The founding of a new type of comprehensive school in North Rhine-Westphalia, called “Gemeinschaftsschule” is an element of system policy to the demographic change and changes in the parents´ choice between secondary school types.  Since the 1960 years parents prefer more and more a higher education for their children (Dedering & Holtappels 2016). So we ascertain a strong increase of educational participation in the highest demanding school track (Gymnasium) and in Comprehensive schools. On the other hand we observe dwindling acceptance for the lowest track (Hauptschule) with the consequence that these school type are displacing from the school system. That means the traditional three tier system of a high track “Gymnasium”, a middle track “Realschule” and a low track “Hauptschule” lost its lowest track. We notice that students with low competencies visit now the middle track or a comprehensive school, while students with medium competencies reach the highest track or visit a comprehensive school as well. This effect is called “shifting effect” (Rösner?????). We can assume for the next decade that the “Realschule” will replace the “Hauptschule” as the lowest school track. With progressing demographic change and the trend for highest education the “Realschule” is going to lose their minimum number of students to remain in stability. With a high possibility we expect a two-track-system in North Rhine-Westphalia with the highest track “Gymnasium” and a type of comprehensive school as the second tier in the long term. The beginning of that change of the school system can be watched in nearly every state of Germany.

Learning together of pupils with different start competencies and from diverse backgrounds for a longer period of time should ensure more equity of opportunities in education and more options for different school careers in one system. So the “Gemeinschaftsschule can be also seen as a reaction of the critics by Large Scale Assessments like PISA, which attest the German school system a high correlation between social background and success in education.

The “Gemeinschaftsschule” is an option especially for local administrations of small communities to ensure a complete school offer containing all tracks of the German school system in one building. Usually the “Gemeinschaftsschule” is the last school in town. So it is designed for students with all cognitive abilities. That means these schools must be prepared for a heterogeneous composition of students and have to react with suitable educational concepts in a professional way. One of the focuses of the accompanying research of the pilot project is to analyze the conditions of the founding process. The student body composition of the schools shows, whether the new “Gemeinschaftsschule” is accepted by parents with children with different cognitive abilities and social backgrounds. Empirical results reveal that the composition of students effects the acquisition of competences (Bryk, Lee &Holland 1993; Coleman 1966; Jencks & Mayer 1990). Considering the study objectives, the central research question is:

Which circumstances show the new built schools in the school composition of their students concerning their cognitive abilities and their socio-economic status?

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