Susanne Kuger

Quality of the home learning environment during preschool age – Domains and contextual conditions

The quality of the home learning environment has been proven to be of major importance for child development, but little is known about the role of domain specificity in promoting early childhood learning at home and its dependence on family background. This article presents a framework of the home learning environment in early childhood that includes three domains of stimulation (i.e. family support, stimulation in literacy and stimulation in numeracy) and their contextual conditions. The study examines the extent to which the structural characteristics and educational beliefs of the family are connected to educational processes taking place in the home learning environment during preschool age. Results show that general educational processes of the home learning environment operate independently of structural characteristics and parental educational beliefs, whereas the domain-specific educational processes of the home learning environment are more strongly related to the structural characteristics and parental educational beliefs. A model of the home learning environment should thus always include different domains of stimulation (general and domain-specific) presented as parallel cases.

Prozessqualität im Kindergarten — Konzept, Umsetzung und Befunde

Vor dem Hintergrund unterschiedlicher Definitionen von Qualitat einer vorschulischen Bildungs- und Betreuungseinrichtungen in einschlagigen Untersuchungen entwickelt der vorliegende Beitrag auf theoretischer Basis ein Konzept der Anregungsqualitat in Kindergarten, das verschiedene Dimensionen (Prozess-, Struktur- und Orientierungsqualitat) spezifiziert und systematisch zwischen globaler und bereichsspezifischer Forderung unterscheidet. Empirisch umgesetzt wird dieses Konzept im Rahmen der DFG-Forschergruppe „Bildungsprozesse, Kompetenzentwicklung und Selektionsentscheidungen im Vor- und Grundschulalter“. Der Beitrag berichtet uber das gefundene Qualitatsniveau in Kindergarten und analysiert Abhangigkeiten der beobachteten Prozessqualitaten von Strukturmerkmalen einer Einrichtung und Orientierungsmerkmalen des Fachpersonals. Auffallig ist vor allem die verringerte Prozessqualitat einer Kindergartengruppe bei einem hoheren Anteil von Kindern mit Migrationshintergrund in einer Gruppe (trotz gunstigerer Rahmenbedingungen) und bei einem niedrigeren Durchschnittsalter in der Gruppe, der durch gezielte padagogische Masnahmen entgegengewirkt werden sollte.

Auswirkungen eines Kindergartenbesuchs auf den kognitiv-leistungsbezogenen Entwicklungsstand von Kindern

Vor dem Hintergrund der gegenwartigen Diskussion um eine starkere Bildungsforderung im Kindergarten hat der Beitrag zum Ziel, den aktuellen Forschungsstand uber Auswirkungen eines Besuchs institutioneller Betreuungsformen in der fruhen Kindheit zu sichten. Auf der Basis methodisch gut abgesicherter Langsschnittstudien wird zentral analysiert, welche langerfristigen Auswirkungen institutionelle Betreuung und ihre Qualitat im Kindergartenalter auf den kognitiv-leistungsbezogenen Bereich bis in die Grundschule hinein haben. Des Weiteren wird der Frage nachgegangen, ob sich kompensatorische Fordereffekte bei Kindern aus benachteiligten Familien identifizieren lassen und inwieweit die Anregungsqualitat von Kindergarten und Grundschule miteinander in Beziehung stehen. Im Ergebnis lassen sich generell kurz- und langerfristige positive Auswirkungen eines Kindergartenbesuchs festhalten. Benachteiligte Kinder profitieren von einem Kindergartenbesuch insbesondere von einem qualitativ hochwertigen Kindergartensetting. Ein inkonsistentes Bild ergibt sich im Hinblick auf das Zusammenspiel von Kindergarten- und Grundschulqualitat. (DIPF/Orig.). In view of the German discussion regarding a more curriculum guided education in German preschooling, the present paper summarizes the current state of international research and analyses the effects of childcare on early childhood development. The paper analyses the long-term effects institutional care and education during the preschool years - and its quality - have on childrens cognitive development and achievement in primary school based on methodologically sound longitudinal studies. Furthermore it analyses whether family risk factors can be compensated for and to what extent quality in preschool and in primary school are interrelated. We conclude that preschool attendance results in overall positive outcomes in the short-run as well as in the long-run. Especially children coming from at-risk-families seem to profit from high quality childcare. However, results concerning the interrelatedness of quality in preschool and primary school must be seen as inconsistent. (DIPF/Orig.).

Dimensions of Context Assessment

This chapter provides an overarching framework to context assessment in international large-scale assessments (ILSAs), and applies it to discuss relationships between context and cognitive assessment. One of the most critical differences between these two types of assessment is the variety of topics, perspectives, and levels in the education systems that need to be taken into account. This chapter first points out similarities in context assessments across ILSA programs, thus defining a set of common content in context assessment. Although there are important conceptual similarities in context assessments across ILSAs, there are good reasons why this lowest common denominator should be enriched according to the respective study goals and designs of the different programs. This chapter discusses some possible directions and further, provides suggestions as to how the scope of ILSAs may be increased to provide better information about education research and policy in the future. Although this framework model is applicable to learning contexts world-wide, context assessments in ILSAs need to take into account the many similarities and differences of education systems world-wide. A final aim of this chapter therefore is to discuss some critical issues that arise from an international perspective in ILSAs.

