About the IQB

The IQB is a research institute of Germany’s 16 federal states, based at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. As a partner of the federal states, the IQB supports them in developing and securing quality within the general school system. The work is based on educational standards adopted by the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK). These specify the competences that students are expected to have developed by specific stages of their education.

The IQB regularly assesses the extent to which students in German schools achieve the competences defined in the educational standards (educational monitoring). Furthermore, the IQB supports the federal states in implementing the educational standards (implementation). Moreover, the IQB is one of Germany’s leading institutions in empirical educational research (research).

The IQB’s work covers six key areas:

1. The IQB coordinates the development and refinement of the educational standards.
2. As part of the IQB Trends in Student Achievement, the IQB regularly evaluates how well the school systems across the 16 federal states meet the educational standards.
3. The IQB provides the federal states with the tests and didactic materials for the Nationwide Achievement Tests (VERA), which are carried out each year in Grades 3 and 8. The VERA tests give teachers regular feedback on how far their students have progressed towards meeting the educational standards and where further development may be needed.
4. The IQB coordinates the development of the Joint Pools of Abitur Exam Tasks of the Federal States. Based on the educational standards for the General Higher Education Entrance Qualification, these pools help align the Abitur examination requirements across the German federal states and maintain their high quality.
5. The IQB conducts research in key areas of empirical educational research that underpin and further develop its work, while also addressing topics of particular interest to the federal states.
6. Through its federally and state-funded research data centre (FDZ), the IQB provides access to data from educational monitoring and educational research studies that researchers can use for addressing their research questions.

Since 2024, the IQB has also been addressing the transition from early childhood education to primary education. The IQB develops digital assessment tools to assess children’s learning status at the beginning of Grade 1 and their learning development at the beginning of Grade 2. The methods gather basic competences in language, mathematics, self-regulation, and motivational orientation, aiming to support teachers in providing targeted support for developing these competences (StarS – Starting Strong in Primary School).

The overarching goal of the IQB’s work is to make education in Germany better and more equitable for everyone. As a partner of the federal states, the IQB provides an empirical foundation that supports stakeholders in educational policy, administration and practice in making informed decisions. To achieve this, the IQB develops research-based instruments and promotes the transfer of scientific findings into practice.

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