Do numbers speak for themselves? Exploring the use of quantitative data to measure policy ‘success’ in historical Indigenous higher education in the Northern Territory, Australia

Street, Catherine; Guenther, John; Smith, James A.; Robertson, Kim; Ludwig, Wendy; Motlap, Shane Darren; Woodroffe, Tracy; Ober, Robyn; Gillan, Kevin; Larkin, Steve

doi:10.1080/13613324.2021.2019003

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…It is acknowledged that NAPLAN is a flawed measure of educational attainment and performance for Indigenous students, being linguistically and culturally unsuitable, particularly in remote communities (Wigglesworth et al, 2011). Quantitative metrics of education outcomes tend to be shaped by the context of structural racism in policy goals, and it is important to consider quantitative success metrics critically in light of this context (Street et al, 2022). However, notwithstanding these limitations, NAPLAN data are the best available data source with temporal and spatial coverage to investigate nation-wide patterns of educational performance among Indigenous students.…”

Section: National Testing Outcomes Over 10 Yearsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of educational performance among Indigenous students in Australia, 2010–2019: Within-cohort, peer matching analysis for data-led decision-making

Anderson,

Forbes,

Mengersen

et al. 2024

Australian Journal of Education

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Data reporting in the Australian education system produces deficit-based comparisons of academic achievement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. Since 2009, data from the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) have been used by the Australian government to allow it to report on ‘Closing the Gap’ policy. These data are used to justify government-funded initiatives designed to improve educational outcomes for Indigenous students. While the logic of this approach has political cachet, the ‘gaps’ have persisted. Instead, we propose using ‘within-cohort, peer matching’ quantitative methods to achieve such aspirational goals. Using publicly available NAPLAN data, we examined patterns of relative performance within the cohort of Indigenous students. We assessed trends in Indigenous students’ performance in NAPLAN relative to their Indigenous peers across grades (3, 5, 7, and 9), states and territories, remoteness categories, and calendar years from 2010 to 2019 inclusive. Key insights available through this approach include detailed patterns of higher and lower relative performance for Indigenous students within matched remoteness categories, across states and territories, and over time, laying the groundwork for further analyses of the local, systemic, and school-level factors associated with these differing outcomes. Our methods provide novel findings that justify changing the deficit assumption, supporting the use of within-cohort peer matching instead.

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Section: National Testing Outcomes Over 10 Yearsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of educational performance among Indigenous students in Australia, 2010–2019: Within-cohort, peer matching analysis for data-led decision-making

Anderson,

Forbes,

Mengersen

et al. 2024

Australian Journal of Education

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“…Acknowledging that all data cannot “speak for itself” and instead reflect the hegemonic (or dominating) power structures that created them, , we attempted to rectify some of the terminology used to identify student groups in a manner consistent with efforts in justice-oriented research specifically as they pertain to race and ethnicity. − These efforts included changing: (1) the gendered term “Hispanic or Latino” to a more inclusive “Hispanic or Latinx”; (2) the inaccurate, colonizing term of “American Indian or Alaska Native” to a respectful category acknowledging Indigeneity “First Nations”; and (3) the dehumanizing term “non-resident aliens” to the more geographically accurate term “International”. Unfortunately, we could not separate race and ethnicity as the original categories did not differentiate (e.g., these selections did not allow a student who identifies as Black to also identify as Hispanic or Latinx).…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advancing Equity in STEM: The Impact Assessment Design Has on Who Succeeds in Undergraduate Introductory Chemistry

Rosa

Scharlott

Schafer

et al. 2022

JACS Au

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What we as scientists and educators assess has a tremendous impact on whom we authorize to participate in science careers. Unfortunately, in critical gateway chemistry courses, assessments commonly emphasize and reward recall of disaggregated facts or performance of (often mathematical) skills. Such an emphasis marginalizes students based on their access to pre-college math preparation and misrepresents the intellectual work of chemistry. Here, we explore whether assessing intellectual work more authentic to the practice of chemistry (i.e., mechanistic reasoning) might support more equitable achievement. Mechanistic reasoning involves explaining a phenomenon in terms of interactions between lower scale entities (e.g., atoms and molecules). We collected 352 assessment tasks administered in college-level introductory chemistry courses across two universities. What was required for success on these tasks was rote math skills (165), mechanistic reasoning (36), neither (126), or both (25). Logistic regression models predict that the intellectual work emphasized on in an assessment could impact whether 15–20% of the cohort passes or fails. Whom does assessment emphasis impact most? Predicted pass rates for those often categorized as “at-risk” could be 67 or 93%, depending on whether their success was defined by rote calculation or mechanistic reasoning. Therefore, assessment transformation could provide a path toward advancing the relevance of our courses and educational equity.

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“…QuantCrit's origins from a CRT framework are important to contextualize given the backdrop on U.S. soil, where slavery and racial capitalism are inherent to the country's foundations and current functions of educational systems (Gerrard et al, 2022). Although a criticism of CRT may be in its American origins and therefore its lack of international underpinnings (Gathii, 2021), its tenets are globally applicable, as the social constructs of race and racism are not unique to the U.S. educational context (e.g., Street et al, 2022; Warmington, 2012). Theories such as CRT, neo-racism (Lee, 2007), decolonization, intersectionality, and QuantCrit are thus apt for a global context, as they are expansive and continually evolving alongside social movements (Yao et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A call for QuantCrit methodologies: Unpacking the need for a critical lens in school psychology research

D’Costa,

Grant,

Kulkarni

et al. 2023

School Psychology International

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School psychology has heavily relied on quantitative methodology to create and sustain our knowledge of best practices regarding academic, behavioral, and mental health outcomes for students. Nevertheless, underlying assumptions of the neutrality of quantitative data have obfuscated how school psychology research has perpetuated oppressive ideologies and practices, which directly harm students from marginalized identities. This paper demonstrates the need for employing a critical lens when engaging in and consuming school psychology research that utilizes quantitative methods. One such framework is QuantCrit, developed in the United Kingdom, which intentionally integrates Critical Race Theory tenets into the development, analysis, and interpretation of quantitative data. We explore specific examples of the insidious ways that ‘presumed neutral’ quantitative approaches have led to the perpetuation of oppressive practices in the following key areas of school psychology research: (a) discipline disproportionality, (b) special education disproportionality, and (c) school accountability metrics. Furthermore, we provide recommendations for both utilizing and publishing quantitative research that moves school psychologists towards more equitable practices for children and families across the globe.

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Do numbers speak for themselves? Exploring the use of quantitative data to measure policy ‘success’ in historical Indigenous higher education in the Northern Territory, Australia

Cited by 7 publications

References 21 publications

Patterns of educational performance among Indigenous students in Australia, 2010–2019: Within-cohort, peer matching analysis for data-led decision-making

Patterns of educational performance among Indigenous students in Australia, 2010–2019: Within-cohort, peer matching analysis for data-led decision-making

Advancing Equity in STEM: The Impact Assessment Design Has on Who Succeeds in Undergraduate Introductory Chemistry

A call for QuantCrit methodologies: Unpacking the need for a critical lens in school psychology research

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