„Accountability systems and assessments may be a double-edged sword, affecting the attractiveness of the profession and the well-being of teachers. While some countries have supportive and non-punitive systems, others employ strict accountability measures that have been reported to negatively affect teacher recruitment and retention. PISA 2015 data from 50 countries showed a negative correlation between test-based accountability and highly skilled students’ willingness to become teachers.“
UNESCO (Hrsg.), Global report on teachers. Addressing teacher shortages (2023), S. 27.

„In Finland the only standardized examination is the secondary matriculation test (Anm.: Reifeprüfung), but principals do not use its outcomes for assessing teachers. On the contrary, teachers are expected to drive their own development, which contributes to the status of teachers as autonomous and reflective professionals.“
UNESCO (Hrsg.), Global report on teachers. Addressing teacher shortages (2023), S. 27.

„While Sweden added more centralisation measures in the early 2000s to combat the perceived decline of the education system, Finland has avoided this, highlighting teachers’ high social status and autonomy.“
Dr. Jennifer Chung, Research-informed teacher education, teacher autonomy and teacher agency: the example of Finland (2022), S. 3.

„National tests can provide a standardised reference level and therefore can correct for teacher or school bias in grading. Education systems organising certified examinations or national tests in mathematics at primary level tend to have lower percentages of low achievers.“
EU-Kommission (Hrsg.), Increasing achievement and motivation in mathematics and science learning in schools (2022), S. 12.

„The shift towards greater accountability and control in some education systems, often restricted to a small set of success criteria (e.g. student outcomes), leave little room for defining the roles and values that teachers themselves consider the heart of their identity.“
Valentina Suarez u. a., Teacher professional identity (2022), S. 7.

„With the increasing use of technology based on predetermined content for teaching aids, teacher autonomy is under pressure; in some private systems that rely on technology to deliver content, teacher autonomy is even discouraged. Education systems fixated on test results may privilege education for test preparation rather than the more holistic whole-of-learner development.“
ILO (Hrsg.), The future of work in the education sector in the context of lifelong learning for all, skills and the Decent Work Agenda (2021), S. 33.

„In the Netherlands, all students sit a standardised test in the last year of primary school. The results of this test together with the recommendation of teachers from the previous school constitute the advice taken on the student’s academic performance which influences the educational pathway to which a student can gain access. It should be emphasised that the advice from teachers has a greater weight in admissions than the results of the standardised test.“
EU-Kommission (Hrsg.), Equity in school education in Europe (2020), S. 112.

„High stakes tests, which are often a key component of accountability systems, have been linked to undesirable effects such as the narrowing of the curriculum, reducing effective teaching time to the expense of test-taking skills, lower levels of motivation and increased stress.“
EU-Kommission (Hrsg.), Equity in school education in Europe (2020), S. 161.

„The focus on 'test-based' accountability can produce unexpected results and undesired behaviours at the school level.“
EU-Kommission (Hrsg.), Equity in school education in Europe (2020), S. 162.

„In Norway […] national mapping tests in numeracy are available at the primary school level as part of the Norwegian quality assessment system (NQAS). […] The three mapping tests, one for each of the grade levels 1–3, are designed to identify students at risk of lagging behind who would benefit from more targeted teaching. […] The test data are owned by the local school and not reported in national league tables, and test results should be used formatively.“
Univ.-Prof. Dr. G. A. Nortvedt u. a., Improving Equity Through National-Level Assessment Initiatives. In: Dr. Tove Stjern Frønes u. a., Equity, Equality and Diversity in the Nordic Model of Education (2020), S. 226.

„China‘s education system tends to place a high value on the student outcomes from summative assessments. Standardised exams and tests are the most prevalent assessment practices that determine students‘ progression from one education level to the next, such as the national, standardised university entrance exam, Gaokao.“
OECD (Hrsg.), Benchmarking the Performance of China's Education System (2020), S. 82.

„Many education systems have realised that relying only on performance-based accountability is not enough to meet today’s complex education demands, and may even cause unintended results (e.g. schools may become overly focused on student outcomes).“
OECD (Hrsg.), Benchmarking the Performance of China's Education System (2020), S. 133.

„Among the top sources of stress reported by teachers ('quite a bit' or 'a lot'), 'having too much administrative work to do' (49 %), 'being held responsible for students’ achievement' (44 %) and 'keeping up with changing requirements from local, municipal/regional, state or national/ federal authorities' (41 %) are prominent. The sources of stress reported by school leaders are fairly consistent with those reported by teachers.“
OECD (Hrsg.), TALIS 2018 Results. Volume II (2020), S. 58.

