IGLU study
IGLU is the German abbreviation for International Elementary School Reading Examination . The international name is PIRLS ( Progress in International Reading Literacy Study ).
This study compared reading skills and reading comprehension of fourth graders. According to this study published in 2003 , the abilities of German (elementary) schoolchildren are in the upper middle range in an international comparison. After the sobering results of the PISA studies , this was seen as a surprise. In particular, there were discussions as to whether there were serious problems in the German school system between the fourth grade (examined by IGLU) and the eighth grade (examined by PISA). Above all, the intervening change of school and the division into the three-tier school system were discussed as possible causes. The studies provided material for discussion about the teachers' school career recommendations. It became clear that even with the same basic cognitive skills and reading skills, children from the two upper classes have a 2.63 times greater chance of receiving a recommendation from a grammar school than a child from a household from lower classes. Even children whose parents were born in Germany were preferred by the teachers with the same reading skills (2.11 times greater chance). The LAU study , the PISA study and the AWO study also came to similar results .
history
So far, four studies have been carried out:
In Germany, the Department of Quantitative Methods and International Educational Research at the University of Hamburg, Prof. Dr. Wilfried Bos and Dr. Eva-Maria Lankes.
PIRLS is coordinated by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA).
Education policy background
Wilfried Bos, Sabine Hornberg, Karl-Heinz Arnold, Gabriele Faust, Lilian Fried, Eva-Maria Lankes, Knut Schwippert, Renate Valtin:
"Education should serve a variety of purposes, e.g. the promotion of personal and social development, but it should also contribute to strengthening economic growth and increasing productivity and reducing social inequality in society as a whole. In times of scarce public funds, it is in the interest To find out to the public what results the resources used in schools lead to. The question arises, therefore, of the effectiveness of educational policy measures. In many countries around the world, since the 1960s, comparative studies of student competences in various areas of learning have been carried out regularly; in Germany this was only the case in isolated cases until the end of the 1990s (cf. Bos & Schwippert 2002). However, when the TIMS study drew attention to the strengths and weaknesses of the German education system in the mid-1990s, this was the reason for this, in addition to intensive Efforts too r to improve mathematics and science lessons, also to consider Germany's participation in further international comparative studies.
Against this background, the Conference of Ministers of Education decided in 1997 that Germany would participate in the OECD's PISA school performance study, and it was agreed that cross-border comparative studies should be carried out on a regular basis. With the TIMS study, mathematical and scientific competencies were ascertained in Germany at the end of compulsory schooling and at the end of upper secondary school (TIMSS II and III, cf. Baumert et al. 1997; Baumert, Bos & Lehmann 2000a, b). At the time, Germany did not take part in the TIMS study in primary schools. That is why the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs decided in the course of the national expansion study of PIRLS / IGLU 2001 to also ascertain the competencies of fourth graders in the field of mathematical and scientific basic education. The results of this study are available in published form (cf. Bos et al. 2003, 2004, 2005).
The OECD Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which is currently in its third survey phase, not only records competencies in various domains (reading comprehension, mathematical competence, scientific competence), but also interdisciplinary competencies. In PISA, a sample of 15-year-old students is examined, i.e. again the age group of lower secondary level, albeit with different instruments and goals that are significantly expanded compared to TIMSS (cf. Baumert et al. 2001, 2002; Prenzel et al. 2004, 2005 ). The aim of these studies is to gain more knowledge about the results in important areas of school work and at the same time to obtain information on starting points for the further development of these efforts.
In a systematic examination of educational results with the aim of safeguarding and improving the quality of teaching, the entire school period, and that means also the time at primary school, must be taken into account. This is all the more important as the competencies collected are based on cumulative learning processes. Cumulative learning combines new knowledge and new skills with existing knowledge and skills and thus integrates the results of previous and current learning so that they are available in a context and are not unrelated to one another. Conceptual knowledge and skills are gradually built up, i.e. above all differentiated and reconnected at the higher levels. Before PIRLS / IGLU / IGLU-E was carried out in 2001, only a few findings on the competencies acquired by fourth graders were available in Germany, which had been obtained from representative surveys.
