Hans Anand Pant

The effect of school inspections on school improvement

This study uses a school-level longitudinal control-group design to examine how teachers and principals of inspected versus uninspected schools perceive school improvement at their schools. During the phasing in of school inspections in the states of Berlin and Brandenburg (Germany), both inspected and uninspected schools were surveyed with respect to school improvement activities over a 1-year period. The main finding is that principals’ and teachers’ perceptions of school quality were highly stable, irrespective of the introduction of school inspections. The results show school inspections had a comparatively low impact on the aspects of school quality measured here.

Do They Feel the Same Way About Math? Testing Measurement Invariance of the PISA “Students’ Approaches to Learning” Instrument Across Immigrant Groups Within Germany

This article summarizes the key finding of a study that (a) tests the measurement invariance (MI) of the popular Students’ Approaches to Learning instrument (Programme for International Student Assessment [PISA]) across ethnic/cultural groups within a country and (b) discusses implications for research focusing on the role of affective measures in immigrant and minority education. The Students’ Approaches to Learning instrument captures some of the most prominent constructs in educational psychology. Results indicate significant variation in MI across various affective scales and across cultural groups. This study demonstrates that even if MI for specific scales is established across countries, it is still necessary to test MI across cultural groups within a country. We then discuss implications of MI across immigrant groups and highlight the relevance of MI testing for all research studying the affective conditions of educational achievement among immigrant students or the educational motivation of minority students.

Assessing student learning outcomes in higher education: challenges and international perspectives

Profound structural and programmatic changes in higher education, due in part to globalisation and the harmonisation of educational structures and study models (Lucena et al. 2008; Brennan, Patel, and Tang 2009), have raised questions regarding the quality of and the individual and societal returns on higher education. At the international level, modelling and measuring academic learning outcomes have become increasingly important in recent years (Coates 2014). To this end, there is an urgent need to develop instruments that enable fair and valid assessment of student competencies, the key learning outcomes of higher education (Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, Shavelson, and Kuhn 2015). Competencies are broadly defined as a combination of cognitive, affectivemotivational, volitional, and social dispositions that form the basis for performance (Shavelson 2013). Competencies are understood as trait dispositions that are relatively stable over time and across situations, while changes are induced by dynamic components. In developmental terms, competencies can increase through learning or decrease through forgetting. Competencies acquired in higher education are assumed to be multidimensional and specific to a field of study or at least to higher education (e.g., general research skills), which distinguishes them from intelligence and general cognitive abilities. National and international qualification frameworks for describing learning outcomes and competencies, such as Lumina’s Degree Qualification Profile (Lumina Foundation 2015), Assessment and Teaching of Twenty-first Century Skills (Binkley et al. 2012), the Framework for Learning and Development Outcomes (CAS 2009) and the European Qualifications Framework (EC 2015), have proven to be not differentiated enough for use in higher education practice. They require additional empirical approaches to further differentiate and operationalise learning outcomes and competencies. To meet those challenges and close the international research gap in this field, more research is being conducted at the national level in several countries (Coates 2014). In Germany, for instance, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research has established a national research programme on Modeling and Measuring Competencies in Higher Education (KoKoHs). The first funding phase (2011–2015) involved 24 collaborative projects comprising approximately 70 individual projects conducted by almost 220 researchers, focusing on modelling and measuring domainspecific and generic competencies in higher education. The 40 competency models and more than 100 measuring instruments developed by the KoKoHs research teams were administered to almost 50,000 students in selected domains at more than 220 higher education institutions throughout Germany to gain well-founded indications

Valid Competency Assessment in Higher Education

The aim of the 15 collaborative projects conducted during the new funding phase of the German research program Modeling and Measuring Competencies in Higher Education—Validation and Methodological Innovations (KoKoHs) is to make a significant contribution to advancing the field of modeling and valid measurement of competencies acquired in higher education. The KoKoHs research teams assess generic competencies and domain-specific competencies in teacher education, social and economic sciences, and medicine based on findings from and using competency models and assessment instruments developed during the first KoKoHs funding phase. Further, they enhance, validate, and test measurement approaches for use in higher education in Germany. Results and findings are transferred at various levels to national and international research, higher education practice, and education policy.

Competency Research in Higher Education: Conceptual and Methodological Challenges and Perspectives for Future Interdisciplinary Research

In recent years, an increasing number of research projects have been dedicated to competency assessment not only in school and vocational education, but also in higher education (Blömeke, Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, Kuhn, & Fege, 2013). Compared to competency assessment in schools, competency assessment in higher education still is underresearched. There are few studies of social and institutional determinants and teaching, learning, and human development processes in higher education (Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, Shavelson, & Kuhn, 2015). Internationalization and global mobility of students call for increasing transparency of students’ knowledge and skills. Competency assessment in higher education has been conducted to meet this need. Competency assessment is becoming important for all phases of higher education, from admission tests and assessments of prior knowledge at the beginning of studies, to formative diagnostic assessments over the course of studies, and summative assessments of learning outcomes at the end of studies. Assessment designs and instruments need to suit these diverse purposes, which is one of the central challenges for further research. Recently, the international Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO) feasibility study drew attention to competency assessment in higher education and to international comparison of assessment results (Tremblay, 2013). Findings from the AHELO study showed that

