What Primary Schools Are Doing Right: Educational Value-Added in Luxembourg

In such a diverse context as Luxembourg, educational inequalities can arise from diverse languages spoken at home, a migration background, or a family’s socioeconomic status. This diversity leads to different preconditions for learning math and languages (e.g. the language of instruction) and thus shapes the school careers of students (Hadjar & Backes, 2021). The aim of the project Systematic Identification of High Value-Added in Educational Contexts (SIVA) was to answer the questions (1) what highly effective schools are doing “right” or differently and (2) what other schools can learn from them in alleviating inequalities. In collaboration with the Observatoire National de la Qualité Scolaire, we investigated the differences of schools with stable high value-added (VA) scores to those with stable medium or low VA scores from multiple perspectives. VA is a statistical regression method usually used to fairly estimate schools’ effectiveness considering diverse student backgrounds. First, we identified 16 schools which had a stable high, medium, or low VA scores over two years. Second, we collected data on their pedagogical strategies, student background, and school climate through questionnaires and classroom observations. Third, we matched our data to results from the Luxembourg School Monitoring Programme ÉpStan (LUCET, 2021). We selected the variables based on learning models focusing on aspects such as school organization or classroom management (e.g., Hattie, 2008; Helmke et al., 2008; Klieme et al., 2001). We further investigated specificities about the Luxembourgish school system, which are not represented in international school learning models (such as the division into two-year learning cycles, the multilingual school setting, or the diverse student population). We will discuss the SIVA-project, its goals, and its data collection leading to data from observations in 49 classroom and questionnaires with over 500 second graders, their parents, their teachers, as well as school presidents and regional directors. Literature Hadjar, A., & Backes, S. (2021). Bildungsungleichheiten am Übergang in die Sekundarschule in Luxemburg. https://doi.org/10.48746/BB2021LU-DE-21A Hattie, J. (2008). Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement (0 ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203887332 Helmke, A., Rindermann, H., & Schrader, F.-W. (2008). Wirkfaktoren akademischer Leistungen in Schule und Hochschule [Determinants of academic achievement in school and university]. In M. Schneider & M. Hasselhorn (Eds.), Handbuch der pädagogischen Psychologie (Vol. 10, pp. 145–155). Hogrefe. Klieme, E., Schümer, G., & Knoll, S. (2001). Mathematikunterricht in der Sekundarstufe I: “Aufgabenkultur” und Unterrichtsgestaltung. TIMSS - Impulse für Schule und Unterricht, 43–57. LUCET. (2021). Épreuves Standardisées (ÉpStan). https://epstan.l

Value-Added Scores Show Limited Stability over Time in Primary School

Value-added (VA) models are used for accountability purposes and quantify the value a teacher or a school adds to their students’ achievement. If VA scores lack stability over time and vary across outcome domains (e.g., mathematics and language learning), their use for high-stakes decision making is in question and could have detrimental real-life implications: teachers could lose their jobs, or a school might receive less funding. However, school-level stability over time and variation across domains have rarely been studied together. In the present study, we examined the stability of VA scores over time for mathematics and language learning, drawing on representative, large-scale, and longitudinal data from two cohorts of standardized achievement tests in Luxembourg (N = 7,016 students in 151 schools). We found that only 34-38% of the schools showed stable VA scores over time with moderate rank correlations of VA scores from 2017 to 2019 of r = .34 for mathematics and r = .37 for language learning. Although they showed insufficient stability over time for high- stakes decision making, school VA scores could be employed to identify teaching or school practices that are genuinely effective—especially in heterogeneous student populations.

(How) do self-concept, interest, and conscientiousness function together in academic motivation? A typological approach developed and replicated in two large-scale samples

peer reviewedBackground: Following a call for integrative attempts to study academic motivation, we apply a typological approach. Aim: To identify and replicate naturally existing combinations of general academic self-concept, school interest, and conscientiousness. Sample: Two national representative samples of Luxembourgish 9th grade students (N >12,000). Method: Latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify motivation profiles, as well as BCH method and R3STEP approach to relate profiles to academic adjustment and background variables. Results: LPA’s revealed six robust motivation profiles, three of which mainly reflect differences in students’ general motivation level (i.e., “Highly motivated”, “Lowly motivated”, and “Amotivated” students). In line with the assumption of synergistic motivation processes in expectancy and value, these differences in motivation strength were reflected uniformly in different indicators of academic adjustment (e.g., standardized test scores and school anxiety). However, we also replicated three profiles whose nature and relation to academic adjustment point to compensatory and interference processes of motivation. While “Self-confident” students, who are characterized by a high general academic self-concept only, showed a better academic achievement as would have been expected by their motivation level, “Unconfident” students showed a rather poor academic adjustment, despite a relatively high interest in schooling and a high conscientiousness. In addition, we found some evidence that for “Conscientiously motivated” students, being highly conscientious may compensate for relatively low interest, seemingly at the cost of relatively high school anxiety. Conclusion: Our typological approach complements previous variable- and person-oriented research on the interplay between expectancy beliefs, value beliefs, and conscientiousness

