10th OECD/Japan Seminar

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Innovations and changes in response to TIMSS and
PISA Towards a monitoring system in Germany

• 10th OECD/Japan Seminar
• Raising the Quality of Educational Performance
  at School
• Cordula Artelt
• Max Planck Institute for Human Development,
  Center for Educational Research, Berlin, Germany

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Outline of the talk

• Background TIMSS and PISA results for Germany
• Initiatives by the KMK (Standing Conference of
  the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs
  of the States in the Federal Republic of Germany)
• Seven Fields of Action
• Educational standards
• Institute for Quality Development in the
  Education System
• Initiatives by the Federal Ministry of Education
• Program Zukunft Bildung
• All-day schools
• Independent reports on the state of education
• Joint initiatives
• Initiatives by the BLK (joint central and
  regional government commission for educational
  planning and research promotion)
• SINUS, SINUS-Transfer and others
• Educational Research
• Summary

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1. Background - Findings from TIMSS
German students proficiency in mathematics and
science

• Difficulties with complex tasks requiring
  conceptual understanding
• Weak performance in scientific thinking and
  reasoning
• Only few high performing students about 25 of
  students show fundamental deficits in scientific
  and mathematical knowledge
• Only small learning gains over the school years
• Decreasing interest over the school career

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1. Background - Findings from PISA (2000)
German students proficiency in reading, science,
and maths

• Low overall level difficulties with complex
  tasks
• Large range of performance
• Close connection between social background and
  reading proficiency
• Underperformance of students from immigrant
  families
• Teachers have difficulty identifying weaker
  students

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1. Background - Findings from PISA (2003)
German students proficiency in reading, science,
and maths

• Scores are not lower than in PISA 2000, but at a
  similar level (reading) or somewhat improved
  (maths and science).
• Again, a large range of performance scores in all
  three domains.
• Barely any improvement at the lower end of the
  performance spectrum.
• Challenge to reduce the proportion of students
  in the potentially at-risk group.
• Large range of performance
• Close connection between social background and
  reading proficiency
• Underperformance of students from immigrant
  families
• Teachers have difficulty identifying weaker
  students

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2. Initiatives by the KMK (Standing Conference of
the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs
of the States in the Federal Republic of Germany)

• Seven Fields of Action
• Educational standards
• Institute for Quality Development in the
  Education System

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2. Initiatives by the KMK (Standing Conference of
the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs
of the States in the Federal Republic of Germany)
The KMKs seven fields of action (1- 3)

1. Measures for the ongoing development and quality
   assurance of schooling and instruction based on
   binding standards and outcome-driven evaluation.
2. Measures to improve teacher professionalism,
   particularly in terms of diagnostic and
   methodology skills, as a component of systematic
   school development.
3. Measures to expand all-day provision in terms of
   both schooling and out-of-school activities with
   the aim of providing additional support for
   students with educational difficulties and gifted
   students, particular.

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2. Initiatives by the KMK (Standing Conference of
the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs
of the States in the Federal Republic of Germany)
The KMKs seven fields of action (4-7)

1. Measures to improve language skills beginning
   with pre-school children.
2. Measures to improve the connection between
   pre-school provision and primary schooling with a
   view to earlier school enrolment.
3. Measures to improve primary education and to
   ensure the overall improvement of reading
   proficiency and the understanding of core
   mathematical and scientific concepts.
4. Measures to support children from educationally
   disadvantaged backgrounds, especially those from
   immigrant families.

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2. Initiatives by the KMK (Standing Conference of
the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs
of the States in the Federal Republic of Germany)
Educational Standards - Background

• Constance Resolution (October 1997)
• The German school system is to be assessed in
  international comparison within the framework of
  scientific investigations.
• The input-driven management that is
  characteristic of the German school system does
  not suffice to achieve the desired outcomes in
  the educational system.
• Quality development and quality assurance
  necessitate clear criteria.
• Development and introduction of national
  educational standards.
• Modelled on countries that systematically monitor
  and account for educational outcomes through
  measures such as
• participation in regular educational assessments
• centralized testing
• a closely-woven network of school evaluation

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2. Initiatives by the KMK (Standing Conference of
the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs
of the States in the Federal Republic of Germany)
Educational Standards

• have been in place since December 2003 for
  German and mathematics at primary level and for
  German, mathematics, the first foreign language,
  and science at lower secondary level.
• are an important instrument for documenting and
  evaluating the success of classroom instruction.
  
• are the basis for developing indicators to
  permit long-term quality management.

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2. Initiatives by the KMK (Standing Conference of
the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs
of the States in the Federal Republic of Germany)
Institute for Quality Development in the
Education System (IQB)
Humboldt University of Berlin
Federal states
Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education
..KMK
Faculty of Philosophy
Top-Level Committee on Quality Assurance in
Schools
Secretary General
Scientific experts
Board of governors
Institute for Quality Development in the
Education System (IQB)
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2. Initiatives by the KMK (Standing Conference of
the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs
of the States in the Federal Republic of Germany)
Institute for Quality Development in the
Education System (IQB)

• Goals relating to educational standards
• Continued development
• Standardization
• Assessment
• Scientific monitoring
• Subdomains
• Generating assessments to operationalize the
  standards.
• Providing detailed descriptions of the competency
  levels that students are to have achieved at
  given points in time.
• Preparing comparative assignments.
• Developing computer-based systems of assessment,
  coding, and feedback.

