Memorandum to Schools 99/2007

12 October 2007

Teacher Professional Learning: Assessment for Better Learning using AIM Data Service

The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) are providing a Teacher Professional Learning Program for the AIM Data Service. The program will be delivered by ACER’s Centre for Professional Learning and Kmetrics Consulting, at no cost to participants. The purpose of the Program is to support you in using your own school’s AIM data. The program, called Assessment for Better Learning using AIM Data, will focus on:

How classroom teachers can use the responses to questions on the AIM tests to inform them about the strengths and weaknesses of students in their classes,
How curriculum leaders and classroom teachers can use their school’s five-year trend data to analyse the long-term impact of their school’s learning programs.

This Teacher Professional Learning Program will be offered in two formats – a series of three-hour workshops to be delivered during October and November and a series of whole-day workshops to be delivered in late November and early December.

The three-hour workshops are for Principals, Year 3 and Year 5 classroom teachers, Year 7 and Year 9 English and Mathematics teachers and curriculum management leaders. This workshop will commence with a demonstration on how to access your data through the AIM Data Service website.

In 2007 your school’s AIM Data Report will be delivered via the AIM Data Service, accessible through the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority’s website. Note that your User ID and Password are the same as the ones issued to you in 2006. If you are unable to locate these, email vcaa.aim.help@edumail.vic.gov.au entering ‘AIM password request’ in the subject line

The central component of the workshop is designed to assist teachers to interpret their school’s data to inform classroom practice and improve student achievement. This component concentrates on the diagnostic elements of the AIM tests. The final segment of the workshop will have a ‘whole school’ focus concentrating on the interpretation of trend data to inform curriculum and school-wide policies. There will be opportunities for participants to reflect on their own school’s data and to seek clarification regarding interpretation of their data. To do this, schools are required to bring hard copies (or electronic copies already loaded onto your own laptop) of a selection of the 2007 AIM Data Reports.

No provision for on-line access is available at the three hour workshops. You are welcome to bring laptops with school’s AIM data already loaded.

Details about which reports to bring will be provided once participants have registered.

The whole-day workshops are specifically designed to support government schools undergoing a triennial review in the near future. However, non-government schools are also welcome to attend. The workshops will allow schools to work with their own school’s AIM results by undertaking a more comprehensive analysis of their data and reports. It is envisaged that participants would be able to prepare a detailed evaluation of student learning performance by attending this workshop. The whole-day workshops are designed for two staff members only from any one school, so early registration is recommended as numbers are strictly limited.

You and your staff are invited to participate in either:

one of the three-hour workshops, or
one of the whole-day workshops. (Staff attending the whole-day workshop need not attend a three-hour workshop.)

The workshops will be presented on behalf of the VCAA by ACER’s Centre for Professional Learning and Kmetrics Consulting at venues across Victoria . Workshop presenters will be either Peter Congdon (Kmetrics) or Dr Glenn Rowley (ACER).

Registration Instructions

Enclosed is a list of locations, venues, dates and times for both thethree-hour workshops and the whole-day workshops. Schools may elect to send a reasonable number of staff to any one of the three-hour workshops. Schools may elect to send a maximum of two staff to attend any one of the whole-day workshops. Please select the time and location most suitable to you and lodge your registration.

Your online registration is at: http://aim.acer.edu.au

On completion of your online registration, you will receive email confirmation of your booking and information on what to bring to the workshop. We suggest that you print,at the time of registration, a copy of your registration confirmation, a copy of the time and location of your workshop and the list of what to bring to the workshop.

Workshop details are also available on the VCAA website at www.vcaa.vic.edu.au and in the October 2007 VCAA Bulletin P-10.

Please note that places are strictly limited for the whole-day workshops and at some of the three-hour workshop venues, so bookings are essential.

I urge you to encourage your staff, particularly any new staff members who are less familiar with AIM testing, to participate in this valuable Teacher Professional Learning activity.

CONTACTS

If you have any queries please contact Margaret Taylor at ACER by email: taylor@acer.edu.au or telephone 9835 7403.

Attachment:

Schedule for 3 hour and full day workshops (PDF - 56KB)