First NAPLAN online test brings nerves and some technical glitches
More than 1 million Australian students are sitting the NAPLAN tests his week, and for the first time, they are taking it online. Around 25 percent of NSW schools are running NAPLAN online tests for the first time this year. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority aims to move all schools online for NAPLAN by 2020. Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham stood by the Naplan tests amidst growing criticisms on its effectiveness. “NAPLAN is here for the long-term, to keep a focus on basic literacy and numeracy skills,” Mr Birmingham said.
Read more at: SMH
THE Emerging Economies University Rankings 2018: China’s haves and have-nots
To promote the development of Chinese universities in top global rankings, the Chinese government has been offering different incentive schemes to a select group of institutions. A new strategy that has been rolled out is the “Double World Class Project,” which identifies elite universities and academic disciplines for investment. In September, the Ministry of Education has published the names of 42 universities it will support to achieve ‘world-class’ status and 95 institutions that have been chosen to develop top world class discipline in strategic areas. In the 2018 Times Higher Education, 61 Chinese institutions made the top 300 rankings, up from 52 in 2017.
Read more at: THE
Ministry of Education Bans the Idolization of China’s Top Gaokao Scorers
In a statement released last week, the Ministry of Education in China has decreed that it is now forbidden to idolize top scorers of China’s National Higher Education Entrance Exams, or gaokao. The Gaokao has always been a big phenomenon in Chinese society, each year with over 9 million students undertaking the test and only 100 people or less coming out as top scorers. It is a huge event that always attracts nationwide attention both online and offline. “It is strictly prohibited to give publicity to gaokao top scorers,” the head of the Ministry of Education, Chen Baosheng (陈宝生), was quoted saying by various state media outlets on Weibo, adding that “those who do so anyway will be dealt with accordingly.”
Read more at: Whatsonweibo
China-based online education companies just launched an aggressive hiring spree in search of U.S. teachers
The five-year-old VIPKid, which reportedly raised $200 million in fresh funding last summer at a $1.5 billion valuation listed openings for thousands of U.S. teachers, from Jacksonville Beach, Florida, to Saint Joseph, Missouri, to Carmel, Indiana. VIPKid — which is backed by Sequoia Capital, Learn Capital, and an investment firm cofounded by Alibaba’s Jack Ma, among others — says it already works with more than 30,000 teachers.
Read more at: TechCrunch