Against this background, in the 1990s the offer of the International Association of Educational Achievement (IEA) to include a German sample in the international school achievement study PIRLS met a need articulated in education policy and science. In Germany, IGLU supplements and rounds off the OECD intermediate level study PISA.
In May 2000, the Conference of Ministers of Education approved Germany's participation in PIRLS 2001; On March 4, 2004, the decision was made to take part in the international school performance study PIRLS in 2006 and to carry out another national extension study (IGLU-E 2006). The international study (PIRLS / IGLU 2006) is financed equally by the federal and state governments. The 16 federal states bear the costs for the national supplement (IGLU-E 2006). "
Framework and goals
Wilfried Bos, Sabine Hornberg, Karl-Heinz Arnold, Gabriele Faust, Lilian Fried, Eva-Maria Lankes, Knut Schwippert, Renate Valtin:
"Reading comprehension is a key qualification, a competence that is important for learning in all subjects. Reading as a cultural technique is an essential prerequisite for participation in almost all areas of society. Children in the fourth grade have largely learned to read and are reading more and more in order to Reading means understanding and processing the meaning of graphically fixed linguistic content, whereby "understanding" as a process and end result is immanent in reading. The understanding process is a series of preliminary stages such as visual operations (processes when looking at the text), phonological Upstream coding (recording of sounds), word recognition, recording of sentence structures, etc. Reading as extracting meaning also includes emotions, assuming roles, creativity and the ability to criticize. According to modern reading theories (cf. Ruddell, Ruddell & Singer 1994), reading competence becomes constructive and interactive Process understood. Reader, di e know effective reading strategies and be able to process what has been read, active designers are important. The meaning arises from the interaction between the reader and the text in the context of an individual reading experience. Readers bring a repertoire of skills and background knowledge with them. The text, on the other hand, contains specific language and structural elements and relates to a specific topic. The context of the reading situation promotes engagement and motivation to read and often places specific demands on reading comprehension (Campbell et al. 2001; Mullis et al. 2004).
The IGLU test for reading comprehension essentially focuses on the following two aspects: the comprehension process and the reading intention. With IGLU, different aspects of competence are recorded in the context of different reading intentions by means of authentic texts from different types of text (texts whose design children are familiar with from their lives). In addition, to round off the results, the ability to write and in a small test the cognitive learning requirements are determined. The survey on the level of proficiency in reading comprehension of the pupils is supplemented by surveys of the school administrators, the teachers and the parents of the pupils surveyed (e.g. questionnaires to record the pupils' interest in reading, on technical and didactic approaches in German lessons or on professional standards). The students are also z. B. asked about their reading habits, reading occasions and reading preferences and their leisure activities. These additional surveys provide information on the design of lessons, important findings about the support needs of teachers and generally relevant pointers for the further development of teacher training and teacher training.
The IGLU conception for the primary school is based on a model of primary education, i. H. the mastery of basic cultural competences (commonly referred to as literacy). The more recent developmental psychological research has shown how children - especially in elementary school age, but also in preschool age - actively develop different areas of the world and cultures with a focus on knowledge and knowledge and develop coherent and thoroughly substantial theoretical models in the process. Lessons can build on these ideas, concepts and “theories”. He can stimulate further development or ignore the child's approach, thinking and understanding. As long as childlike approaches and perspectives are not taken up and encouraged, there is a risk that the development of interest and openness towards world areas and cultures will fail. Against this background, the recording of reading skills with the help of the IGLU tests can contribute to the further development of these skills in primary school, but also provide valuable suggestions to those involved in the children's educational process. "
literature
- Günter Klein: "The igloo study: the reading performance of elementary school students in comparison" In: Magazin Schule, Vol. 10 (2003), 10, p. 9 ff.
- Georg Wacker: "Three evaluations of the IGLU study PISA 2003 - school performance comparisons" In: VBE-Magazin. - Stuttgart, ISSN 0170-4788 (2003), 5, p. 13 ff.