„Disruptive pupil behaviours are considered a major cause of psychological strain for teachers. […] Three TALIS indicators consider these elements: 'being held responsible for students’ achievement' (reported 'quite a bit' or 'a lot' as a source of stress by 44 % of teachers across the OECD); ‚maintaining classroom discipline' (38 %); and 'being intimidated or verbally abused by students' (14 %).“
OECD (Hrsg.), TALIS 2018 Results. Volume II (2020), S. 95.

„According to the voice of representatives from various ministries of education and representatives of the teacher workforce the causes for the lack of well-being are multiple. A few of the causes suggested in the discussions were excessive workload, constant reforms imposed on the teaching profession that change with each new government, accountability and evaluation systems that are punitive and confusing, lack of support for schools with unmanageable student misbehaviour issues, class sizes, government interference in curriculum and teaching methods, excessive regulation, the challenges of more diverse and inclusive classrooms, perceived lack of respect for the profession, and, in some countries, inadequate or unequal funding.“
Carine Viac u. a., Teachers’ well-being (2020), S. 15.

„Poorly designed accountability can lead to circumstances in which classroom lessons are transformed into training sessions to give the correct answer to a test ('teaching to the test') which can severely diminish teachers’ autonomy and creativity.“
Carine Viac u. a., Teachers’ well-being (2020), S. 31.

„Teachers who are effective at improving test scores are often not equally effective at improving a student’s attitudes and behaviours so it is an additional argument for not focusing only on student achievements.“
Carine Viac u. a., Teachers’ well-being (2020), S. 45.

USA: „Attrition from the profession currently accounts for about 90 % of the annual demand for teachers, and is about double the teacher leaving rates of countries like Canada, Finland, and Singapore. […] More than two-thirds of teachers leave for reasons other than retirement, most of them citing dissatisfaction with different aspects of teaching that are amenable to policy intervention, including accountability policies, lack of administrative support, and lack of opportunity for decision making input and collaboration.“
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond u. a., Breaking the cycle of teacher shortages: What kind of policies can make a difference? In: Education Policy Analysis Archives Vol. 27 No. 34 (2019), S. 7.

„Focusing on educational attainment, motivation and engagement are found to be crucial components in students’ learning outcome. Heckman and Kautz found that non-traditional competences are a better predictor of high-school graduation than cognitive competences measured via standardised tests.“
EU-Kommission (Hrsg.), Beyond achievement (2019), S. 10.

„I find that neither value-added scores, classroom observation scores, student surveys, nor principal ratings serve as close proxies for teacher effects on complex cognitive skills or social-emotional competencies. Principal ratings have the strongest relationship with teacher effects on growth mindset with a correlation of 0.17. […] These findings suggest that high-stakes decisions based on teacher performance measures commonly used in new evaluation systems largely fail to capture the degree to which teachers are developing students’ complex cognitive skills and social-emotional competencies.“
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Matthew A. Kraft, Teacher Effects on Complex Cognitive Skills and Social-Emotional Competencies (2019), S. 29f.

„Measures of teachers’ contributions to students’ performance on state tests in math are strong proxies for their effects on students’ abilities to solve complex math problems. However, teacher effects on state ELA tests contain more limited information about how well a teacher is developing students’ abilities to reason about and draw inferences from texts. Teacher effects on state tests are even weaker indicators of the degree to which they are developing students’ social-emotional competencies.“
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Matthew A. Kraft, Teacher Effects on Complex Cognitive Skills and Social-Emotional Competencies (2019), S. 35.

„A large portion of teacher effects on student long-term outcomes, like college attendance, is not explained by teacher effects on student achievement, suggesting that good teachers not only increase students’ test scores, but also impact other capacities. As one example, teachers may affect students’ school engagement, which can have long-term benefits even if it does not improve test scores in the short run.“
Dr. Jing Liu u. a., Engaging Teachers: Measuring the Impact of Teachers on Student Attendance in Secondary School (2019), S. 1.

„Compared with having a high value-added to achievement teacher, a high value-added to attendance teacher has stronger effects on a student’s opportunity to graduate from high school, and meaningful effects on students’ pursuit of higher academic goals such as taking more AP courses. Notably, the effects of value-added to attendance are particular strong for students with lower prior achievement and attendance, while show little impact on students who are at the top of the distribution.“
Dr. Jing Liu u. a., Engaging Teachers: Measuring the Impact of Teachers on Student Attendance in Secondary School (2019), S. 4f.

