Maintaining a precise, invariant unit in state, national and international educational assessment. School achievement testing is a high stakes activity for state and national governments, not just for school students. Significant educational policy decisions turn on comparisons of test results over time, and among states and nations. These decisions rest on assumptions about the validity and precision of national testing. In particular, current measurement systems assume that assessment scales h ....Maintaining a precise, invariant unit in state, national and international educational assessment. School achievement testing is a high stakes activity for state and national governments, not just for school students. Significant educational policy decisions turn on comparisons of test results over time, and among states and nations. These decisions rest on assumptions about the validity and precision of national testing. In particular, current measurement systems assume that assessment scales have common units. Empirically, it is clear that many factors can compromise this assumption, making it rarely justified. This study will serve the national interest by building the theory and technology necessary to solve this problem.Read moreRead less
Maintaining invariant scales in state, national and international level assessments. Large scale assessments involve comparisons between countries, states within a country, and within these over time. For many reasons, identical items cannot be administered to every student. Nevertheless, the items must operate invariantly across groups. The Rasch models, which have invariance as an intrinsic property, are powerful in checking for such invariance. This project brings the basic research of the ....Maintaining invariant scales in state, national and international level assessments. Large scale assessments involve comparisons between countries, states within a country, and within these over time. For many reasons, identical items cannot be administered to every student. Nevertheless, the items must operate invariantly across groups. The Rasch models, which have invariance as an intrinsic property, are powerful in checking for such invariance. This project brings the basic research of the Chief Investigators to the industry partners to study, apply and document ways in which violations of Rasch models and different data collection formats are reflected as changes of scale, and how these might be controlled both statistically and empirically.Read moreRead less
Maximising Real Educational ACHievement - The REACH Project: Integrating Motivation and Self-concept to Optimise Students Academic Outcomes at School. The OECD reports that academic motivation and self-concept underlie young people's educational success, affect their long-term health and wellbeing, and also impact on economic outcomes at a national level. Through enhancing students' academic motivation and self-concept, the Real Educational ACHievement (REACH) Project will develop and sustain ac ....Maximising Real Educational ACHievement - The REACH Project: Integrating Motivation and Self-concept to Optimise Students Academic Outcomes at School. The OECD reports that academic motivation and self-concept underlie young people's educational success, affect their long-term health and wellbeing, and also impact on economic outcomes at a national level. Through enhancing students' academic motivation and self-concept, the Real Educational ACHievement (REACH) Project will develop and sustain achievement that encompasses not only academic grades but also enhanced engagement, satisfaction in learning, attendance, participation, and aspirations. REACH will guide and support young Australians to achieve to their potential and through this Australian society as a whole will gain substantial educational, economic, labour market, health, and social benefits.Read moreRead less
Adolescent Gambling: Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Opportunities for Controls and Interventions. This research will contribute to both scientific knowledge and public policy in an area of considerable public concern. It will measure the prevalence of gambling among adolescents in the ACT, and identify the proportion of youth with actual or potential gambling problems. It will assess their degree of exposure to gambling advertising and their awareness of services for young problem gamblers. The p ....Adolescent Gambling: Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Opportunities for Controls and Interventions. This research will contribute to both scientific knowledge and public policy in an area of considerable public concern. It will measure the prevalence of gambling among adolescents in the ACT, and identify the proportion of youth with actual or potential gambling problems. It will assess their degree of exposure to gambling advertising and their awareness of services for young problem gamblers. The project will also identify risk factors for problem gambling, and protective factors and policy opportunities for the reduction of problem gambling. It will also contribute to methodological knowledge by assessing the validity of multiple measures of problem gambling.Read moreRead less
Mental Toughness: What Makes a Champion? "Mental toughness" is claimed to be what makes champion athletes; separates winners from losers and those who buckle under pressure. Despite widespread use in sport (business, military, etc.) there exist no well-validated mental toughness measures. In collaboration with Australian Institute of Sport and Westfields Sports High School, we will develop a multidimensional, hierarchical measure of mental toughness, test it across gender, age, and different spo ....Mental Toughness: What Makes a Champion? "Mental toughness" is claimed to be what makes champion athletes; separates winners from losers and those who buckle under pressure. Despite widespread use in sport (business, military, etc.) there exist no well-validated mental toughness measures. In collaboration with Australian Institute of Sport and Westfields Sports High School, we will develop a multidimensional, hierarchical measure of mental toughness, test it across gender, age, and different sports, validate it in relation to relevant outcomes, and evaluate its growth/development in athletes varying in age and sporting development. Potential benefits include improved talent identification, counselling, self-concept, coping strategies, coaching, benchmarking, tracking, and athletic performance.Read moreRead less
