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The present study aimed at investigating implementation processes of a program of site-based management. In the context of the German Bonus Program – a measure of site-based management in Berlin – data from N = 52 principals and N = 487 teachers were used. Focusing on the degree of cooperation and collaboration exercised in these processes, both openness and consensus within the program’s target setting process were examined. The analyses included descriptive, correlation, and regression analyses in order to determine the degree of openness and consensus, as well as relating factors of the faculty to these variables. Additionally, principals’ and teachers’ perspectives were compared. The results show a high degree of openness and consensus in the target setting process. We further found moderate associations between principals’ and teachers’ ratings and differing relational patterns for principals and teachers, indicating limited correspondence of principals’ and teachers’ perceptions on the school level.

Academic self-concept (ASC) is subject to substantial change throughout the course of schooling. Besides individual factors, contextual characteristics play an important role in driving changes in self-perception. The abilities of classmates are especially important: Equally able students report lower ASCs when in high-achieving classrooms than when in low-achieving classrooms. This contextual effect is known as the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect (BFLPE). Although the BFLPE has been replicated in different settings, little is known about whether it is important across consecutive contexts. Therefore, we analyze the effects of various contexts on students' ASCs. We draw on a sample of fourth graders, who transitioned from elementary school to secondary school. Using contextual information from both elementary and secondary school, our results indicate that the BFLPE exists in both elementary-school and secondary-school contexts. Yet, when students moved to secondary-school, the BFLPE from elementary school successively diminished and was no longer discernible after one year. (DIPF/Orig.)

This study investigates the effect of bilingualism on the achievement in English as a foreign language from elementary to secondary school. Using longitudinal data of 1032 German students from sixth to eighth grade, we examined if speaking both a minority language at home and the instruction language presents an advantageous condition for English foreign language development. Controlling for confounded background characteristics, the regression analyses revealed that, although a significant advantage of bilingualism is found in elementary school, it disappears as students proceed into secondary school, yielding differential gains for the language minority and monolingual groups. Moreover, the level of exposure to the minority language plays an important role for the English achievement development for bilingual students as they proceed into secondary school.

Teacher judgments in terms of grades, proficiency assessments, and recommending placement in ability groups can have important consequences for a child’s future educational path. Whether or not students’ sociodemographic background characteristics are systematically related to teacher judgments has been a controversial topic of discussion. Using data from the TIMSS-Transition Study (N = 3285 fourth graders) administered across 13 German federal states in the 2006–2007 school year and survey data from parents and teachers, we investigated whether or not the average classroom socioeconomic status is reflected in teacher judgments and also examined possible underlying processes. We also probed the role of teachers’ own socioeconomic backgrounds (at the age of 16) in their later susceptibility to differentially judge students from different socioeconomic backgrounds and in differentially composed classrooms. Multilevel regression analyses revealed that, after controlling for differences in achievement (as indicated by standardized tests), teachers’ judgments were associated with the classrooms’ socioeconomic composition, and this finding could not be attributed to the average levels of motivation or behavior in the classroom. Teachers were similarly likely to exhibit such differential judgments regardless of their own socioeconomic background. These findings are discussed in the context of their implications for educational policy.

The study investigates the effect of immigrant bilingualism on learning English as a foreign language, controlling for confounding background variables and examining the effect of proficiency in the instructional language at school. Using a sample of 2835 German 6th-graders (Arabic-German: n = 105, Chinese-German: n = 110, Polish-German: n = 57, Turkish-German: n = 383, heterogeneous bilingual: n = 284, and monolingual German group: n = 1896), we examined if speaking another language at home in addition to the instructional language at school presents an advantageous condition for learning English as a foreign language. Controlling for cognitive abilities, age, gender, socio-economic status, parental education, and indicators of cultural capital, the analysis revealed a general positive trend between bilingualism and English foreign language achievement. This positive trend differs significantly between bilingual groups with different home languages. The strongest predictor for foreign language learning revealed to be proficiency in the instructional language.

Using a data set specifically tailored to homework research, with a sample of 1275 students from 70 classes in Switzerland, the association between homework and achievement in French as a second language was tested at three levels (class level, between-student level, and within-student level). The strength and direction of the homework–achievement association depended on the homework indicator chosen and differed to some degree across analytical levels. At the class level, achievement was higher in classes set frequent homework assignments and in classes where students reported low overall levels of negative emotions when doing homework. At the between-student level, high individual homework effort and low levels of negative homework emotions predicted favorable developments in French achievement, whereas high homework time predicted lower achievement. At the intraindividual level, high homework effort, high homework time, and low levels of negative homework emotions were statistically significantly associated with positive student evaluations of the learning gains from the specific assignment.