Australian Council for Educational Research

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), established in 1930, is an independent educational research organisation based in Camberwell, Victoria and with offices in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Dubai, London, Jakarta and New Delhi. ACER provides learning tools for students, develops and manages a range of testing and assessment services for the Australian education community, and conducts research and analysis in the education sector.

On 1 April 1930, two staff members, Ken Cunningham, the inaugural chief executive and secretary Mary Campbell, established ACER's first office in two rooms of the T&G building in central Melbourne. By the end of the 1930s ACER's total staff had expanded to five.

ACER was established with a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a foundation itself established "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding". Although the Carnegie grants were to benefit the people of the United States, a small percentage of the funds could be used for the same purpose in countries that were or had been members of the British Commonwealth. The grant to establish ACER was made following a visit to Australia by American James Russell on behalf of the Carnegie Corporation to assess the state of education in Australia and investigate appropriate means of assistance.

The official title 'Australian Educational Research Council' was first selected, but then changed at the first council meeting held in 1930 to Australian Council for Educational Research, which has not changed again since.

Today, ACER is an independent, not-for-profit organisation funded through contract work, fees for services and product sales. It has more than 400 staff working in its offices in Camberwell, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Dubai, London, Jakarta and New Delhi.

ACER research covers:

In addition to research, ACER administers testing programs for scholarship selection, university entrance, psychological and human resource management, some of which are delivered online. Test scoring and administration services are also available. Tests, books and other materials are also published and sold through ACER Press for the education, psychology, human resources, parent education, special needs and speech pathology markets. The ACER Institute is a registered higher education provider and manages an annual Research Conference.

ACER's research work has contributed to policy pertaining to Australian education, including the role of parents, the role of arts in education, teachers and school leaders, post-school education and training, tertiary students' engagement to equity in education.

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