ACER

History

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.

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.

CEOs

CEO ACER India: Dr Priyanka Sharma (Acting)

Country Manager ACER Malaysia: Kris Sundarsagar

CEO ACER UAE: Aya Rajakaruna

CEO ACER UK: Colin Watson

Organisational structure

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, London, Melbourne, New Delhi, Perth and Sydney.

ACER's work

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). 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 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.

ACER's research work has contributed to policy pertaining to Australian education, including learning progressions, the role of parents, the role of arts in education, teachers and school leaders, post-school education and training, tertiary students' engagement to equity in education.

Well-known tests

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

Progressive Achievement Tests

International Benchmark Tests

International Schools Assessment

ACER Scholarship Tests

Special Tertiary Admissions Test (STAT)

GAMSAT

HPAT-Ireland

Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education Students