The present dissertation project investigated effects of major educational policy reforms in Germany that were enacted in the first decade of the new millennium. To do so, first, I outlined the theoretical foundations of educational governance (Chapter 2) before I presented the relation between EER and educational policy (Chapter 3). These first two chapters therefore provide the central foundations for the following studies (Chapter 4) and the knowledge that is needed to better integrate the increased emergence of reform-related political action.
The first policy reform that was the focus of the empirical studies in this dissertation was the reform of upper secondary school, which introduced CI in terms of mandatory course choice in mathematics, German, and a foreign language on an advanced course level. Before the reform, students were able to choose between advanced and basic courses in these subjects, and advanced courses were offered for 5 (Baden-Württemberg) or 6 hr (Thuringia) and basic courses for less than 4 hr (except mathematics in Thuringia) per week. After the reform, all of the core courses were taught for 4 hr per week.
Next, the G8 reform of lower secondary school was analyzed. The G8 reform basically reduced the total number of years spent in school from 9 years at high academic track schools (Gymnasium) before the reform to a total of 8 years after the reform. However, the total time spent in school was kept equal, which is why students’ weekly hours in lower secondary school were increased.
As outlined above (see Chapter 3.4), a rigorous consideration of the links between the surface characteristics of the education system (e.g., tracking or allocated time) and individual psychological factors appears promising for a better understanding of effects of educational policy reforms. Based on this, a specific focus of this dissertation was placed not only on analyzing student achievement as a central outcome variable but also on investigating the effects of reforms on additional variables that are assumed to be strongly related to student achievement. Related to this, models of educational effectiveness suggest that different reforms can affect achievement via different potential channels (see Chapter 3.4). This is why theory implies that there should be effects of some reforms on variables that would be less likely to be affected by other reforms. At the same time, the amount of research on different reforms might differ, and knowledge about specific variables might be available for some reforms but not for others.
Therefore, it seemed especially promising to investigate differential effects on variables such as subject-specific achievement, self-concepts, and interests in the presence of CI reforms,
whereas subject-specific achievement, stress, and subjective health seem to be of special relevance in the context of the G8 reform (e.g., Creemers, 1994; Eccles & Wigfield, 2002;
Helmke, 2006; Huebener, Kuger, & Marcus, 2017; Kühn, van Ackeren, Bellenberg, Reintjes,
& Im Brahm, 2013). Analyzing reforms by integrating them into established psychological theories and models that explain student achievement and student learning and investigating a broad variety of related variables will not only generate descriptive knowledge (e.g., Bromme et al., 2014) on reform effects but will also provide further insight into potential channels of the policy reforms.
According to EVT (e.g., Eccles & Wigfield, 2002), there are two components that are particularly important for students’ achievement from a motivational perspective. These two aspects are the expectation of success, which was defined by Eccles and Wigfield (2002) in terms of Badura’s theory of self-efficacy (e.g., Bandura, 1997) and value beliefs. Expectation of success is in turn related to students’ goals and general self-schemata, for instance, students’
self-concepts (ability beliefs). Self-concepts are believed to be strongly influenced by students’
previously perceived performance and are built into an external frame of reference (e.g., Marsh, 1986; Marsh et al., 2007). As outlined by Eccles and Wigfield (2002), in practice, ability beliefs and expectations of success are strongly related and not empirically distinguishable, and this is why we focused on measures of self-concept as a competence-related belief, in line with recent research in this field (e.g., Guo et al., 2016).
One central question that was targeted in this dissertation was whether reforms of CI can lead to changes in students’ academic self-concepts, interests, and their related achievement. Furthermore, the studies in this dissertation also took a closer look at differential long-term effects, based on potential changes in career choices in one study, as several studies have found gender differences in self-concepts (e.g., Marsh & Yeung, 1998; Watt & Eccles, 2008), course selection, and related career choices (e.g., Ma & Johnson, 2008; Nagy et al., 2008), which might reasonably be impacted by CI, as further outlined above and in the subsequent studies. In addition, I also shed light on one specific foundation of self-concepts, namely, school grades. Teacher-assigned grades are oftentimes assigned “on a curve” and therefore strongly depend on the composition of the reference group. As the composition of the reference group was changed over the course of the CI reforms, the studies in this dissertation took a closer look at whether this also had an impact on grades, related to standardized test achievement (see Chapter 3.4).
Second, the studies in this dissertation also took a closer look at another major German policy (G8 reform, i.e., the reduction in secondary schooling in high academic track schools of
1 year) and its related effects on student outcomes, which introduced changes in allocated time (e.g., Kühn et al., 2013). As outlined above, the relevance of time has already been described in previous research, for instance, in the Carroll Model (Carroll, 1963, 1989). Time in school can be distinguished into allocated time, defined as time allocated to a specific subject by the schedule; instructional time, defined as the net time students are exposed to instructions, excluding time for organizational issues; and time-on-task, defined as the time a student is engaged in learning tasks (Berliner, 1990; Scheerens & Hendriks, 2014). As outlined, policies oftentimes affect surface structures such as allocated time, whereas instructional time or time-on-task are usually assumed to be impacted by changes (increases or decreases) in allocated time in general. Both Hendriks et al. (2014) and Lavy (2015) found that increases in instructional time increased student achievement. Furthermore, Scheerens and Hendriks (2014) suggested, based on results of different meta-analyses, that time-on-task has a positive effect on student achievement. However, uncertainty still exists about how to exactly influence time-on-task, for instance, in terms of longer school days or years or possibly in terms of summer school, as the relation between time and performance is not linear (e.g., Scheerens, 2014a). In line with this, up to now, very few studies have investigated whether or not the caution that Levin (1986) suggested regarding longer school days might be appropriate (as cited in Carroll, 1989).
