The goal of our paper is to investigate whether taking part in all-day school programs promotes students’ competence development in science and reading during primary school.

In contrast to school systems in other European countries, German schools traditionally were so-called part-time schools with opening hours form 8 am to midday. However, the moderate performances of German students in international large-scale assessments such as PIRLS and TIMSS for primary schools or PISA for secondary schools (Mullis, Martin, Gonzalez & Kennedy, 2003; OECD 2001, 2003) at the beginning of the century resulted in a nationwide school reform aiming – among others – at a comprehensive implementation and development of so-called all-day schools (KMK, 2002). From an educational point of view, all-day schools – in contrast to the traditional part-time schooling – should have better options to foster students learning by a higher amount of learning time and by implementing adapted and refined learning environments. The central educational aim of the ongoing change of the national school system is hence threefold: (i) Enhance students subject-related and interdisciplinary competencies, (ii) reduce heterogeneity between students and establish equal opportunities for students from socially and economically diverse backgrounds, and (iii) enrich the schools’ learning environment by offering students diverse and individually adapted opportunities to learn (Holtappels, 2006; Miller, 2003; Fiester et al., 2005; Willems & Becker, in press). To fulfill these goals, schools implement additional extra-curricular activities like complementary subject-specific courses, homework supervision, time and support for individual learning, remedial teaching, projects, (interdisciplinary) courses for special interest groups, or organized leisure time. Within the last decade, the number of all-day schools in Germany more than tripled. Today more than half of the German schools provide an all-day program for their pupils (KMK, 2013).

This development of all-day schools has been empirically evaluated over the past 10 years by the nationwide “Study on the Development of All-day Schools” (StEG; Fischer et al., 2011). In its first cycle (2005-2011), the study mainly focused on the identification of conditions for success and failure in the implementation and development of all-day schools. In the ongoing second cycle (2012-2015), the study focuses on two aspects: (i) the effectiveness of all-day schooling in terms of individual student learning and competence development, and (ii) the quality of domain-specific extra-curricular activities and its impact on student domain-specific learning. The center of our investigation is the development of primary school students’ competencies over the course of two school years in two subject-specific domains: reading and natural sciences.

The goal of the present paper is to analyze whether taking part in domain-specific extra-curricular activities offered by all-day schools has a positive effect on the competence development of students. From a differential perspective, we analyze whether students from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds (low SES, migration background) particularly benefit from taking part in all-day school activities. In our paper, expectations about the effects of all-day schooling on student achievement are theoretically discussed from the point of view of current research and established models on school effectiveness (Creemers & Kyriakides, 2008, Scheerens, 2000), which we expanded with relevant characteristics of all-day schools (Holtappels, 2009; Willems & Becker, in press). According to these multidimensional and multilevel frameworks, student learning is conceptualized as an output of complex contextual, input, and process factors. Furthermore, individual learning processes are conceived as reciprocal processes between opportunities to learn offered by teachers/schools and the use of such opportunities by individual students.

Bourdieu, P. (1973). Cultural reproduction and social production. In: R. Brown (Ed.). Knowledge, Education, and Cultural Change: Papers in the Sociology of Education , 71-112. London: Tavistock Publications. Creemers, B., & Kyriakides, L. (2008). The Dynamics of Educational Effectiveness. New York: Routledge. Fiester, L. M., Simpkins, S. D., & Bouffard, S. M. (2005). Present and Accounted For: Measuring Attendance in Out-Of-School-Time Programs. New Directions for Youth Development, 105, 91–107. Fischer, N., Holtappels, H. G. et al. (2011). Ganztagsschule: Entwicklung, Qualität, Wirkungen. Weinheim: Juventa. Holtappels, H. G. (2006). Stichwort: Ganztagsschule. In: Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft 9(1), S. 5-29 Holtappels, H. G. (2009). Qualitätsmodelle – Theorien und Konzeptionen. In I. Kamski, H. G. Holtappels & T. Schnetzer. Qualität von Ganztagsschule. (pp. 11-25). Münster: Waxmann. KMK - The Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of German (2002). PISA 2000 - Zentrale Handlungsfelder. [PISA 2000 – Major Activities]. Berlin: KMK. KMK - The Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of German (2013). Allgemein bildende Schulen in Ganztagsform in den Ländern in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland: Statistik 2007 bis 2011 [All-Day Schools in Germany: Statistics 2007-2011]. Berlin: KMK. Miller, B. M. (2003). Critical Hours: After School Programs and Educational Success. Quincy: Nelli Mae Education Foundation. Mullis, I.V.S., Martin, M.O., Gonzalez, E.J. & Kennedy, A.M. (2003). PIRLS 2001 International Report. Chestnut Hill, MA: TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center, Boston College. OECD (2001). Knowledge and Skills for Life. First Results of the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2000. Paris: OECD. OECD (2003). Literacy Skills for the World of Tomorrow: Further Results from PISA 2000. OECD Publishing. Scheerens, J. (2000). Improving School Effectiveness. Paris: UNESCO. Willems, A.S. & Becker, D. (in press). Ganztagsschulen – Qualitätsmodelle, Potentiale und Herausforderungen für die Schulpraxis und die empirische Schul- und Unterrichtsforschung.