Achievement (school)
As a school performance intellectual, physical and artistic learning outcomes for appropriation is a school-based learning material referred to. The schools' task is to impart knowledge , skills and abilities as well as to learn to think and act independently . This also includes practicing and applying the content taught and acquiring social skills. The performance evaluation is usually expressed by grades that move within different scales or by performance descriptions. The teaching of values and ideals, which is also anchored in the schools' canon of mandates, as laid down in the Basic Law, in the state constitutions and in Section 1 of the Schools Act, largely eludes a performance assessment. Values are encouraged accordingly, but not graded.
According to Wolfgang Klafki, performance can be defined from a pedagogical point of view as the “result and execution of a goal-oriented activity that is associated with effort and for which quality standards are recognized” and which is thus assessed. According to this definition, the term school performance is defined as a result of the learning activity required by the school and to be achieved by the pupil on the one hand and the associated learning process on the other. It is measured largely independently of the student's special learning conditions according to a standard . Neither the share of the teacher-student relationship in the motivation to learn , nor favorable or restrictive family conditions should be taken into account in the performance evaluation. In the pedagogical sense, performance therefore includes both efforts made on the basis of school performance requirements and their results.
The didactic Eiko Jürgens supplements this definition of terms and distinguishes five components for his construct , which contain characteristics for an educational performance concept. School achievements are accordingly
- norm and purpose-bound
- plant and environmental reasons
- product and process oriented
- individual and social learning and
- problem-motivated and diverse learning.
Based on these components, a dynamic concept of performance emerges, which always includes an individual, a social and a criterion-oriented reference norm . At the same time, this means that not only the result of an activity is assessed, but rather the development process is placed at the center of the performance assessment. But even here, the performance of the pupils should be judged in particular according to the results that they achieve in everyday school life. In this context, GE Becker points out that he considers it pedagogically and ethically questionable to determine the value of a person from the evaluation of school performance.
Functions of performance evaluation in a school context
The following functions are educational functions as they relate to the teaching or learning process.
Reporting function
The assessment of performance provides information for teachers and students as well as for parents. Grades give parents a picture of how their child's level of performance compares with other students in the same class.
- criticism
Since the reporting function only provides information, it is not really meaningful. A censorship does not provide detailed information about the performance of the students. It does not include a report / comment from the teacher such as “good word choice used”. Mostly for low-performing students it is demotivating if their performance is below the grade table compared to strong students.
Feedback function / diagnostic function
With the help of grades, the teacher receives feedback on the extent to which the set learning and teaching goals have been achieved. In the event of deficiencies, teachers can design intervention measures and accordingly close knowledge gaps in students. The feedback function also gives students an assessment of how their own performance compares with classmates.
- criticism
A grade that is only given in the form of a number does not constitute productive feedback. The function of feedback is to give you tips on what could be done better in the future. The basis for this is that the feedback is given in a detailed, oral or written manner.
Motivational function
With the help of grades, the achievement motivation of students can be increased. It is more about extrinsic motivation. The motivation here arises from the hope for good grades or from fear of bad grades. The motivational function is often related to the disciplining function. Additionally, grades are used by the teacher to discipline students.
- criticism
If a motivation is developed out of fear of bad grades, then it cannot have a positive effect.
Pupils who get mostly bad grades are not really motivated by these grades, but rather demotivated.
There is also a social function of performance evaluation.
Selection function
Grades are mainly used here to control the school career, as they are a basis for which or whether a secondary school can be attended. On the basis of grades, forecasts are made about how the performance of students will develop in the future (e.g. in their studies or at work). It should also be noted that grading assigns job and career opportunities.
- criticism
Grades are only an evaluation of performance excerpts that were achieved at a certain point in time. This “performance” should not have any influence on the future.
Criticism of the system of performance evaluation
The repetition of the material following the inadequate performance (staying seated) is often perceived by those affected as selection. In some cases, the performance evaluation can also create a hierarchy within a class. Some consider both to be a disadvantage of the performance evaluation. The problem of school performance has been the subject of controversial discussion both in education and in public since the late 1960s . Also grades have always been the subject of lively discussions.