Both reforms were analyzed by considering data from the end of upper secondary school. Compared with other periods in the education system, the end of upper secondary school traditionally plays a special role for the subsequent transition process to employment or university access (Trautwein & Neumann, 2008). All four studies conducted here made use of rich, representative data sets in order to analyze effects of the upper secondary school reform in Baden-Württemberg and Thuringia as well as to investigate reform effects of the G8-reform in Baden-Württemberg. The four studies of this dissertation were perfectly suited to answer the outlined questions for three reasons:
First, all studies investigated effects of major German educational policy from the most recent decade, effects that are still discussed controversially in public. The results of this dissertation can therefore be used to inform policy and the public and enrich ongoing discussions with recent results from educational research.
Second, all reforms were investigated with a specific focus on student achievement and relevant, related psychological factors. Up to now, studies investigating effects of policy reforms on psychological factors have been rather scarce, and therefore, knowledge about
effects of reforms on student outcomes is oftentimes limited to loosely described changes in achievement measures.
Finally, all studies analyzed the reforms according to theories and models of or related to educational effectiveness and therefore provide examples of how to generally link surface changes in educational policy reforms to potential mechanisms related to the class or to the individual student. This might be especially useful for anticipating and explaining specific intended and unintended effects of policy reforms by means of profound previous research.
Along the same lines, this provides an important first step toward a more holistic perspective of what educational policy reforms actually change in school.
Study 1 (Maximizing Gender Equality by Minimizing Course Choice Options? Effects of Obligatory Coursework in Math on Gender Differences in STEM) investigated effects of the reform of upper secondary school on achievement in advanced mathematics, math self-concept, realistic and investigative vocational interests, and field of study at university. A special focus in all analyses was placed on potential differences between young women and young men on all these variables before and after the reform. The study is especially useful for increasing knowledge about potential differential effects of policy reforms on achievement and related subject-specific self-concepts and vocational interests. These potential changes were integrated into larger theoretical concepts (e.g., Eccles & Wigfield, 2002). The study was conducted on a rich representative data set from the TOSCA study (Köller et al., 2004; Trautwein et al., 2010).
Study 2 (Putting All Students in One Basket Does not Produce Equality: Gender-Specific Effects of Curricular Intensification in Upper Secondary School) estimated effects of the reform of upper secondary school in another German country, namely, Thuringia. Although the reform of upper secondary school was introduced somewhat later (2010/2011), the principles of the reform were very similar to the reform introduced earlier in Baden-Württemberg. Compared with the outcomes analyzed in Study 1, the second study took a closer look at a broader variety of measures such as achievement in English reading, mathematics, biology, and physics as well as students’ subject-specific self-concepts and interests. Using data from the Additional Study Thuringia of the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS; Blossfeld et al., 2011), Study 2 further investigated both main effects and potential gender disparities before and after the reform.
Study 3 (Comparing Apples and Oranges: Reforms can Change the Meaning of Students’ Grades!) took a closer look at the meaning of student grades at the end of upper secondary school before and after the reform of upper secondary school. Student grades are an important variable for college or university access and employment. However, research has
shown that teacher-assigned grades and standardized student achievement are less than perfectly related to each other. As grades are oftentimes assigned by making use of norm-references, and the CI reform introduced changes in students’ reference groups, Study 3 focused on the question of whether students’ standardized achievement differed before and after the reform, given similar grades. Compared with Studies 1 and 2, Study 3 focused on a central precursor variable of students’ self-concept in mathematics and English and therefore further increased knowledge about the potential mechanisms found in Studies 1 and 2.
Finally, Study 4 (The G8 Reform in Baden-Württemberg: Competencies, Well-Being and Leisure Time Before and After the Reform) is one of the very first studies to investigate effects of the G8 reform at the end of upper secondary school. In contrast to the reform of upper secondary school, the G8 reform did not change the class composition of students in highly demanding upper secondary schools but rather led to increases in allocated time in lower secondary schools in order to reduce the total number of years spent in school by 1 year. The last study therefore focused on potential changes in student achievement in mathematics, English reading, biology, and physics before and after the reform, but it also took a closer look at changes in variables related to students’ well-being (stress and health) and leisure time use.
In the General Discussion, I integrate the results of this dissertation into the broader framework of educational policy reform and policy evaluation. Research that satisfies both claims of scientific standards and claims of practical relevance for the policy process is, although strongly needed, still not common in the field of educational science (Thiel, 2014).