Melbourne City Mission commissioned researchers from the Victoria Institute for Education, Diversity and Lifelong Learning at Victoria University to evaluate the Melbourne Academy during 2014, focusing on:
whether and how students are ‘better off’ as a consequence of attending the Melbourne Academy,
distinctive aspects of the Melbourne Academy model.
The project drew on a range of data sources: interviews with 20 students, 13 staff and 2 parents; photographs and notes associated with a creative student project in 3 classrooms; observation notes; a semi-quantitative questionnaire with 29 students; staff ratings of student engagement at two time points in 2014, for 41 students; and documentation made available by Melbourne City Mission.