„In theory, performance-based compensation is meant to motivate teachers to improve their practice and raise students’ achievement by rewarding effective teaching. However, research from different contexts has shown the difficulty of measuring performance at the level of individual teachers and the potential perverse effects of doing so, such as narrowing the curriculum or reducing teachers’ efforts on tasks not explicitly rewarded by the programme.“
OECD (Hrsg.), Working and Learning Together (2019), S. 23.

„Evidence indicates that most externally observable teacher characteristics are weak predictors of actual teacher performance in the classroom. In addition, teachers who are effective in improving students’ cognitive skills may not necessarily be equally effective in supporting students in developing their non-cognitive skills, such as resilience, growth mindset, self-efficacy and behaviour in class.“
OECD (Hrsg.), Working and Learning Together (2019), S. 27.

„Introducing high-stakes evaluations of teachers based on their students’ performance can also elicit unpredicted and potentially harmful responses. Whichever indicators are chosen to reflect students’ performance, there is a risk that teachers will focus their efforts on maximising these outputs at the expense of others.“
OECD (Hrsg.), Working and Learning Together (2019), S. 144.

England: „Off-rolling, the practice of removing children from the school roll, for example through strongly encouraging students to withdraw, is one of the darkest consequences of the behaviours associated with the present accountability system. […] The need for schools to achieve well in exams means that headteachers may off-roll pupils facing disadvantage just before their exam year, so as to avoid the consequent impact in the accountability picture.“
Social Mobility Commission (Hrsg.), State of the Nation 2018-19: Social Mobility in Great Britain (2019), S. 45.

„Meta-analyses of teacher merit pay programs across countries typically find no effect; when they find an effect, the size is small. […] Furthermore, merit pay programs might crowd out the type of behavior they are trying to reward by encouraging sub-optimal behavior. One meta-analysis found that 27 % of all merit pay programs that were rigorously evaluated reported sub-optimal effects such as cheating or teachers teaching to the test during program implementation. Furthermore, nearly 55 percent did not last beyond the evaluation period.“
World Bank Group (Hrsg.), Successful Teachers, Successful Students (2019), S. 14.

„Measuring learning outcomes without making sure the needed inputs and processes are in place is simply futile from the point of view of academic improvement and it is demoralising to the teachers who work in poorly equipped schools and without significant pedagogical support.“
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Nelly Stromquist, The Global Status of Teachers and the Teaching Profession (September 2018), S. 45f.

„There are no national central achievement tests for students in Finland, covering the entire age group, and there is no national control of text books or other learning materials. […] Rather than measuring the outcomes, the Finnish government invests more in the input, by paying more attention to the content of educational programmes.“
Dr. Andrea Frankowski u. a., „Dilemmas of central governance and distributed autonomy in education” (2018), S. 34

„Students in some of the world’s most high-performing jurisdictions on international large-scale assessments such as Shanghai, South Korea, and Hong Kong have reported 'relatively low satisfaction with life'. Internationally, there is growing concern that excessive pressure for high test scores (and to avoid low test scores) can cause ill-being.“
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Andy Hargreaves u. a., Leading from the Middle (2018), S. 55.

„The Finnish education system is unusual […] because there are no national testing programmes, and information on school quality measures is not publicly disclosed.“
Dr. Oskari Harjunen u. a., Best Education Money Can Buy? Capitalization of School Quality in Finland. In: CESifo Economic Studies (2018), S. 150.

Finnland: „There is no central or nationwide testing programme in comprehensive schools, and standardized tests are not used in evaluating school accountability. Moreover, whenever pupils or schools are tested using standardized tests, the results are not publicly released but are only used internally by the schools or by researchers for research purposes.“
Dr. Oskari Harjunen u. a., „Best Education Money Can Buy? Capitalization of School Quality in Finland“. In: „CESifo Economic Studies“ (2018), S. 151

„The need to judge the success or failure of educational policy through standardised evidence has led to a focus on measuring ‘outcomes’ through testing. At the same time, the main objective of education policy is often to develop the skills needed for an unpredictable labour market, with a particular concentration on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). It is rare that other subjects are accorded equal importance in policy discussions, or that goals such as personal fulfilment and wellbeing are valued. As a result, schools put children under pressure to succeed in a narrow range of subjects, while either overtly or implicitly labelling them as successes or failures during the process. Meanwhile activities that can foster the development of personality and counterbalance stress, such as sport, music, dance and art, are squeezed.“

