Rainer Block’s scientific contributions

This study analyzes the possible intended and unintended impact of statewide exit exams as a governance tool used by education authorities. In a descriptive case study based on quantitative empirical research, three German states (Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia) with differing exit exam traditions (statewide versus school-based) are compared. Consistent with other recent research findings, the potential influences of statewide exit exams on teaching and learning processes can be detected for mathematics, but not for German or biology. In particular, these influences show in the fact that teachers whose students have to take a statewide exit exam are less responsive to students’ interests regarding the choice of topics in the classroom, perceive a tendency to narrow the delivered curriculum and increase cooperation with other teachers. In addition, both teachers and students feel a higher pressure to perform and perceive their roles to be different −they see themselves as allies preparing for an externally set exam. Teachers also tend to feel “de-professionalized”. In those areas where statewide exams do seem to affect schooling, most of the results are consistent with what was intended by the authorities when they introduced the exams, and there are only few unintended side-effects. From a governance perspective, however, a general capacity of statewide exit exams to move schooling in a desired direction remains rather doubtful, particularly considering the fact that the exam procedures that have recently been implemented in the German states are very heterogeneous and only partly standardized.

In this article we present results from a study investigating the impact of three state exit exam systems on teaching and learning in college-preparatory schools. The study compares one state with a traditionally more centralized exam regime, one state that is more de-centralized and one state that has recently switched to more centralized testing. The German Abitur is a cognitively rather complex exam that is largely unstandardized as measured by the standards of international testing regimes. Moreover, performance differences in system monitoring tests between states with different exam regimes can only be found for mathematical literacy. Therefore, centrally regulated topics and grading criteria -as opposed to exams that are locally designed and reviewed centrally- make little difference in softer subjects with a more open canon, but seem to have a stronger impact in mathematics. Against this background and taking an international perspective, we argue that an overall low stakes testing regime might be the first step towards a good compromise between local flexibility for students' interests on one hand, and rigor as well as a healthy dose of performance motivation on the other hand.

Bildungsökonomisch ausgerichtete Sekundäranalysen von PISA-Datensätzen kommen zu dem Schluss, dass mit dem Zentralabitur in der BRD ausgeprägte Leistungsefekte einhergehen. Sie sind Ausgangspunkt bildungspolitischer Emp-fehlungen zur Prüfungsorganisation. Die theoretischen und methodischen Grund-lagen solcher Analysen erweisen sich gleichwohl als diskussionswürdig. Im Rah-men eigener Sekundäranalysen der PISA-E-2003-Daten konnten generelle und substanzielle Leistungsefekte des Zentralabiturs nicht repliziert werden.

In almost all of the German Laender, the centrally standardized ., Abitur" (school leaving certificate and university entrance qualification) has been introduced as an instrument of standard maintenance; however, the differences in its implementation are often quite significant. The procedures are described and compared with regard to specific categories and are then, in turn, compared to 15 OECD countries with centrally standardized exit exams at the end of the upper secondary school level. This reference-guided perspective reveals the significance of the degree of standardization of exams as opposed to the concept of "centralization" with regard to differentiating analyses of the effects of control achieved through this reform element on the level of both school-related and teaching-related processes.

In almost all of the German Laender, the centrally standardized "Abitur" (school leaving certificate and university entrance qualification) has been introduced as an instrument of standard maintenance; however, the differences in its implementation are often quite significant. The procedures are described and compared with regard to specific categories and are then, in turn, compared to 15 OECD countries with centrally standardized exit exams at the end of the upper secondary school level. This reference-guided perspective reveals the siginificance of the degree of standardization of exams as opposed to the concept of "centralization" with regard to differentiating analyses of the effects of control achieved through this reform element on the level of both school-related and teaching-related processes.

Taking scientific subjects as an example, the study examines the general framework at the individual schools in which instruction in specific subjects takes place on the secondary school level (Gymnasium). Both school culture and subject-specific culture are operationalized by means of an extensive set of indicators and then related to one another as well as to the schools' subject-specific effectiveness. The results clearly point to an autonomy of subject-specific subcultures and to a connection between the status of scientific subjects and the relevant achievements.

Vorgestellt werden Ergebnisse aus vier Projekten der Forschergruppe NWU-Essen, die in interdisziplinaerer Zusammenarbeit der drei naturwissenschaftlichen Fachdidaktiken, der Empirischen Bildungsforschung und der Lehr-Lernpsychologie entstanden sind und Schlussfolgerungen fuer die Optimierung naturwissenschaftlichen Unterrichts zulassen. - (1) S. Klos, C. Kieren, M. Walpusik und E. Sumfleth: Naturwissenschaftliches Experimentieren und chemisches Fachwissen - zwei verschiedene Kompetenzen (S.304-321). (2) G. Trendel, R. Wackermann und H. E. Fischer: Lernprozessorientierte Fortbildung von Physiklehrern (S.322-340). (3) I. van Ackeren, R. Block, H. Kullmann, F. Spruetten und K. Klemm: Schulkultur als Kontext naturwissenschaftlichen Lernens - Allgemeine und fachspezifische explorative Analysen (S.341-360). (4) J. Wirth, H. Thillmann, J. Kuensting, H. E. Fischer und D. Leutner: Das Schuelerexperiment im naturwissenschaftlichen Unterricht - Bedingungen der Lernfoerderlichkeit einer verbreiteten Lehrmethode aus instruktionspsychologischer Sicht.

Am Beispiel der naturwissenschaftlichen Fächer untersucht die Studie den einzelschulischen Gesamtzusammenhang, in dem sich Fachunterricht am Gymnasium vollzieht. Dazu werden die Schulkultur als auch die fachspezifische Kultur mit einem umfangreichen Indikatorensatz operationalisiert und anschließend aufeinander bezogen sowie in Bezug zur fachspezifischen Schuleffektivität gesetzt. Es ergeben sich deutliche Hinweise auf eine Autonomie fachspezifischer Subkulturen sowie auf einen Zusammenhang zwischen dem Stellenwert naturwissenschaftlicher Fächer und den betreffenden Leistungsergebnissen.