Cultural context in standardised tests

Project Timeline:  2019-2022.

Rural and Indigenous students have a history of achieving lower than metropolitan and non-Indigenous students in standardised tests such as NAPLAN and PISA. However, standardised assessments have been argued to represent only dominant cultural knowledges and lack representation of rural or Indigenous knowledges. This study explores the impact of designing culturally contextualised tests on student tests scores in north western NSW. The tests have been designed to mimic NAPLAN tests and were written in consultation with the Aboriginal Education Consultative Group—the peak body for Aboriginal education in NSW.

This research involved a randomised controlled trial with 1135 Year 6 and Year 8 students in the Dubbo area in NSW. Half were randomly assigned to a control group that completed a series of NAPLAN reading and numeracy tests, and half were assigned to a treatment group that completed culturally contextualised tests specifically written for this purpose The tests were designed to be of equal difficulty.

This project aims to identify whether assessments which included culturally relevant examples and references would influence students’ achievement.

Publications

• Dobrescu, I., Holden, R., Motta, A., Piccoli, A., Roberts, P., & Walker, S. (2021). Cultural Context in Standardized Tests. (pp. 1-39). UNSW Press.http://www.edhub.unsw.edu.au/projects/cultural-context-in-education
• Baker, J. (2021). ‘What’s and avocado?’ Localising NAPLAN questions lifts scores. Sydney Morning Herald, December 13, 2021. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/what-s-an-avocado-localising-naplan-questions-lifts-scores-20211209-p59g8b.html
• Roberts, P. (2017). Pitch for funds 2017, Dr Philip Roberts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It6TlLltvgA
• Butler, M. (2017). UC researchers win over investors in 90 seconds https://www.canberra.edu.au/about-uc/media/newsroom/2017/october/uc-researchers-win-over-investors-in-90-seconds
• Dean, J. & Roberts, P. (2021). Knowledge, justice and equity: Access to the academic curriculum among Indigenous school students in Australia. In T. Neimann,  J. J. Felix, J. Shliakhovchuk, & L. L. Hindman (Eds.), Policy and Practice Challenges for Equality in Education. IGI Global.
• Roberts, P. (2021). Knowledge beyond the Metropole: Curriculum, Rurality and the Global South. In B. Green, P. Roberts, & M. Brennan (Eds.), Curriculum Challenges and Opportunities in a Changing World : Transnational Perspectives on Curriculum Inquiry (pp. 123-139). Palgrave Macmillan.
• Roberts, P., & Fuqua, M. (Eds.) (2021). Ruraling Education Research: Connections between Rurality and the Disciplines of Educational Research. Springer.
• Roberts, P. (2018). Looking for the Rural: Epistemic absences and cultural silence. In The Australian Curriculum: Promises, problems and possibilities (pp. 201-210). Australian Curriculum Studies Association.
• Roberts, P. (2017). A curriculum for whom? Rereading ‘Implementing the Australian Curriculum in Rural, Regional, Remote and Distance-Education Schools’ from a rural standpoint. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 27(1), 69-87. https://journal.spera.asn.au/index.php/AIJRE/article/view/108

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