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
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
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