IQB National Assessment Study 2011

A total of 27,000 fourth-grade students from approximately 1,300 primary and special schools participated in the IQB National Assessment Study 2011. In each randomly selected school, one class was chosen – also at random – to participate in the assessment. The data collection period across Germany ran from May to July 2011.

In German, the test items referred to the competence domains of “Reading” and “Listening”. Some students additionally completed test items in the competence domain of “Orthography”. In Mathematics, the students worked on test items across all five competence domains outlined in the educational standards. These include “Numbers and Operations”, “Space and Shape”, “Patterns and Structures”, “Sizes and Measurements” and “Data, Frequency and Probability”.

Alongside the competence tests, the students also completed a questionnaire that collected information about their background and lessons. Headteachers, selected teachers, and the parents of the participating children also filled in a questionnaire. The information collected was used to provide an overview of teaching and learning conditions in German primary schools and to investigate the extent to which, and the conditions under which, optimal support for all students can be achieved.

The IQB National Assessments and IQB Trends in Student Achievement are conducted by decision of the ministers of education of the German federal states. Overall responsibility for scientific oversight and data protection compliance rests with the Institute for Educational Quality Improvement (IQB) at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. The IQB developed, pre-tested and optimised the assessment instruments and questionnaires used in the study. IEA Hamburg was responsible for organising and conducting the study. IEA Hamburg also trained external test administrators, who then carried out the assessments in the schools.

Furthermore, IEA Hamburg scored the students’ responses and processed the data according to the IQB’s stipulations. The IQB analysed the data and determined the competences achieved by the students in the individual federal states.

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