Making Learning Real: Design Principles and Evidence for Applied Learning in Schools
Category: Student Learning
Instrument Overview
Expert Notes AvailableView expert commentary on strengths and cautions for this instrument
Strengths
Validated across various grade levels including elementary, middle and postsecondary. Strong psychometric performance especially for the self-efficacy and sense of belonging constructs validated in postsecondary. Consistent across gender, first generation status, and race/ethnicity: minimal issues with measurement invariance across these demographics.
Cautions
Some subscales can be highly context dependent: Responses to items related to belonging can change based on classroom climate or recent interactions. Similarly a students' sense of self efficacy can differ widely across disciplines. Some self-efficacy items show limited measurement invariance over time, especially items related to challenging tasks.
The Project for Educational Research That Scales (PERTS) survey is a 15-item self-report scale. It measures four academic mindsets: growth mindset, sense of belonging, task relevance, and self-efficacy. The purpose of the tool is to promote "healthy collective action". It helps teachers provide social supports that increase student self-efficacy. District leaders can use this instrument to suggest interventions that develop an academic mindset in the classroom. The scale is designed for students in elementary through high school. It uses Likert-style items where students rate their agreement with various statements. The 15 items are divided into specific subscales: Items 1–3: Individual mindset (growth mindset). Items 4–7: Sense of belonging. Items 8–11: Task relevance. Items 12–15: Self-efficacy.
Organization
Topic
Collection Category(ies)
Content
Grades
9th Grade,
10th Grade,
11th Grade,
12th Grade,
Post secondary
Respondent
Student
Administration Information
Length
15 items
Psychometrics (additional guidance)
Reliability
(Cronbach's alpha)
total: .801
Sense of belonging: .82
Self-efficacy: .83
Task Relevance: .82
Individual mindset: .772
Item Type
Likert
