Quality Assurance in Schools

Quality assurance in schools involves continuous processes aimed at analyzing, evaluating, and improving the quality of educational institutions and programs. The goal is to create a positive learning environment and ensure that students meet the educational standards.

With its so-called Konstanz Resolution of October 1997 and its participation in international and national comparative studies, the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) has made quality assurance in schools a key focus of its work. At the same time, the KMK emphasized that competition among the federal states is an essential prerequisite for quality development.

Educational Monitoring

Educational monitoring refers to the systematic, continuous, and data-driven observation and analysis of the education system and its components. It serves to ensure and improve the quality of educational offerings by collecting and evaluating data on educational conditions, processes, and outcomes.

In Germany, educational monitoring aims to further enhance the quality of the education system at all levels based on reliable results of educational processes. The goal is to provide governance-relevant knowledge that can be used for the development of the education system and each individual school.

For more detailed information on educational monitoring, please click here.

Educational Monitoring

Educational monitoring refers to the systematic, continuous, and data-driven observation and analysis of the education system and its components. It serves to ensure and improve the quality of educational offerings by collecting and evaluating data on educational conditions, processes, and outcomes.

In Germany, educational monitoring aims to further enhance the quality of the education system at all levels based on reliable results of educational processes. The goal is to provide governance-relevant knowledge that can be used for the development of the education system and each individual school.

For more detailed information on educational monitoring, please click here.

Educational Standards

The development and assurance of quality, as well as external and internal evaluation, require clear benchmarks. For this reason, the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) has placed particular emphasis on the development and introduction of nationwide educational standards. Educational standards define which competencies students should have developed by a certain point in their school career.

For more detailed information on educational standards, please click here.

The Institute for Quality Development in Education is a scientific institution jointly operated by all 16 federal states of Germany and based at Humboldt University in Berlin. It supports the federal states in quality development and quality assurance within the general education school system. The IQB assists the states in developing and implementing educational standards. These standards define which competencies students should have acquired by a certain point in their school career.

The IQB is tasked with regularly assessing the extent to which these goals are achieved in German schools. Typically, the IQB Education Trends are conducted in primary education every five years in the subjects German and Mathematics, and in lower secondary education every three years, alternating between language subjects (German, English, and French) and STEM subjects (Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics). Further information on the IQB Education Trend can be found here.

In addition, the IQB supports the federal states in educational reporting for Germany.

The Research Data Center (FDZ) at the IQB archives and documents datasets from major national and international school performance studies and makes them available for replication and secondary analyses, in accordance with the criteria of the Council for Social and Economic Data and in line with existing research data centers. Interested researchers can apply for access to the data of the desired study.

Further information on the archived datasets and the application process can be found on the website of the Research Data Center at the IQB.

The Center for International Comparative Studies in Education (ZIB) is a joint scientific institution of all 16 federal states and the Federal Republic of Germany. ZIB is an affiliated institute of the Technical University of Munich. Its goal is to establish high-level international educational research and contribute to quality assurance in education.

One of its core tasks is the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the PISA studies in Germany. Another focus is on research projects dealing with methods of data collection and analysis in PISA and other international comparative education studies (so-called Large-Scale Assessments, or LSA).

The data from PISA and other national and international education studies are processed at ZIB in a research data center and made available to researchers.

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Quality Assurance in Schools

Qualitätssicherung in Schulen