Can language skills in Luxembourgish be a stepping stone to German? Evidence against the transfer assumption

peer reviewedIn Luxembourg, children usually learn to write and read in German, a language, which most of them do not speak at home or learn in early childhood education settings. Many had assumed that the promotion of Luxembourgish would be enough to prepare (Kühn, 2008) the children for the German language; that Luxembourgish language skills could be transferred into German language skills. We examine the validity of this assumption by comparing the listening comprehension of first grade students in German and Luxembourgish between different home language groups. For this, we used quantitative data from the 2022 Épreuves Standardisées, the national monitoring programme (Hornung et al., 2023). While for children who only speak Luxembourgish at home, the German test seemed easier, bilingual children or children with other different home languages struggled more with German than with Luxembourgish listening comprehension – indicating that a (direct) transfer from one to the other language does not seem plausible for all children.4. Quality educatio

Identifying Math and Reading Difficulties of Multilingual Children: Effects of Different Cut-offs and Reference Groups

Extensive research is available on language acquisition and the acquisition of mathematical skills in early childhood. But more recently, research has turned to the question of the influence of specific language aspects on acquisition of mathematical skills. This anthology combines current findings and theories from various disciplines such as (neuro-)psychology, linguistics, didactics and anthropology

Early Childhood Education and Care in Luxembourg - Is attendance influenced by immigration background and socioeconomic status?

For decades, researchers have been raising awareness of the issue of educational inequalities in the multilingual Luxemburgish school system. Especially children from families with a migration background or a lower socio-economic status show large deficits in their language and mathematics competences in comparison to their peers. The same applies to children who do not speak Luxemburgish or German as their first language (Hornung et al., 2021; Sonnleitner et al., 2021). One way to reduce such educational inequalities might be an early and extensive participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC). Indeed, participation in ECEC was found to be positively connected to language and cognitive development in other countries, especially for children from disadvantaged families (Bennett, 2012). However, these children attend ECEC less often (Vandenbroeck & Lazzari, 2014). There are indications that lower parental costs might go hand in hand with a greater attendance of ECEC in general (for a Luxembourgish study, see Bousselin, 2019) and in particular by disadvantaged families (Busse & Gathmann, 2020). The aim of this study is to spotlight the attendance of ECEC in Luxembourg during the implementation of the ECEC reform after 2017 which increased free ECEC hours for all families from 3 to 20 hours a week. We draw on a large dataset of about 35.000 children from the Épreuves Standardisées (ÉpStan, the Luxemburg school monitoring programme) from 2015 to 2021 and investigate which children attend any kind of regulated ECEC service (public, private or family daycare) in which intensity, taking socio-economic and cultural family factors into account. The findings might help to understand in which contexts ECEC attendance should be further encouraged. Implications for future policy decisions are discussed with the goal of further promoting equal educational opportunities for all children

Creating positive learning experiences with technology: A field study on the effects of user experience for digital concept mapping

Learning and assessment are increasingly mediated by digital technologies. Thus, learners’ experiences with these digital technologies are growing in importance, as they might affect learning and assessment. The present paper explores the impact of user experience on digital concept mapping. It builds on user experience theory to explain variance in the intention to use digital concept mapping tools and in concept map-based assessment scores. Furthermore, it identifies fulfillment of psychological needs as an important driver of positive experiences. In a field study in three schools and a university (N = 71), we tested two concept mapping prototypes on computers and tablets. We found that user experience is a significant factor explaining variance in intention to use. User experience also explained variance in three out of four concept mapping scores on tablets, potentially related to the lower pragmatic quality of the tablet prototypes. Fulfillment of psychological needs strongly affected perceptions of different qualities of user experience with digital concept mapping. These results indicate that user experience needs to be considered in digital concept mapping to provide a positive and successful environment for learning and assessment. Finally, we discuss implications for designers of digital learning and assessment tools

Need for Cognition and its relation to academic achievement in different learning environments

The present study investigates how Need for Cognition (NFC), an individual's tendency to engage in and enjoy thinking, relates to academic achievement in 9th grade students (N = 3.355) attending different school tracks to understand whether school track moderates this relation when controlling for student background variables. Using structural regression analyses, our findings revealed small and significant positive relations between NFC and academic achievement in German, French and Math. Relations were strongest in the highest and weakest in the lowest track. No significant track difference between the highest and the intermediary track could be identified; significant differences of small effect size between the intermediary and the lowest track were found in favor of the intermediary track in the relation between NFC and academic achievement in German and Math. These findings underpin the importance of NFC in academic settings, while highlighting that the relation between NFC and achievement varies with the characteristics of different learning environments

Cognitive Potential and Academic Success in Luxembourg: Use case of the "Test of Cognitive Potential"

The “Test of Cognitive Ability” (“TCP”) is a language-free test of reasoning ability that was created at the heart of the Luxembourg Centre for Educational Testing (LUCET). The TCP was initially developed for children at the age of 10 and can be applied in a group context. Since no advanced language-skills are required in order to take this test, it is perfectly suited not only to serve as a cognitive ability screener in a multi-lingual context, but also to study the relationship of cognitive ability and academic success within a demanding school-system that deals with a very complex mixture of student backgrounds (spoken languages, socioeconomic status, culture, etc.). Using traditional intelligence tests with language-based tasks and instructions could, in this context, result in biased data since maximum performance relies on a good understanding of task requirements. Being language-free, the TCP can help in gaining a more precise understanding of academic performance under different circumstances and prevent wrong conclusions as to the fairness of curricular requirements for different student populations. The present contribution will present the Test of Cognitive Potential and give an overview of how the relationship of cognitive ability and academic success varied within different subpopulations of a Luxembourgish sample of 303 4th graders