New publications

This paper provides an explanation of the National Plan for School Improvement (NPSI) school funding model, including the new funding that will be provided to participating education systems and schools and the Australian Government’s funding for schools. Adapted from Introduction.

The Speak Up National Research Project aims to give K–12 students a voice in critical conversations, and to provide their parents, teachers and administrators new insights about the expectations and aspirations of these newly minted digital learners. Now in its tenth year, the annual Speak Up National Research Project and the resulting trends analysis provides a bird's-eye view of the changing environment for digital learning, both in and out of school. As the digital learner has emerged over the past ten years, there has been a significant shift in the student perspective on using technology for learning. To bring new insights and context to this digital learning metamorphosis, From Chalkboards to Tablets: The Emergence of the K–12 Digital Learner examines the current views of students from Kindergarten through 12th grade, with a special look at digital learners in years 3, 6, 9 and 12. Adapted from publisher's description, linked to the full report online.

School and community learning partnerships have been part of school life for decades. This publication captures the stories of some of those school-community partnerships with the aim to share their experiences and reflections for building effective school-community partnerships for sustainability. From Foreward. The guide book is available online.

For more than a decade, The Wallace Foundation has worked with states and districts to develop and test ways to improve school leadership in order to promote better teaching and learning. Improving the often-weak training of principals has been central to that work. Drawing on new research and lessons from the field, this report updates a 2008 Wallace report, Becoming A Leader: Preparing Principals for Today's Schools. It takes a fresh look at the continuing progress and lingering challenges of providing every school with leaders who have the necessary preparation to help all children succeed as learners. Adapted from report.

Principals new to their school face a variety of challenges that can influence their likelihood of improving their schools' performance and their likelihood of remaining the principal. This report examines the actions and perceived working conditions of first-year principals, relating information on those factors to subsequent school achievement and principal retention. The study is based on multiple sources of data. The authors found that over one fifth of new principals leave within two years, and those placed in schools that failed to meet adequate yearly progress targets are more likely to leave. There were no strong relationships among principals' time allocation, student achievement, and retention. Teacher capacity and cohesiveness were the school and district conditions most strongly related to student outcomes. Principals' reported future plans were not strongly related to retention. From report abstract, linked to full report online.

Strong economic and income growth has played a critical role in improving living standards and employment opportunities, but some people continue to experience deep and persistent disadvantage. Between 2001 and 2010, just under three per cent of Australians aged 15 years plus experienced deep social exclusion for five or more years and just under one per cent for seven years or more. Of particular policy relevance, the authors find that a child's early years are fundamental to shaping their life chances; education is a foundation capability; and employment is the route out of disadvantage for most people of working age. Adapted from media release. The full report is available online.