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3. Initiatives by the Federal Ministry of
Education
The Zukunft Bildung Program

• Goals
• To implement the BLK Action Plan (BLK joint
  federal and state government commission for
  educational planning and research promotion)
• To establish and expand the coverage of all-day
  schools with funding from the capital investment
  program Zukunft Bildung und Betreuung
  (education and childcare for the future)
• To promote the establishment of an independent
  agency for standards and evaluation
• To establish regular national reports on the
  state of education by an independent board of
  experts

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3. Initiatives by the Federal Ministry of
Education
Establishing and expanding all-day schools
(www.ganztagsschulen.org)

• Four billion euro capital investment program
  Zukunft Bildung und Betreuung
• 5,000 all-day schools as of the coming school
  year (out of 40,000 ? every 8th school)

StEG Study on the Development of All-Day
Schools Three-year (2005-2008) evaluation by a
consortium of research institutes 14 states,
450 schools (several classes each) student,
teacher, and parent questionnaires
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3. Initiatives by the Federal Ministry of
Education
Establishing and expanding all-day schools
(www.ganztagsschulen.org)

• Capital investment program "Zukunft Bildung und
  Betreuung
• States call up federal funding in response to
  schools applications for specific support.
• Funding is available for building and renovation
  work in schools, as well as for equipment.
• The state decides on the allocation of funds in
  accordance with the needs of the schools.

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3. Initiatives by the Federal Ministry of
Education
Independent reports on the state of education

• Regular independent reports on the state of
  education in Germany
• to report and comment on developments in the
  German educational system
• to advise the federal and state governments
• to fulfil the states obligation to report to the
  European Union and international organizations
  (permitting comparison with EU member states and
  other countries)

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4. Joint initiatives
Initiatives by the BLK (joint central and
regional government commission for educational
planning and research promotion)

• The BLK Action Plan
• BLK Programs
• SINUS, SINUS Transfer SINUS primary school
• QUISS Implementation of curriculum standards
• Fostering reading competence (planned)

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BLK-Program SINUS Increasing the efficiency of
science and mathematics instruction

• Aim Improving classroom instruction
• Introducing quality development at the
  participating schools
• Cooperation between schools / teachers and
  researchers on matters of learning and instruction

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Modules of SINUS

• (1) Development of task culture
• (2) Scientific work and experiments
• (3) Learning from mistakes
• (4) Securing basic knowledge
• (5) Cumulative learning Experiencing competence
  gains
• (6) Integrative features of instruction
• (7) Promoting girls and boys
• (8) Developing tasks for cooperative learning
• (9) Strengthening responsibility for learning
• (10) Tests and feedback
• (11) Quality development within and across schools

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Module 11 Fostering quality development

• Teachers work on problems in cooperation with
  their colleagues at school
• Focus on instruction, curriculum, and learning
• Obtaining support and stimulation from research
• Teachers develop materials, units, and
  instructional approaches in a problem- and
  process-oriented manner
• Trying out and assessing new developments
• Spreading the approach in the school
• Exchanging materials, results, and experiences
  beyond the limits of the school

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Organization

• 180 schools in the pilot program
• Organized in regional sets of schools (networks
  of 6 schools each)
• Reduction in teaching load (approx. 3 hours per
  school) as compensation for additional work
• Coordination on different levels (school, set,
  federal state, program)
• Close cooperation with school supervisory
  authorities, teacher training institutions, and
  universities
• Internet server (information, exchange ...)

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Organizational structure
Set Coordinator
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Conclusions about SINUS

• Professional development yields the best
  results when it is long-term, school-based,
  collaborative, focused on students learning, and
  linked to curricula (Hiebert et al., 2002)
• Professional development of this kind has been
  successfully implemented by
• - creating networks and fostering cooperation by
  coordination
• - providing problem-oriented approaches and
  materials, as well as consultation and support

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SINUS-Transfer

• approx. 750 schools
• approx. 80 sets
• in 13 states

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4. Educational Research

• A research program for education
• Priority programs funded by Germany Research
  Funding society (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
• Cooperative projects between Didactics,
  Psychology and Education
• National extensions to large scale studies
  (national consortiums)
• Adding test with a high curriculum-match
• Sample extensions
• Panel data in Education (national consortium)
• Longitudinal data

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5. Summary

• Establishing a monitoring system in Education
• Educational Standards
• Institute for Quality Development in the
  Education System (IQB)
• Joint initiatives by the federal states and the
  central government
• Focussed research programm for Education
• Ensuring professional development