EDUCATION MATTERS
The Startchancen- Programm: Germany's Largest Educational Support Program
BY CAROLA BRETSCH & SVENJA BUNDT
OBJECTIVES OF THE SUPPORT PROGRAM The central goal of the Startchancen-Programm (Starting Opportunities Program) is to sustainably reduce the strong correlation between social background and educational success. To this end, the federal and state governments of the Federal Republic of Germany are investing 20 billion euros over the next 10 years in approximately 4,000 selected schools. The aim is to sustainably support around one million students by improving learning conditions, establishing multidisciplinary teams, and investing in school development. The first phase of the program will run until 2030, with an option to extend it until 2034. PROGRAM EVALUATION AND THE ROLE OF IEA An accompanying evaluation has been an integral part of the Startchancen-Programm from the outset. The focus lies on continuously assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of the measures, as well as determining whether the intended goals are actually being achieved. The concrete implementation of the evaluation has been entrusted to an interdisciplinary research consortium led by the Institut für angewandte Sozialwissenschaft GmbH -infas (Institute for Applied Social Sciences), in which IEA Hamburg plays a central role. IEA Hamburg was instrumental in securing the infas Institute as the consortium leader, after other potential partners initially showed reluctance due to the complexity of the task. IEA Hamburg is responsible for all field work-related activities. These responsibilities include, among other things, the preparation and execution of the approval procedures with the ministries of education, communication with and support for schools, coordination of the test administrators,
as well as handling large parts of data processing throughout the entire evaluation process. In addition, IEA Hamburg hosts the online testing platform and the online school management system, and is responsible for the technical implementation of the data collection.
“The aim is to sustainably support around one million students by improving learning conditions, establishing multidisciplinary teams, and investing in school development.”
PLANNED DATA COLLECTION The evaluation is based on two key data collection formats: longitudinal monitoring surveys and accompanying repeated cross-sectional surveys.
55
Made with FlippingBook - PDF hosting