Sarah Buckley

Dr Sarah Buckley is a Research Fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). During her time at ACER, Sarah has been involved with the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). Sarah was second author on the 2010 Closing the Gap Clearinghouse Issues paper Indigenous School Attendance and Retention with Nola Purdie and recently co-authored a discussion paper for the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC). In early 2011, Sarah was part of an ACER team commissioned by the COAG Reform Council to investigate Year 12 attainment rates for Indigenous students.

Prior to working at ACER, Sarah completed her PhD in psychology at the University of Melbourne, investigating the effects of peer relationships on adolescents’ academic motivation using contemporary social network modelling. Sarah has presented at national and international conferences and in 2008 won first prize in the Australian Association for Research in Education’s annual student travel awards. In addition to this experience, Sarah has been a guest lecturer at the University of Melbourne in the education department, a data analyst for the education department at Monash University and a research assistant in the psychology department at the University of Melbourne.