Criticism of the performance evaluation in the German education system
The concept of achievement has been a controversial term in education since the 1960s. So the question arose again and again, to what extent or whether performance evaluation can do justice to one's own claims of objectivity and equality for all students. Which norm or standards is it based on? Often the evaluation criteria conveyed during the training are perceived as functional and fair as a matter of course. And of course there is no avoiding uniform assessment procedures in the German school system. However, there are some points that need to be questioned. If you initially only look at the school subjects in which grading is carried out using uniform guidelines, standard forms for grading in subjects such as mathematics and the natural sciences initially appear to be justified, as the content in question can be clearly queried. In the case of subjects such as German, art or ethics, on the other hand, it is questionable whether they can all be assessed equally and fairly. For example, if a student writes a class test on the subject of poem interpretation, the general question arises as to how one can evaluate an “interpretation”. Furthermore, even standard assessment sheets, the use of which is required by law in German schools, can be interpreted in various ways. Formulations such as “very good”, “good” etc. are always subject to the interpretation of the respective teaching staff. What one teacher perceives as "good" can only be "satisfactory" for the other. Where one teacher turns a blind eye to the performance evaluation because he notices that a student is apparently trying, another will show no consideration. Claims, expectations and prejudices are subconsciously anchored in all people in the most varied of ways and have a not insignificant influence on performance evaluation.
It is also questionable whether teachers can evaluate a performance with all relevant factors such as motivation, diligence, learning effort etc. neutrally and as an outside observer at all. Access to such factors from observation leads at most to a vague assumption of the characteristics of such factors, which can be assumed to be arbitrary. First of all, performance evaluation is a method used by the school as an institution. Two functions are assigned to this in turn. One is the “social” function and one is the “educational”. Fend says about the “social function” of the school: “However, all sociologists of education who are to be taken seriously agree that, from a social perspective, the school system has the function of reproducing social structures and the associated economic, political and cultural systems of action and existing conditions” (Rolff 1967 / 1997, p. 10). Since society has a social stratification, it is also the task of the school to maintain this order through selection and allocation processes. The negative connotation of selection is immediately noticeable, which was put into perspective by Fend in the 1970s. Accordingly, the term selection is "not only about cutting off social opportunities, but also about the social advancement of broad sections of the population through higher school leaving qualifications, i.e. ensuring equal opportunities for everyone." , but is their legitimation basis, at least from a social point of view.
Swell:
Breidenstein Georg: "The theorem of the selection function of the school". In: Reh, Sabine / Ricken, Norbert (ed.): “Achievement as a paradigm. On the emergence and transformation of an educational concept. ”Springer 2018, pp. 309–328
Strauss, Svenja / Rabenstein, Kerstin: "Performance evaluation as educational practice. On the social construction of performance in learning development talks." In: Reh, Sabine / Ricken, Norbert (ed.): "Performance as a paradigm. On the emergence and transformation of an educational concept. ”Springer 2018, pp. 329–346
Schröder, Sabine / Thompson, Christiane / Wrana, Daniel: “The performance before the performance. Online self-assessments as (self-) management instruments for optimization and profiling. ”In: Reh, Sabine / Ricken, Norbert (Ed.):“ Performance as a paradigm. On the creation and transformation of an educational concept. ”Springer 2018, p. 347
Kronig, Winfried: “The systematic randomness of educational success. Theoretical explanations and empirical studies on learning development and performance evaluation in different school classes. " Haupt Verlag Freiberg, 2007
Influences on school performance
School performance is a complex structure of different conditions that work in a dynamic interplay with one another:
- Personality of the student
- Family and social environment
- School requirements and teacher personality
- Other factors: motivation , interaction effects
Personality of the student
Not only cognitive factors (such as intelligence or knowledge ), but also to a large extent individual, non-cognitive conditions contribute to the result of a performance process . Examples of these include achievement motivation , anxiety , self-image , self-concept , extraversion / introversion , interests , emotions , frustration tolerance , will control , value systems , Attribuierungsverhalten , popularity , etc. Depending on the way the interaction of current condition factors (personal problems or worries) and former development conditions (eg B. Upbringing ), this affects not only the pupil's world outside of school, but also his performance situation.
Family and social environment
The family-related effects on performance include social origin , milieu or educational level , style of upbringing , type and extent of support for the child, performance expectations of the parents, etc. The development of cognitive skills is influenced by the transmission of parental genetic information . At the same time, the current situation in family and friends contributes to productivity. In addition to the family, belonging to peer groups and other important reference persons play a decisive role.
