Funded by the Australian Government, the ACT Department of Education and Training (DET), the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn Catholic Education Office (CEO), and the Association of Independent Schools (AIS) of the ACT, in partnership with the University of Tasmania, developed a comprehensive assessment regime to inform numeracy teaching and learning that could be applied across the whole school.
A variety of alternative modes of assessment were used including Checklists, Student Journals, Interviews, Portfolios and Work Samples, Observations, Use of Rubrics to Assess Problem-Solving, Assessment of Attitudes as well as widening the scope and formats of Written Tests.
The project also developed a website, Assessable Moments 
, as a professional development resource for teachers.
Report: PDF 
(954.9 KB), RTF 
(638.1 KB)
Year published: 2005
The Commonwealth has commissioned the Australian Council for Educational Research to undertake a longitudinal study examining the practices and learning experiences that support the early numeracy development of children in the year before school (2002) and the first year of schooling (2003-4). The title of the project is Project Good Start. It will report in 2004.
This edition of A Survey of Current Australian Strategies in Numeracy (2001) follows on from the previous edition which surveyed numeracy strategies current in 1999. Updating the document was undertaken as part of Project Good Start. It provides information on numeracy initiatives and strategies in place in Government and Catholic schools in all States and Territories.
Year Published: 2001
PDF (456.4 KB)
The Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training commissioned the Catholic Education South Australia Office numeracy report to undertake an investigation of effective constructivist teaching strategies to support students in improving their numeracy outcomes. The project investigated how teachers can best assist students to use their previous learning and experience to build and develop their understanding of mathematics and numeracy concepts.
Report: PDF (3.6 MB)
Appendix A: PDF (3.1 MB)
Year published: 2005
The Australian Government commissioned the Tasmanian Department of Education, the Catholic Education Office (Tasmania) and the Association of Independent Schools of Tasmania, in partnership with the University of Tasmania, to explore introducing students to informal written computation methods.
The project found that developing computation led to:
- improvements in mental computation results for the students involved in the project in all grade levels and gender groups (boys, girls and combined); and
- a marked improvement in students’ attitudes to mental computation and in students’ confidence in their mental computational ability.
Report: PDF (1.0 MB)
The project also developed the Developing Computation booklet, as a professional development resource for teachers. For a hard copy of the booklet, phone 03 6233 7033 or email denise.neal@education.tas.gov.au
Booklet: PDF (2.1 MB)
Year published: 2005
The University of Queensland conducted the project to explore the links between home, school and community that support students' numeracy development. Australia-wide data was collected on the distribution and scope of current numeracy partnerships programmes and practices using a combination of surveys, interviews, and case studies.
Year published: 2004
Home, School and Community Partnerships
The National Numeracy Review, commissioned by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) is an independent review undertaken by a panel of experts led by Professor Gordon Stanley. The report informs best practice for teaching numeracy and mathematics. The report identified 15 recommendations with a focus on:
- the need for early, systematic teaching of numeracy and mathematics that includes assessment activities to ensure that all students have the foundational skills to progress through a developmental continuum; and
- increasing resources for teachers in terms of professional development and pre-service teacher education to address the identified shortfalls in both mathematics content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge to ensure quality teaching of numeracy and mathematics across the curriculum.
Funded by the Australian Government, the Western Australian Department of Education and Training, The Western Australian Catholic Education Office and the Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia in association with Murdoch, Curtin and Edith Cowan Universities and Redgum Consulting Pty Ltd investigated the teaching of student numeracy across the whole curriculum in Year 5 and Year 7 in WA primary schools.
Teachers were encouraged to recognise that numeracy is not just knowing and doing mathematics in the mathematics lesson, but that it underpins learning in other areas of the curriculum. Teachers came to see numeracy as important, and at times essential, for understanding and learning in cross-curricula situations.
The project presents practical ideas for improving the teaching of numeracy across the curriculum drawn from suggestions by project teachers and from the literature review. Strategies to identify and analyse numeracy situations arising in the classroom have been derived from teacher experience as the project progressed.
Report: PDF (2.2 MB)
Appendices: PDF (3.5 MB)
Brochure: PDF (767.9 KB)
Year published: 2005
The report sets out the Commonwealth's policies and support for schools, teachers and parents in providing a rich numeracy environment for children, particularly in their primary years.