The Methodology of PISA: Past, Present, and Future

International large-scale assessments (ILSAs) such as PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS represent the state-of-the art methodologies of sampling theory, survey research design, and psychometrics. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an accessible overview of the methodologies that underlie ILSAs generally, with a specific focus on PISA. We focus on the PISA sampling design, issues of translation and adaptability, the methodologies that are used for the development of cognitive tests, and finally the methodologies used to assess the material included in the context questionnaire. This chapter closes with a discussion of future methodological developments.

Stability and patterns of classroom quality in German early childhood education and care

ABSTRACT Many education systems worldwide have dedicated a significant amount of resources to improve quality levels in early childhood education and care. Research can contribute to this goal by providing information about conditions of high-quality education and care and reasons for changes in the quality provided to children. This study therefore analyzes the stability of educational quality and patterns of dependency of process quality on possibly determining context factors over a period of 3 consecutive school years to detect mechanisms of change and patterns of quality. Longitudinal data of a field study with annual assessments in 97 German classrooms were analyzed via growth curve analyses using Bayesian estimation. The analyses revealed an increase in process quality provided in the classrooms. Classroom composition characteristics showed strongest relations to status and change of process quality; allocated resources and characteristics of the professional staff were less strongly related.

Early Childhood Learning Experiences

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are receiving increased attention in many countries, and research has provided evidence that ECEC experiences influence children’s later development in school. It seems valuable therefore to collect information on ECEC experiences also in international school achievement studies. In this chapter a broad outline of the theoretical grounding for such an assessment framework as well as the reasoning for the choice of ECEC indicators in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 field trial is provided. Definitions of key concepts in ECEC are introduced: quantitative indicators of ECEC experience, curriculum, pedagogy, pedagogical approaches and concepts of quality. The practical relevance of these concepts and their relations to other aspects of school effectiveness and educational policy research and practice are highlighted. Finally, those constructs are described that seem to be the most relevant for international school achievement studies. At the same time, mainly due to the retrospective nature, there are strong limitations to the assessing of ECEC experiences in the context of school achievement studies. These limitations are discussed to help the reader understand the measurement framework.

Triggering parental involvement for parents of different language backgrounds: the role of types of partnership activities and preschool characteristics

Home and educational institutions are childrens most important external influences and a positive partnership between the two can positively affect childrens cognitive and non-cognitive development. Quality of family–preschool partnership (FPP) can depend on preschool and family characteristics. For Germany, studies show that immigrant parents perceive a lack of positive FPP. The present study addresses the following research questions: (1) How do parents and teachers in Germany rate FPP? (2) Do ratings of FPP differ between parents who do or do not speak German at home? (3) Is there a relation between the structural quality of the centre and ratings of FPP for teachers and parents? Results reflect positive ratings of FPP (1). Mean comparisons confirmed differences between parent groups (2). Multilevel regression analyses indicate that percentage of children who do not speak German at home is positively associated with parents’ ratings of FPP, but negatively with teachers’ satisfaction about FPP (3).

Familiale Anregung während der frühen Kindergartenzeit

Der Ruf nach Masnahmen gegen eine Verarmung von Teilen der Gesellschaft in Deutschland erfahrt durch regelmasige Veroffentlichungen zur aktuellen Lebenssituation der Bevolkerung stetig neue Nahrung (fur einen Uberblick siehe auch Edelstein 2006). Es ist trotz intensiver staatlicher, praktischer und nicht zuletzt auch wissenschaftlicher Bemuhungen in den letzten Jahren nicht gelungen, den Anteil der Bevolkerung, der in intensiver Armut lebt, deutlich zu senken. Besonders die „Infantilisierung der Armut“ (AWO Bundesverband e.V. 2000) ist besorgniserregend, da Armut in dieser Bevolkerungsgruppe nur mit grosem Aufwand entgegengewirkt werden kann, wahrend die Folgen einer dauerhaften Armut schwerwiegend und mannigfaltig sind (Bundesministerium fur Arbeit und Sozialordnung 2008 und Vorlauferberichte).

An Introduction to the PISA 2015 Questionnaire Field Trial: Study Design and Analysis Procedures

Theoretical considerations (see Chaps. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 of this volume) led to the development of a great amount of questionnaire material, which was localized to fit the contexts of more than 70 countries and economies, implemented in a study with about 120,000 students across these countries, and analyzed to yield indicators on how well questions functioned across and within countries. Such a study, and its results, depends on design and methodological considerations and on decisions made during preparation and implementation. This chapter summarizes decisions regarding the design and analysis procedures of the PISA 2015 field trial, and the resulting data that were used to develop the PISA 2015 main survey’s context assessment. Furthermore, this chapter provides strategies and reasoning related to the choice of questionnaire material that was deemed to be suitable to assess learning contexts in different countries equally well.