School requirements and teacher personality
Social composition, class size and atmosphere are positive as well as negative factors influencing performance. In addition, it depends on the characteristics of the teacher, his teaching style and professional experience, whether any difficulties (enormous class size, competitiveness within the class etc.) are compensated can be.
Other factors: motivation, interaction effects, sleep
The points listed above are in constant exchange with one another. School performance, for example, develops from an interaction between teacher and student. It is therefore essential how teachers perceive, assess and influence performance behavior. The interaction between parents and school or teachers also works in both directions. There is a direct connection to extrinsic or intrinsic student motivation. Intrinsic motivation can be seen as an indicator of willingness to perform at school, whereas extrinsic motivation (most common form of student motivation ) can counteract this. Recent studies also show that learners' cognitive performance is related to the quality and length of their sleep the night before. According to the research, the schoolchildren performed better the next morning if they slept well. They also perform better when they have slept for as long as they are used to personally. Less or significantly more sleep than usual had a negative effect.
Transfer as a special performance situation
Critical life event
For some students, changing to a different type of school is a critical life event that brings with it the following difficulties or challenges:
- The student has to adapt to a new situation.
- The transfer can influence psychosocial development .
- Both the performance-related and social requirements and the standard of assessment change.
- Sometimes the evaluations change in the course of the change in reference group, which can also change the self-concept .
Mental and physical stress
Achieving a certain average grade for the transfer can lead to a pressure on grades. These pressures can be compounded by the expectations of the social environment, especially when parents want higher education. This can create tension between parents, teacher and child, which in individual cases manifests itself in negative interactions . Sometimes there can be competition among classmates. In addition, individual children react with stress symptoms, which are reflected, for example, in abdominal pain , headaches, but also behavioral problems .
Problems of performance evaluation for the transfer
The result of Ditton's study in 1992 showed a reduced performance among lower-class students and an equally clear advantage in the performance of students from the upper middle class . A pupil from the upper middle class receives the same recommendation for the grammar school as the pupil from the lower class with the same grade .
Performance measurement
Sensible performance measurement in schools presupposes that one has standards for performance in school, for example in the form of educational standards , and that one can measure performance. There were standards for performance in school even without binding norms set by the school authorities . They resulted from the interpretations of the teaching staff with which the requirements of the authorities were fulfilled in everyday life (see: School laws ).
The purpose of measuring performance in schools is “not” in comparing pupils or creating a hierarchy among classmates. According to the requirements of the Grading Ordinance (NVO), for example from Baden-Württemberg, the school grade should reflect the current level of performance of a student in a certain area. It is her task to document the learning progress of the individual student as objectively as possible. The yardstick for the assessment by the teacher is the objectives of the course and the corresponding assessment of the individual performance level, not the comparison of students. In the pedagogical sense, the grading also serves to provide feedback on the established performance level to the learner and their parents. It helps the teacher by recording the individual student performance and that of the learning group, to follow the learning process, to determine their own teaching success and to decide on appropriate measures for the further educational process. The school grade offers the opportunity to evaluate a performance briefly and in a generally understandable manner.
In the international literature on school performance measurement, the distinction between summative and formative performance measurement (formative classroom assessment) is emphasized (e.g. Black & Wiliam 1998; Maier 2010). A summative performance measurement records the knowledge and skills of learners at the end of a teaching unit or an educational phase and thus the current level of performance. Formative performance measurements take place before or during the teaching-learning process and are mainly used to optimize teaching or are the basis for individual support measures (e.g. Maier, Hofmann & Zeitler 2012). Formative performance measurement includes the following components (e.g. Black & Wiliam 2009):
- Teachers and students agree on the goals of the lessons and criteria for evaluating performance.
- During the class, situations with diagnostic potential are arranged (questions, assignments, smaller tests, etc.)
- Pupils are actively involved in the measurement and assessment of their own performance ( peer and self assessment ).
- The diagnostic information is used to optimize the further teaching-learning process.
Depending on the school subject, topic or previous knowledge of the students, different instruments and methods of formative performance measurement can be used. Examples of this are curriculum-based learning process diagnoses (e.g. Strathmann & Klauer 2010), tasks with diagnostic potential (e.g. Sjuts 2007) or standardized procedures for recording previous knowledge (e.g. Hamburg writing test).
literature
- Sabine Czerny: What we do to our children at school ... and how we can change that. Südwest Verlag, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-517-08633-0 .
