Assessment and Measurement SIG

This SIG was launched at the Brisbane conference in December 2002 to provide a forum where AARE members with an interest in assessment and measurement can meet to discuss relevant research and its implications for practice. AARE conferences generally have an assessment and measurement program strand and this group intends that this aspect of educational research should continue to be prominent.

The SIG is open to any member of AARE who has an interest in any aspects of assessment, and quantitative approaches to research in this area. It is not limited to measurement "experts", and a warm welcome is extended to those who would like to know more about what is happening in the area of assessment in all areas of education. This includes vocational education, where there is a strong emphasis on assessment, as well as large and small scale research in school education, including classroom and psychological assessments. We welcome the opportunity to share experiences with our New Zealand colleagues in Auckland at the 2003 conference and again at the 2004 conference in Melbourne.

The first AGM will be held at the joint NZARE-AARE 2003 conference in Auckland on Monday 1 December 2003. The time and venue for meeting will be announced in the Conference Program (available on the AARE web site prior to the Conference).

AGM of the AARE Measurement & Assessment SIG

December 1st 2003

[Note: Although the current name for this SIG is "Assessment and Measurement" the name at the time of this AGM was "Measurement and Assessment".]

Agenda

Apologies

Minutes of the inaugural meeting, December 2002, Brisbane (See below)

Matters arising not scheduled to be dealt with later in the agenda.

Reports

Future activities

Draft operating principles for discussion (John Izard)

Election of officers for 2004

Any other business

Australian Association for Research in Education

Minutes of the Initial Meeting of the Measurement and Assessment SIG held at the University of Queensland on 5 December 2002

This meeting of interested members of AARE was convened by Professor Patrick Griffin of the University of Melbourne. Professor Griffin opened the proceedings by welcoming those present and outlining the proposed purposes of the SIG.

• Providing a focus for assessment specialist members of AARE
• Advancement of systematic assessment research
• Facilitating publication of sound assessment research
• Ensuring that assessment strategies were valid, relevant and ethical
• Maintain contact with other agencies with an assessment focus or a significant component of assessment

He stated that the AARE had no current arrangements for a gathering of assessment specialist members, that the work of such AARE members was not represented adequately in the Association's journal (AER), and that the SIG would need to make an impact on both small "p" and capital "P" politics to ensure that measurement and assessment in educational research was valid, relevant and ethical.

The meeting elected three AARE members to form the Executive Committee for the SIG. These were Chair (John Izard, RMIT University), Program (Trevor Bond, James Cook University), and Secretary (Rosemary Callingham, University of New England).

As the SIG was part of AARE, the constitution, membership, and activities would be bound by the AARE constitution and associated regulations.

The new Executive Committee agreed to investigate links with other agencies with an assessment focus (both in Australia and overseas), to explore working rules for this SIG to ensure continuity, and to maintain contact with the AARE SIG Coordinator (currently is Dr Jennifer Sumsion of the Institute of Early Childhood at Macquarie University, New South Wales). They also agreed to act to ensure the continuation of an assessment and measurement program strand in all AARE annual conferences.

Suggestions were made about improving the access to assessment-related AARE publications on the AARE web site.

After those present agreed that the next Annual General Meeting of the SIG should be in Auckland at the joint NZARE-AARE conference in November-December 2003, the meeting closed.