Towards state‐mandated testing in Germany: how do teachers assess the pedagogical relevance of performance feedback information?

Abstract

The paper analyses how teachers view state‐mandated tests in Baden‐Württemberg, a large state in the south‐west of Germany. For the first time in 2006, public secondary schools were bound by law to administer Vergleichsarbeiten [state‐wide tests] in up to three relevant subjects after Grade 6. Scholars in the field of school improvement emphasise that there is a gap between performance feedback provided by external tests and how this information is internally processed. To bridge this gap, a crucial precondition is that teachers must accept state‐wide testing as a useful instrument for improving the performance of schools. To examine how teachers view the pedagogical relevance of performance feedback information, 256 secondary schools were approached, and an anonymous questionnaire was completed by a representative sample of 307 teachers with Grade 6 classes. Analysis of the quantitative data reveals that teachers in general secondary schools (the lower level of the academically streamed secondary system) are more open‐minded towards the tests than their colleagues in intermediate schools or in grammar schools (the highest level). Even so, only a small percentage of teachers in general secondary schools acknowledge the pedagogical relevance of performance feedback information for improving teaching strategies. This result suggests that state‐mandated testing in Baden‐Württemberg is highly unlikely to initiate or support school improvement activities for the time being.

Notes

1. See http://www.bildung-staerkt-den-menschen.de.

2. See http://www.dva-bw.de

3. See http://lbsneu.schule-bw.de/unterricht/dva/dva_docs/umgang.pdf (accessed on 11 January 2007).

4. Project funded by the German Research Association (DFG): Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Nutzbarmachung von Bildungsstandards und zentralen Lernstandserhebungen für eine ergebnisorientierte Unterrichtsentwicklung an weiterführenden Schulen [Possibilities of using state standards and mandatory testing for data‐based instructional improvement in secondary schools].

5. Sample features were compared with population data provided by the Statistische Landesamt Baden‐Württemberg: http://www.statistik.baden-wuerttemberg.de.

6. Ratings from 5 = ‘I agree with this statement’ to 1 = ‘I disagree with this statement’.