- W. Klafki: Problems of achievement in their meaning for the reform of the elementary school. In: The primary school. 10/1975, pp. 527-532.
- E. Jürgens: Performance and Assessment in Schools: An Introduction to Performance and Assessment Issues from an Educational Point of View. 4th edition. Academia-Verlag, Sankt Augustin 1998.
- J. Ball, A. Lohaus, C. Miebach: Mental adjustment and school performance when changing from elementary school to secondary school. In: Journal for Developmental Psychology and Educational Psychology. 38, 2006, pp. 101-109.
- LJ Crocket, AC Petersen, JA Gruber: School Transitions and Adjustment During Early Adolescence. In: Journal of Early Adolescence. 9, 1989, pp. 181-210.
- Matthias von Saldern: School achievement in discussion. Schneider, Hoherengehren 2002.
- U. Trautwein, O. Lüdtke: The Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect. In: Journal for Educational Psychology. 19, 2005, pp. 137-140.
- Klaus Ulich : Introduction to Social Psychology. Beltzverlag, Weinheim / Basel 2001.
- Helmut Heid : What does the performance principle “do”? In: Journal for Vocational and Business Education. 88, 2, 1992, pp. 91-108.
- C.-L. Furck: The educational problem of performance in school. 5th edition. Belz, Weinheim 1995.
- Reinhold S. Jäger: From observation to grading. 4th edition. Empirical Pedagogy Publishing House, Landau 2004.
- Reinhold S. Jäger: Observe, evaluate and promote! Textbook for basic, advanced and advanced training. Empirical Pedagogy Publishing House, Landau 2007.
- Werner Sacher: check - assess - grade. 2nd Edition. Klinkhardt, 1996.
- Franz E. Weinert: Performance measurements in schools. Beltz Pedagogy, 2001.
- P. Black, D. Wiliam: Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in Education. 5/1, 1998, pp. 7-74.
- P. Black, D. Wiliam: Developing the theory of formative assessment. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability. 21/1, 2009, pp. 5-31.
- U. Maier: Formative Assessment - A promising concept for reforming teaching and performance measurement? In: Journal for Educational Science. 13/2, 2010, pp. 293-308.
- U. Maier, F. Hofmann, S. Zeitler: Formative performance diagnostics - basics and practical examples. In: School Management Handbook. 141, Oldenbourg, Munich 2012.
- J. Sjuts: Competency diagnostics in the learning process - theory-based task definition and evaluation is what counts. In: mathematica didacta. 30/2, 2007, pp. 33-52.
- AM Strathmann, KJ Klauer: Learning process diagnostics: An approach to long-term learning progress measurement. In: Journal for Developmental Psychology and Educational Psychology. 42, 2010, pp. 111-122.
Footnotes
- ↑ W. Klafki: Problems of achievement in their meaning for the reform of the elementary school. In: The primary school. 10/1975, p. 528.
- ^ W. Böhm , W. Hehlmann : Dictionary of Pedagogy. 16th edition. Stuttgart 2005, p. 403 f.
- ↑ E. Jürgens: Achievement and assessment in school. 7th edition. Sankt Augustin 2010, pp. 23–36.
- ^ H. Schröder: Didactic dictionary. 3. Edition. Munich / Vienna 2001, p. 217.
- ↑ Becker, GE: Evaluating and assessing lessons, action-oriented didactics. Part III, Weinheim / Basel 2007, p. 11.
- ^ Bernhard Rosemann, Sven Bielski: Introduction to Educational Psychology . Beltz Verlag, Weinheim and Basel 2001, ISBN 3-407-25238-2 .
- ^ H. Schaub, KG Zenke: Dictionary Pedagogy. 7th edition. Munich 2007, p. 389.
- ^ HJ Rahn: Should the school grades be abolished? In: Educational Science and Profession. Vol. 56, 2008, pp. 499-512.
- ^ T. Kohnen, J. Dirk, F. Schmiedek: Cognitive benefits of last night's sleep: daily variations in children's sleep behavior are related to working memory fluctuations. In: Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Vol. 56, No. 2, February 2015, pp. 171-182. (on-line)
- ↑ Mark formation ordinance of the Ministry of Culture of Baden-Württemberg, § 1, § 5, Paragraph 3, § 8, Paragraph 1 and 2 (from May 5, 1983, current version from September 23, 2015)
