Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER)

Acer


Overview of ACER and the CSPA

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) is an independent, not-for-profit research organisation.

Our mission is to create and promote research-based knowledge, products and services that can be used to improve learning across the lifespan.

ACER develops foundation skills assessments for vocational education and training learners, which includes the Core Skills Profile for Adults (CSPA) assessment tool. The CSPA was developed by ACER staff with high level expertise in the design of online post-school assessments in language, literacy and numeracy.

The CSPA is a set of secure online assessments mapped to the latest Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF). It provides an efficient, valid and reliable method for assessing the different stages of development of adult learners; from young school leavers to adults who are studying, working or returning to training and study. CSPA assesses across the full five performance levels of the ACSF. The CSPA assessment includes the following automatically scored components:

  • Reading
  • Numeracy
  • Writing
  • The Snapshot Reading and Numeracy Indicator (SRNI) tool.


Aspire and ACER are now working in partnership to promote Foundation Skills.

Stay tuned for some exciting joint projects!