Die Jahrgangsmischung auf dem Prüfstand: Effekte jahrgangsübergreifenden Lernens auf Kompetenzen und sozio-emotionales Wohlbefinden von Grundschülerinnen und Grundschülern

Die Einfuhrung jahrgangsgemischter Lerngruppen in der Schulanfangsphase wird kontrovers diskutiert. Einerseits werden positive Effekte der Jahrgangsmischung auf die Entwicklung der Kinder sowohl im fachlichen als auch im motivationalen und sozio-emotionalen Bereichen erwartet, andererseits wird befurchtet, dass die grosere Heterogenitat der Schulerschaft die Lehrkrafte uberfordere. Da im deutschen Sprachraum bislang nur wenige belastbare Befunde zur Jahrgangsmischung vorliegen, geht die vorliegende Studie auf Basis der Daten der IQB-Landervergleichsstudie in der Primarstufe der Frage nach Effekten jahrgangsgemischten Lernens nach. Es wird uberpruft, ob sich die Kompetenzen und sozio-emotionalen Merkmale von Schulerinnen und Schulern in jahrgangsgemischten und Regelklassen unterscheiden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass keine oder nur geringe Unterschiede zwischen Schulerinnen und Schulern aus jahrgangsgemischten Klassen und Jahrgangskassen bestehen. Wahrend sich die Lesekompetenz und die Lernfreude fur die Kinder in beiden Organisationsformen nicht unterschieden, wurden fur Mathematik und die soziale Integration geringfugige Effekte in Abhangigkeit des Verbreitungsgrades jahrgangsgemischter Lerngruppen im Land ersichtlich. Die Ergebnisse werden in die nationale und internationale Befundlage zu Effekten jahrgangsgemischten Lernens eingeordnet und auch im Hinblick auf ihre praktische Relevanz diskutiert.

Der Zusammenhang zwischen Beschulungsart, Klassenkomposition und schulischen Kompetenzen von Kindern mit sonderpädagogischem Förderbedarf

Ein Ziel aktueller Inklusionsbemuhungen ist es, Bildungsbenachteiligungen von Schulerinnen und Schulern mit sonderpadagogischem Forderbedarf (SPF) abzubauen, die mit ihrer Beschulung in Forderschulen und mit ihrem sozio-kulturellen Hintergrund verbunden sind. In der vorliegenden Studie wurde anhand von Daten des IQB-Landervergleichs Primarstufe 2011 gepruft, ob Merkmale der Klassenkomposition zu Unterschieden in den schulischen Kompetenzen (Mathematik, Leseverstandnis) von Kindern mit SPF in Forderschulen (N = 413) und in sonstigen allgemeinbildenden Grundschulen (N = 658) beitragen. Signifikante Zusammenhange zwischen den kognitiven Grundfahigkeiten auf Klassenebene und den schulischen Kompetenzen auf Individualebene nach Kontrolle der Beschulungsart weisen darauf hin, dass Kinder mit SPF in Klassen mit insgesamt hoherem Fahigkeitsniveau bessere schulische Kompetenzen erzielen. Die Ergebnisse geben Hinweise darauf, dass allgemeine Grundschulen im Vergleich zu Forderschulen fur Kinder mit SPF bessere Lern- und Entwicklungsmoglichkeiten bereitstellen konnten.

Multivariate Latent Growth Models: Reading the Covariance Matrix for Multi-level Interpretations

Over the last decade, latent growth modeling (LGM) utilizing hierarchical linear models or structural equation models has become a widely applied approach in the analysis of change. By analyzing two or more variables simultaneously, the current method provides a straightforward generalization of this idea. From a theory of change perspective, this chapter demonstrates ways to prescreen the covariance matrix in repeated measurement, which allows for the identification of major trends in the data prior to running the multivariate LGM. A three-step approach is suggested and explained using an empirical study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

An Overview of Assessment Practices

On a global scale, attempts to specify conceptually academic learning outcomes have been made mostly in OECD countries. Definitions of learning outcomes can be used not only as an orientation for accrediting degree courses and universities; in some countries, they are used also as a basis for the development of assessment methods. The following will provide an overview of various key approaches and projects in this field.

Adapting and Validating the Collegiate Learning Assessment to Measure Generic Academic Skills of Students in Germany: Implications for International Assessment Studies in Higher Education

Starting in 2015, a German research team from the program Modeling and Measuring Competencies in Higher Education (KoKoHs), in collaboration with the US Council for Aid to Education (CAE), adapted and validated the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA+) for the German language and cultural context to measure generic higher-order cognitive skills of university students and graduates in Germany. In this chapter, the conceptual and methodological background, the framework of the adaptation and validation study, as well as preliminary results are presented. Finally, findings are discussed critically, and future challenges and perspectives are explored.