New Metrics is a collaborative research venture between the University of Melbourne and selected forward-thinking schools to work in partnership to address the meta-problems faced by Australian schools today and in the future.
New Metrics is an opportunity for innovative school leaders to join with academic experts and international trailblazers to reimagine and influence schooling in Australia – to move away from the ‘grammar of schooling’ that continues to lock our schools into many of the distinctive features of the 20th century version of education.
Australian schooling is ready for a paradigm shift and the development of new metrics to assess, credential, and measure student, school and system success. Young people must now be educated and assessed in new ways so they are prepared for a very different future.
In this research-practice partnership, schools work with experts at Melbourne Metrics to access University technology to support the creation and validation of new metrics.
The partnership provides the opportunity to:
- work with progressive school leaders who have moved away from the traditional ‘grammar of schooling’
- generate new and validated assessment tools for complex competencies
- generate reports and learner profiles that recognise a broader range of what a learner knows and can do
- influence the development of new policy
- garner the necessary support to facilitate real change in schools
- connect with national and international networks of like-minded leaders.
Participants in New Metrics work together on solutions to the big challenges that face Australian education, industry and partner schools. These challenges vary but often stem from the traditional organisation of learning, which includes:
- curriculum devised around discipline content areas;
- reliance on summative examinations to gauge success;
- use of standardised testing in narrow areas of attainment to determine overall success; and
- timetables organised around short time periods of instruction provided principally by subject experts.
The work of New Metrics involves:
Align
Promoting alignment of policy and system reward is influencing the development of new ideas about metrics for success for learners, schools and systems.
Grow
Building the capacity and reputation of participants as innovative and progressive leaders.
Support
Accessing University technology and researchers to support the generation, collation and analysis of school-based data.
Promote
Schools working with the University to develop and publish case studies that promote the program and the schools’ innovations.
Educate
Professional learning for school staff to build their capacity to be leaders in the assessment and recognition of complex competencies.
Network
Participating in a range of events, including face-to-face and online seminars with University academics, industry leaders, system-level leaders, educational influencers and innovative school leaders.
Collaborate
Collaboration with a wide range of schools, across systems and states/territories within Australia.
School partners have the opportunity to share their progress, receive critical feedback, and establish relationships with a range of schools, experts and influencers from across the education sector.
New Metrics 2025 Partner Schools
The University is continually updating and advancing support resources for partner schools.
New Metrics has developed resource kits to support the assessment and recognition of a range of complex competencies. These resource kits are designed to be used in conjunction with the University's assessment platform to assess a learner's level of attainment and growth in an area of competence. New Metrics resource kits contain:
- competence definitions
- breakdowns of 'elements' of competence
- sample learning progressions
- sample indicative behaviours
- guidance on designing opportunities for evidence collection
Sample resources
Please find here a sample resource kit for Agency in Learning and a compilation of some ‘taster’ resources for additional competencies, including:
- Acting Ethically
- Active Citizenship
- Agency in Learning
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Personal Development
- Quality Thinking
More than a mark: how to measure learning success without ranks and tests
On 20 September 2022, MGSE Dean's Lecture Series invited Professor Sandra Milligan to explain new ways of assessing and credentialing, along with what they mean for learners, their teachers, employers and tertiary selectors. Professor Milligan amplified the New Metrics work by paying homage to the New Metrics research-practice partnership schools and the big challenge that they are tackling.
Introductory webinar
In 2020, schools that had expressed an interest were invited to an introductory webinar in October with Enterprise Professor Sandra Milligan, Professor Yong Zhao and Laureate Professor John Hattie.
The New Metrics portal
For Existing New Metrics schools
Access the partnership's online resources and seminars
Please note: For issues relating to the partner portal, please contact New Metrics support.
Australian school teams are invited to join the University’s community, contribute to an influential evidence-base, and broaden the assessment and recognition of complex competencies in their learners.
By invitation only, school partners work alongside University academics at the global cutting-edge to:
- develop, test and refine new metrics
- advance the cross-sectorial national agenda for improved and broader recognition systems
- generate customisable learner profiles for their students
- Engage directly with policy-makers, industry leaders and global innovative practitioners
2025 intake
Enquiries relating to joining the New Metrics research-practice partnership in 2025 are currently closed. We encourage you to fill in our Expression of Interest Form so to be kept up to date once opportunities for 2026 become available.
In the meantime, we invite you to become a member of our Melbourne Assessment Community to gain access to our collection of assessment materials and tools, and to join the growing eco-system of educators leveraging the assessment and reporting of complex competencies to transform schooling.
Express your interest by contacting new-metrics@unimelb.edu.au