Does Emotional Intelligence predict final year academic results and student retention in secondary schools? Over the past 30 years the completion of the final year of secondary school education has become increasingly important, with a shift towards the requirement of higher levels of education throughout the Australian labour market. As a consequence, early school leavers are three times more likely to be unemployed than those students that complete Year 12 or post-secondary education. The pro ....Does Emotional Intelligence predict final year academic results and student retention in secondary schools? Over the past 30 years the completion of the final year of secondary school education has become increasingly important, with a shift towards the requirement of higher levels of education throughout the Australian labour market. As a consequence, early school leavers are three times more likely to be unemployed than those students that complete Year 12 or post-secondary education. The proposed study will examine the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in academic performance at Year 12 and school retention in secondary schools. The results of the study will help schools develop evidence-based strategies to best retain students and help students maximise their academic potential.Read moreRead less
Using diagnostic tests in science as formative assessment to enhance teaching and learning. The success and continuation of science programs in upper secondary school and university is dependent on foundational improvements in science education in lower secondary schools. This proposal is designed to address this national concern by fostering talent in science and encouraging more students to study and enjoy science in a meaningful way. Through planned formative assessment, teachers will enable ....Using diagnostic tests in science as formative assessment to enhance teaching and learning. The success and continuation of science programs in upper secondary school and university is dependent on foundational improvements in science education in lower secondary schools. This proposal is designed to address this national concern by fostering talent in science and encouraging more students to study and enjoy science in a meaningful way. Through planned formative assessment, teachers will enable students in Years 8-10 to think about the science concepts and consider alternative explanations rather than memorise basic facts for a test or examination which are then forgotten. Practical benefits are a large range of valid and reliable tests and a range of teaching approaches for diagnosing student learning difficulties.Read moreRead less
Constructing a new conceptual framework for using digital technologies in achieving better arts assessment. The project aims to identify the qualities of artistic knowing across arts disciplines, identify gaps in the present approaches and discover ways that digital technologies might be used to overcome these inadequacies. This is significant because meaningful aspects of art are often lost using existing assessment. The expected outcomes will be a theoretical framework for an assessment manage ....Constructing a new conceptual framework for using digital technologies in achieving better arts assessment. The project aims to identify the qualities of artistic knowing across arts disciplines, identify gaps in the present approaches and discover ways that digital technologies might be used to overcome these inadequacies. This is significant because meaningful aspects of art are often lost using existing assessment. The expected outcomes will be a theoretical framework for an assessment management system, and a model for the use of digital media in arts assessment that can be applied to the later development of new arts assessment software and hardware tools with industry partners.Read moreRead less
New Dimensions of Group Literacy Tests for Schools: Multimodal reading comprehension in conventional and computer-based formats. Today's texts require readers to comprehend information from an extensive range of images integrated with print material. No assessment currently exists to test what new reading strategies students require to interpret the meanings made jointly through images and print in contemporary texts. To address this problem, this research will develop a model of image/text rel ....New Dimensions of Group Literacy Tests for Schools: Multimodal reading comprehension in conventional and computer-based formats. Today's texts require readers to comprehend information from an extensive range of images integrated with print material. No assessment currently exists to test what new reading strategies students require to interpret the meanings made jointly through images and print in contemporary texts. To address this problem, this research will develop a model of image/text relations. Such a model is foundational to the development of effective assessment tools, particularly group tests. For the first time, such tests will incorporate the comprehension strategies that students require to understand conventional and computer-based texts with their increased integration of images and print.Read moreRead less
Outcomes-focused Learning Environments, Affective Outcomes and Achievement Standards in Senior School Classes in Western Australia. Given the controversy in the media about outcomes-focused education and the acute lack of research into its implementation and effectiveness, this research is timely and useful. It could have far-reaching implications for educational systems about how to effectively create outcomes-focused learning environments and whether educational standards are being maintained. ....Outcomes-focused Learning Environments, Affective Outcomes and Achievement Standards in Senior School Classes in Western Australia. Given the controversy in the media about outcomes-focused education and the acute lack of research into its implementation and effectiveness, this research is timely and useful. It could have far-reaching implications for educational systems about how to effectively create outcomes-focused learning environments and whether educational standards are being maintained. It will provide information about how teachers can use action research, involving feedback from students, to guide the improvement of learning environments. Training opportunities will be provided for one Master's and two doctoral students.Read moreRead less