Australian Council for Educational Research

On 1 April 1930, two staff members, Ken Cunningham, the inaugural chief executive and secretary Mary Campbell, established ACER's first office in two rooms of the T&G building in central Melbourne. By the end of the 1930s ACER's total staff had expanded to five.

ACER was established with a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a foundation itself established "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding". Although the Carnegie grants were to benefit the people of the United States, a small percentage of the funds could be used for the same purpose in countries that were or had been members of the British Commonwealth. The grant to establish ACER was made following a visit to Australia by American James Russell on behalf of the Carnegie Corporation to assess the state of education in Australia and investigate appropriate means of assistance.{{cite web|url=http://www.acer.edu.au/about-us|title=About Us: Australian Council for Educational Research}}

The official title 'Australian Educational Research Council' was first selected, but then changed at the first council meeting held in 1930 to Australian Council for Educational Research, which has not changed again since.

CEO ACER India: Amit Kaushik

Director ACER Indonesia: Mariam Kartikatresni

Country Manager ACER Malaysia: Kris Sundarsagar

CEO ACER UAE: Dr Jarrod Hingston (Acting)

CEO ACER UK: Colin Watson

ACER is an independent, not-for-profit organisation funded through contract work, fees for services and product sales. It has 500 staff working in its offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Cyberjaya, Dubai, Jakarta, London, Melbourne, New Delhi, Perth and Sydney.

After an early focus on Australian education, ACER now provides a range of services for an expanding number of international clients.

ACER has official partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).{{Cite web|url=https://en.unesco.org/partnerships/non-governmental-organizations/list|title = Non-Governmental Organizations}} ACER collaborates with UNESCO through the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the UNESCO Office in Bangkok on initiatives such as the development of learning assessments for reading and mathematics, and associated tools and methodologies, that countries can use to monitor learning outcomes to inform educational policy.

ACER also works with organisations such as UNICEF, the World Bank, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Indian Central Board of Secondary Education and the United Kingdom Department for International Development, contributing to educational evaluation and reform in a number of countries. ACER is involved in the [http://www.seaplm.org/seaplm/ South East Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM)] project, which assesses reading, writing, maths and global citizenship in Grade 5 students in the ASEAN region, in collaboration with the South East Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO) and UNICEF.

ACER research covers:

• Assessment and reporting: humanities, social sciences, mathematics and science
• Australian and international surveys
• Education and development
• Education policy and practice
• Psychometrics and methodology
• Systemwide testing
• Tertiary education

Some of ACER's work is conducted through its Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Centre.{{Cite web |title=Global Education Monitoring Centre - ACER |url=https://www.acer.org/au/gem |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=www.acer.org}}

ACER's research work has contributed to policy{{Cite web|url=https://research.acer.edu.au/policyinsights/|title = Policy Insights from ACER's Centre for Education Policy and Practice | Publications | Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER)}}{{cite news | last=Milburn |first=Caroline |url=http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/taking-research-to-the-top-of-its-class-20100409-rxja.html | title=Taking research to the top of its class |newspaper=The Age |date=12 April 2010 |accessdate=10 February 2011 |location=Melbourne}} pertaining to Australian education, including learning progressions,{{Cite web|url=https://rd.acer.org/article/the-role-of-learning-progressions-in-global-scales|title=The role of learning progressions in global scales}} the role of parents,{{cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/meet-the-most-important-person-in-your-childs-schooling--you-20110204-1agpc.html |location=Melbourne |work=The Age |first=Elisabeth |last=Tarica |title=Meet the most important person in your child's schooling – you |date=7 February 2011}} the role of arts in education,{{cite news |url=http://www.portnews.com.au/news/local/news/general/arts-can-be-key-to-a-good-education/2048573.aspx |title=Arts can be key to a good education |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110413164448/http://www.portnews.com.au/news/local/news/general/arts-can-be-key-to-a-good-education/2048573.aspx |archivedate=13 April 2011 |accessdate=1 July 2013}} teachers and school leaders,{{cite news |last=Johnston |first=Megan |url=http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/outstanding-teachers-fight-for-recognition-20100620-ypcg.html | title=Outstanding teachers fight for recognition |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=21 June 2010 |accessdate=10 February 2011}} post-school education and training,{{cite news| url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/school-not-the-key-to-workplace-success/2009/01/19/1232213540916.html |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |title=School not the key to workplace success |date=20 January 2009}} tertiary students' engagement{{cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/national/students-waver-off-course-20090424-ai3z.html |location=Melbourne |work=The Age |first=Dan |last=Harrison |title=Students waver off course |date=25 April 2009}} to equity in education.{{cite news|url=http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=11573|author=Tom Greenwell|title=Public funds, private schools|newspaper=ON LINE opinion - Australia's on-line e-journal of social and political debate}}

A consortium led by ACER coordinated the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), an international assessment of reading, mathematics and science, from 1997 until 2015. The OECD appointed ACER to lead the development and implementation of the PISA 2025 across more than 90 countries and economies, working with partners TAO, cApStAn and HallStat.{{Cite news |title=ACER to lead PISA 2025 |language=en |work=Australian Council for Educational Research - ACER |url=https://www.acer.org/au/discover/article/acer-to-lead-2025-programme-for-international-student-assessment |access-date=2022-10-21}} ACER was engaged by the OECD to lead the first ever Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO){{cite web|url=http://www.oecd.org/document/28/0,3746,en_2649_39263238_46565916_1_1_1_1,00.html|title=Who's who in AHELO: The governance of the project and the various groups involve}} and to develop all of the new literacy tasks for the Programme of International Assessment of Adult Competencies.{{cite journal|url=http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/48/5/41529787.pdf|first=Andreus|last=Schleicher|title=PIAAC: A new strategy for assessing adult competencies|journal=International Review of Education|date=2008|volume=54|issue=5–6|pages=627–650|doi=10.1007/s11159-008-9105-0|bibcode=2008IREdu..54..627S |s2cid=31095038}}

ACER is also responsible for co-ordinating Australia's participation in the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement's Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study. ACER has been involved in many other significant international studies and is a founding member of the Asia Pacific Educational Research Association (APERA) which links educational research organisations across the region.

In addition to research, ACER administers testing programs for scholarship selection, university entrance, psychologists and human resource management, some of which are delivered online. Tests, books and other materials are also published and sold through ACER Press for the education, psychology, human resources, special needs and speech pathology markets.

ACER offers a Masters-level unit in Understanding Rasch Measurement Theory. ACER also manages an annual research conference held in Australia each year.{{Cite web|url=https://research.acer.edu.au/research_conferences/|title = ACER Research Conference is held annually. Conference proceedings are available for downloading. | Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) Research | ACEReSearch}}

ACER develops or administers a large range of tests. Some of the more well-known tests include:

• [https://www.acer.org/au/pat Progressive Achievement Tests]
• [https://ibt.acer.org/ International Benchmark Tests]
• [https://www.acer.org/au/isa International Schools Assessment]
• [https://www.acer.org/au/scholarship ACER Scholarship Tests]
• Special Tertiary Admissions Test (STAT)
• GAMSAT
• [https://hpat-ireland.acer.org/ HPAT-Ireland]
• [https://teacheredtest.acer.edu.au/ Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education Students]

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.acer.org Australian Council for Educational Research website]
• [http://research.acer.edu.au/ ACER online research repository]
• [http://www.hpat-ireland.acer.edu.au HPAT -Ireland]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Council For Educational Research}}

Category:Educational organisations based in Australia

Category:Research organisations in Australia

Category:Organizations established in 1930

Category:Organisations based in Melbourne