all dependent measures of functional fitness and quality of life question. There was no significant interaction between time and group for any dependent measure. This study demonstrated that peer-led learning in aquatics for older adults brought equal effects to classes taught by young instructors.

This study investigated the educational and career experiences of former Australian Olympians after their participation in the International Mathematical Olympiad. For this purpose, 15 former Olympians were engaged in interviews about how they developed their mathematical talent at university, how they selected their careers, and how they developed their mathematical talent within their careers. Thematic analysis was undertaken on the collected data. The resulting themes provided useful insights into the reasoning behind the selection of one's area of study, the nature of the study experience, the factors considered in the career decision, and the nature of mathematical development in one's career. Among other conclusions, the study suggested the applicability of two theories (i.e., the theory of work adjustment and the megamodel of talent development) in understanding the educational/career decisions of this group, the need for more systematic gifted education provisions within tertiary settings, and a prominent "brain drain" effect.

The motor and social skill difficulties experienced by many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can create challenges when participating in age appropriate physical activity contexts. Although behavioral interventions can increase the general social communicative skills of children with ASD, often the skills targeted are not relevant to physical activity contexts. Thus, this pilot study utilized a movement-based intervention program to support children with ASD in learning both social and movement skills that are relevant to physical activity contexts. Nineteen children with ASD with a mean age of 9.3 (±3.0) years participated in this program for 8 weeks, twice a week, at a recreation center as an afterschool activity. Six object control skills were selected and tested before and after the intervention because these gross motor skills were considered to elicit human interactions and place demands on social skills. Ten social skills were selected, aligned to each program context, taught, and evaluated. This intervention resulted in significant improvements in object-control skills for the participants. Additionally, there were significantly more participants who demonstrated improvements in their performance of the target social skills than who did not demonstrate improvements. These preliminary findings provide support for the feasibility of developing interventions that address social skill deficits in the context of physically active settings for children with ASD.