The collaborative project “StarS – Starting Strong in Primary School” at the IQB supports efforts to ensure basic competences at the transition from early childhood education to primary education. StarS aims to provide all students, regardless of their social background, with a strong start to their school career.
“StarS – Starting Strong in Primary School” focuses on the transition from early childhood education settings to primary education. The collaborative project develops digital tools to assess children’s learning status at the beginning of Grade 1 and to monitor their learning progress up to the beginning of Grade 2.
As part of the “Technology-Based Assessment” (TBA II) project, the IQB – in close interdisciplinary collaboration with experts in German and mathematics subject didactics – develops assessments of foundational skills and basic competences for formative assessment in primary education.
How does StarS contribute to ensuring basic competences? 🔗
The collaborative project “StarS – Starting Strong in Primary School” focuses on the transition from early childhood education to primary education. Its emphasis is on skills that are fundamental to the development of basic language and mathematics competences. The project aims to identify educational needs in the domains of language, mathematics, and self-regulation at school entry, and to provide targeted support for the development of these basic competences throughout the school entry phase Grades 1 and 2. The project aims to help ensure that no child fails to meet the minimum standards at the end of primary education (Stanat, 2023). In this way, StarS also contributes to safeguarding the nationwide educational standards established by the KMK in Germany.
The diagnostic tools developed within StarS to assess students’ initial learning status at the beginning of Grade 1 and their learning development at the beginning of Grade 2 make it possible to establish nationwide educational monitoring at the start of primary education – similar to the IQB Trends in Student Achievement conducted in Grades 4 and 9. The aim is to regularly assess
how successfully children transition from kindergarten to primary school,
which basic competences they possess at the beginning of primary education,
how these competences develop during the first year of primary school.
The results of this educational monitoring support education policymakers in making evidence-based decisions aimed at improving the transition into primary school.In addition, the federal states will be provided with diagnostic tools and other support materials developed within the project for educational practice including professional development modules for teachers and quality criteria for the selection of intervention materials – which can be used as part of state-specific strategies, such as learning assessments.
Skopek, J., & Passaretta, G. (2020). Socioeconomic inequality in children’s achievement from infancy to adolescence: The case of Germany. Social Forces, 100(1), 86-112. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soaa093
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