Year Published: 2000
PDF (295.6 KB), RTF (372.9 KB)
As part of its commitment to improving students’ numeracy outcomes, the Australian Government engaged the Western Australian Department of Education to develop a poster and three brochures aimed at promoting the importance of numeracy to parents. The brochures have been translated into fifteen community languages.
Brochures: HTML
Year Published: 2003
Project Good Start was conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), under the direction of Dr Ken Rowe. Funded under the Grants for National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies and Projects Programme, project Good Start forms part of the national strand of the Australian Government’s Numeracy Research and Development Initiative.
Project Good Start investigated the effectiveness of numeracy programmes for Australian children in the year before school and the first year of schooling. Qualitative and quantitative data was collected from pre-schools, early childhood centres and primary schools, to investigate the practice and learning experiences that best support children’s early numeracy development.
Year published: 2005
Project Good Start
The overview document presents key findings and information from the $7 million Australian Government Numeracy Research and Development Initiative, one of several initiatives introduced by the Australian Government to support literacy and numeracy development. The initiative comprised two complementary strands and a strategic States and Territories projects strand. The purpose of these projects was to investigate a broad range of teaching and learning strategies that lead to improved numeracy outcomes.
Numeracy research and development initiative 2001-2004 – An overview of numeracy projects
Year published: 2005
This project was funded by the Australian Government and undertaken by the South Australian Department of Education and Children's Services, in conjunction with the South Australian Primary Principals Association and Flinders University.
The project developed a ‘profile’ of structural, cultural and teaching practices contributing to improved numeracy outcomes based on an investigation of four schools achieving good numeracy outcomes. The ‘profile’ is available online at the South Australian Literacy and Numeracy network .
Report: PDF (3.9 MB)
Year published: 2005
The Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training commissioned the Victorian Department of Education and Training, the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria and the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria to undertake a project to identify effective classroom teaching approaches in mathematics for primary school students in a range of Victorian schools. The project was conducted in partnership with a research team from RMIT University from September 2001 to April 2003.
The major outcome of this research is the identification, description and elaboration of twelve scaffolding practices that contribute to improved student learning outcomes. These practices describe a range of communicative practices that teachers use to support students’ mathematics learning. They can be selected and used appropriate to purpose, for example, to explore / make explicit what is known, challenge / extend students’ mathematical thinking, demonstrate the use of a mathematical instrument, or to assist students arrive at a key generalisation. In particular, they support teachers to make more informed decisions about how they will meet the learning needs of all students in the most appropriate way possible.
Report: HTML
Year Published: 2005
Teachers enhancing numeracy was the research focus of a cross-sectoral project funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training and undertaken by Education Queensland, the Queensland Catholic Education Commission and The Association of Independent Schools of Queensland Inc. in conjunction with a consortium of four Queensland universities.
The project aimed to determine the elements of learning environments that promote enhanced student numeracy outcomes. The key elements were:
- teacher mathematics knowledge;
- teacher pedagogy knowledge;
- school and classroom planning;
- active learning environments;
- effective classroom enquiry and teacher student classroom engagement; and
- professional development.
The project involved significant professional development activities with researchers collaborating with and mentoring teachers with a view to improving student numeracy outcomes.
Report: PDF (747.4 KB)
Year published: 2005
Understanding place value: A case study of the Base Ten Game was the research focus of nine teachers from five diverse schools in the independent sector in South Australia. The project explored the role of a commonly used teaching activity, referred to in this report as the Base Ten Game, in developing children’s understanding of our number system.
Report: PDF (522.9 KB)
Year published: 2004
The Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training commissioned the New South Wales Department of Education and Training, Catholic Education Commission, New South Wales and the Association of Independent Schools of New South Wales Ltd to investigate what numeracy practices in NSW schools were achieving outstanding numeracy results. The project then trialled these practices in schools that wished to improve their numeracy outcomes.
In order to measure changes in the numeracy outcomes of students the project developed a numeracy assessment instrument for students in Kindergarten to Year 6. This involved testing of over 3,000 primary school students. The scaled assessment instrument can be used to assess school numeracy development in a range of contexts.
An important outcome of the project was the finding that quality professional development of teachers that improves their specific knowledge of numeracy teaching and their ability to direct and embrace change leads to measurable improvements in the numeracy outcomes of students. The key practices that lead to improved student outcomes within the classroom, throughout the school and beyond the school are described.
Eight New South Wales universities were involved in the project research.
Report: PDF (1.3 MB)
Appendices: PDF (8.1 MB)
Year Published: 2005