Expert panel says Brightpath meets a national need

There are not many Edtech start-ups that could hope to be identified as meeting a national need, but that is what has happened for Brightpath. 

A recent expert panel identified Brightpath as one of the few tools ‘aligned with well-constructed learning progressions and capable of providing information about the points students have reached in their learning and the growth they have made over time.’

The panel stipulated that the development of an on-line assessment resource should not replace assessment resources, such as Brightpath, which are already available to schools.

Background to the panel’s recommendation
In March 2018, the Commonwealth government published the Through Growth to Achievement: Report of the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools report which recommended ways that Australia could improve student outcomes. The review recommended that:

• Schools measure student growth, not student achievement.
• Teachers be given practical support by creating an online, formative assessment tool to help diagnose a student's current level of knowledge, skill and understanding, to identify the next steps in learning to achieve the next stage in growth, and to track student progress over time against a typical development trajectory.

Following the publication of the Gonski report, the Commonwealth Minister for Education and Training established an expert reference panel to reflect on the Gonski recommendations and to assist in developing a shared vision for implementing these recommendations.

Hattie, Masters and Cawsey appointed to the panel
Professor John Hattie, Professor Geoff Masters and Christine Cawsey, were appointed to the panel.

Consistent with the recommendations made in the Gonski review, Hattie, Masters and Cawsey, identified that work needed to be undertaken to develop:

• Learning progressions that describe developmental pathways along which students typically progress in their learning over time,
• Assessment Resources that are provided on-demand and which provide teachers with additional information about the points students have achieved in their learning, and learning growth over time. The panel recommended that these resources needed to provide teachers with formative and summative interpretations about student progress and should provide teachers with information about the next steps in learning.
• High quality professional learning that focussed on the use of the assessment resources to plan better teaching and learning.

The expert panel identified Brightpath as one of the few tools ‘aligned with well-constructed learning progressions and capable of providing information about the points students have reached in their learning and the growth they have made over time.’ The panel stipulated that the development of an on-line assessment resource should not replace assessment resources, such as Brightpath, which are already available to schools.