Session Information
09 SES 04 B, Assessing and Investigating Achievement in STEM and Music Education
Paper/Ignite Talk Session
Contribution
Recently more and more German secondary schools develop specific school or class profiles (e.g. European-schools, bilingual classes, music/orchestra classes or STEM classes) in order to attract students and to be able to keep up their enrolment figures (Altrichter, Heinrich & Soukup-Altrichter, 2011). Classes with special profiles are characterized by innovative concepts along with extracurricular activities and offer special instructional quality to create new opportunities for learning. On the one hand, school and class profiles enable schools to react to internal and external requirements in a way that accounts for the needs of all groups involved in a specific school. On the other hand, schools can actively influence their student body by explicitly or implicitly selecting certain groups of students whenever there is a surplus of applications (Weiß, 2001). Several studies show that selection processes regarding the choice of the secondary school type (Gymnasium [upper secondary school] or integrierte/kooperative Gesamtschule [comprehensive school]) as well as the choice of specific schools in a certain city or area are related to students’ social backgrounds and social class affiliations (Conger, 2005; Maaz, Nagy, Jonkmann & Baumert, 2009). Up to now, selection processes concerning the registration for a class with a specific profile have hardly been subject to empirical research. Besides that, the ambitions of schools to develop specific school or class profiles as well as the impact of such profiles on the development of instructional quality have barely been addressed (Koivuhovi, Vainikainen, Kalalahti & Niemivirta, 2017). The aim of this paper is to shed light on effects of classes with a special emphasis in music and STEM on processes of school development, class composition and student achievement: Do classes with a music profile, a STEM profile and without a profile differ with regard to student achievement, class composition and instructional quality?
Method
The project ProfilBildung an Niedersächsischen Gymnasien und Integrierten Gesamtschulen (ProBiNi) [School and Class Profiles in Upper Secondary Schools and Comprehensive Schools in the German Federal State of Lower Saxony] allows a systematic and multi-perspective analysis of students’ developments in classes with a music profile, a STEM profile and in classes without any profile. The study is a panel survey with three measurement points starting in grade 5 (beginning of the school year 2016/17) and finishing in grade 7 (beginning of the school year 2018/19). 9 schools (7 upper secondary schools and 2 comprehensive schools) in Lower Saxony participated in all three measurement points with 5 music classes (149 students), 5 STEM classes (144 students) and 9 classes without a profile (263 students). By using standardized questionnaires students, parents, teachers and principals were asked about their attitudes towards specific school and class profiles. Also, additional information about the students, their families and teaching characteristics were collected. Furthermore, the students’ achievement in music and biology was surveyed with standardized tests. Missing data was multiple imputed (m=10). Besides descriptive statistics we used variance analyses, multigroup and growth curve modeling as well as propensity score matching to answer our research questions.
Expected Outcomes
We will present selected results from our final report. First, we will show how decisions for a profile class differ based on the families’ SES. By comparing music classes, STEM classes and classes without a profile, we will then analyze competence development in music and biology, topic and subject related interest in music and science as well as teaching practice in music and science. First results for the first and second measurement points indicate that the increase in music competence is higher in music classes and the increase in biology competence is higher in STEM classes. Accordingly, the decrease in music interest is smaller in music classes and the decrease in science interest is smaller in STEM classes. Further analyses for all measurement points will be presented including different control variables. The perception of instructional quality with regard to classroom management, student support, and cognitive activation does not differ if we control for socioeconomic composition, student interest, achievement and cognitive abilities. There is only a small effect for classroom management in music classes, where students' perception of classroom management is lower than in classes without a specific profile. In terms of class choice we found a positive correlation between SES and the decision for a music class. However, there is no correlation between SES and the decision for a STEM class.
References
Altrichter, H., Heinrich, M. & Soukup-Altrichter, K. (Hrsg.). (2011). Schulentwicklung durch Schulprofilierung? Zur Veränderung von Koordinationsmechanismen im Schulsystem. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Conger, D. (2005). Within-School Segregation in an Urban School District. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 27(3), 225–244. Koivuhovi, S., Vainikainen, M.-P., Kalalahti, M. & Niemivirta, M. (2017). Changes in children's agency beliefs and control expectancy in general and emphasised teaching classes in Finland from grade four to grade six. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, DOI: 10.1080/00313831.2017.1402364 Maaz, K., Nagy, G., Jonkmann, K. & Baumert, J. (2009). Eliteschulen in Deutschland. Eine Analyse zur Existenz von Exzellenz und Elite in der gymnasialen Bildungslandschaft aus einer institutionellen Perspektive. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 55(2), 211–227. Weiß, M. (2001). Quasi-Märkte im Schulbereich. Eine ökonomische Analyse. In J. Oelkers (Hrsg.), Zukunftsfragen der Bildung (Zeitschrift für Pädagogik Beiheft, Bd. 43, S. 69–85). Weinheim [u.a.]: Beltz.
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