Eurydice (Hrsg.), „Focus on: Mental Health in education: an unspoken issue of our age“, 19. Dezember 2017

„Too much testing could lead to much pressure on students and teachers to learn and teach for a test, something that would take the joy out of the learning process.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „„PISA in Focus“, Nr. 79, Dezember 2017, S. 2

„A country’s performance in PISA is […] unrelated to the use of standardised testing. Among countries and economies that perform near the top in science, the use of mandatory standardised tests is widespread in Beijing-Shanghai-Jiangsu-Guangdong (China), Singapore and the United Kingdom, but relatively uncommon in Germany, Korea and Switzerland.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „„PISA in Focus“, Nr. 79, Dezember 2017, S. 4

„LehrerInnen neigen deshalb dazu, sich auf das mittlere Leistungsfeld zu konzentrieren, denn hier ist es am einfachsten, Zugewinne zu generieren. Dabei geht das Augenmerk auf SchülerInnen, die über- oder unterdurchschnittliche Leistungen erbringen, verloren.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stefan Hopmann, progress-online.at am 21. Juni 2017

„In some countries, innovative change has been implemented without the care and diligence needed or appropriate prior testing, experimentation and evaluation.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „Schools at the crossroads of innovation in cities and regions“ (2017), S. 14

„A salient feature of educational practice in Finland is that there is no universal standardized testing used to evaluate students or school.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond u. a., „Empowered Educators“ (2017), S. 34

„Finland is well-known in the education world for the primacy of classroom-based assessment, using no external standardized student testing until the open-ended matriculation exam that is voluntary for students in 12th grade.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond u. a., „Empowered Educators“ (2017), S. 117

„Test-based accountability has led teachers to waste time on all manner of undesirable test preparation – for example, teaching children tricks to answer multiple-choice questions or ways to game the rules used to score the tests. […] Test-based accountability has led to a corruption of the ideals of teaching.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Daniel Koretz, „The Testing Charade. Pretending to Make Schools Better” (2017), S. 6

„Some of the measures we now use to control schools have more error than others. One of the worst in this respect is the 'value-added' estimates used to evaluate teachers in many states. These are highly imprecise, and ratings of many teachers fluctuate dramatically, sometimes wildly, from year to year.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Daniel Koretz, „The Testing Charade. Pretending to Make Schools Better” (2017), S. 15f

„Testing creates strong incentives to focus on the tested sample rather than the domain it is intended to represent.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Daniel Koretz, „The Testing Charade. Pretending to Make Schools Better” (2017), S. 18

„We know that in response to test-based accountability, many teachers shifted a good bit of instructional time from untested subjects, including science, art, music, and physical education, into math and reading, in some cases nearly or even entirely eliminating instruction in those other subjects.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Daniel Koretz, „The Testing Charade. Pretending to Make Schools Better” (2017), S. 190

„Finland has no high-stakes testing at all other than matriculation exams at the end of high school. Evaluation of education is largely left to the professional judgement of local educators.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Daniel Koretz, „The Testing Charade. Pretending to Make Schools Better” (2017), S. 212

„Finland stands out among OECD countries in the lack of high-stakes tests, and indeed the first national assessment is the matriculation examination at the end of general upper-secondary education.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „Finding the way: A discussion of the Finnish migrant integration system“ (2017), S. 18

„Genau genommen zeigt sich die Effektivität einer Schule nicht am erreichten Kompetenzniveau der Schüler/innen, das stark von den Vorkenntnissen am Beginn ihrer Schullaufbahn abhängt, sondern an ihrem Kompetenzzuwachs. Anstatt nur den Leistungsstand der Schüler/innen bestimmter Schulstufen zu vergleichen, müsste man auch ihre Leistungsfortschritte in longitudinalen Studien messen.“

Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Franz Rauch u. a., „Auswirkungen von Schulrankings auf Unterricht, Schulorganisation und Bildungssystem“ (November 2016), S. 9

„Die große Bedeutung standardisierter Tests als Entscheidungsgrundlage für die finanzielle und personelle Ausstattung der Schulen führte in den USA und in England nachweisbar zu einer Anpassung der pädagogischen Ausrichtung auf die Testerwartungen („teaching to the test“).“

Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Franz Rauch u. a., „Auswirkungen von Schulrankings auf Unterricht, Schulorganisation und Bildungssystem“ (November 2016), S. 15

„Da die standardisierten Tests sich weitgehend auf die Grundfertigkeiten Lesen, Schreiben und Rechnen beschränken, haben viele Schulen in den USA und England die übrigen Lernangebote reduziert, v.a. in den Wahlfächern. In über 70 % aller US-Schuldistrikte wird Unterrichtszeit für Geschichte, Kunsterziehung, Musik oder Fremdsprachen eingespart zugunsten von mehr Mathematik und Englisch im Stundenplan.“

Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Franz Rauch u. a., „Auswirkungen von Schulrankings auf Unterricht, Schulorganisation und Bildungssystem“ (November 2016), S. 15

USA: „Der Druck, gute Testergebnisse zu liefern, führt auf allen Ebenen des Schulsystems (Klassenzimmer, Schulstandort, Schuldistrikt, Bundesstaat) zu Versuchen die Daten zu manipulieren, was ihre Aussagekraft naturgemäß verringert.“

Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Franz Rauch u. a., „Auswirkungen von Schulrankings auf Unterricht, Schulorganisation und Bildungssystem“ (November 2016), S. 17

„Aus einer Fülle von Evidenzen lässt sich schließen, dass die externen Schulevaluationen und ihre Veröffentlichung sowie daran geknüpfte Belohnungen bzw. Sanktionen sich als ungeeignet erweisen, das Schulsystem zu verbessern und den Eltern mehr Sicherheit bei der Schulwahl zu geben.“

Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Franz Rauch u. a., „Auswirkungen von Schulrankings auf Unterricht, Schulorganisation und Bildungssystem“ (November 2016), S. 20

USA: „Die große Mehrheit der US-Wissenschaftler/innen stimmt darin überein, dass sich die Erwartung, dass standardisierte Tests für sich alleine ein adäquates Instrument zur Steuerung des Schulsystems sind, nicht bestätigt hat und die Laufzeit des NCLB-Programms (Anm.: NCLB = „No Child Left Behind“) als „verlorenes Jahrzehnt“ in die Geschichte der Schulreformen eingehen wird.“

Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Franz Rauch u. a., „Auswirkungen von Schulrankings auf Unterricht, Schulorganisation und Bildungssystem“ (November 2016), S. 20

„Der multinationale Konzern Pearson mit weltweit 40.000 Mitarbeiter/innen, der die Verlage Addison-Wesley und Penguin-Random-House, Zeitungen wie der Financial Times, Vergnügungsparks und Madame-Tussaud-Wachsfigurenkabinette besitzt, hat sich in weiten Teilen der USA eine Monopolstellung gesichert. Er verkauft den US-Bundesstaaten nicht nur Tests, sondern bietet auch darauf abgestimmte Lehrbücher sowie Lern- und Lehrsoftware an.“

Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Franz Rauch u. a., „Auswirkungen von Schulrankings auf Unterricht, Schulorganisation und Bildungssystem“ (November 2016), S. 22

„Zahlreiche Untersuchungen bestätigen die Befürchtung, dass das Bestreben, gute Evaluationsergebnisse zu erzielen, Unterrichtsqualität und Lernangebotsvielfalt einengen, was sich auf die Lernleistungen negativ auswirkt.“

Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Franz Rauch u. a., „Auswirkungen von Schulrankings auf Unterricht, Schulorganisation und Bildungssystem“ (November 2016), S. 23

„The increase in accountability that accompanies autonomy, together with high-stakes testing, may restrict innovation, especially where sanctions are imposed at school level.“

EU-Kommission (Hrsg.), „Education and Training Monitor 2016“ (2016), S. 61

Shanghai: „The high stakes zhong kao at the end of ninth grade and the gao kao at high school graduation have tremendous downstream effects on the lower levels of education and continue to influence teaching and learning for testing purposes only.“

Weltbank (Hrsg.), „How Shanghai Does It“ (2016), S. 82

„In Shanghai, schools are not allowed to publish student assessment results to the public under 'Regulations on Protection of Minors in Shanghai.' This policy is in place to avoid overemphasis on student scores; eliminate school rankings; and reduce exam pressure on students, teachers, and schools.“

Weltbank (Hrsg.), „How Shanghai Does It“ (2016), S. 80

„Shanghai has made a deliberate effort to not use student exam results as an explicit mechanism for rewards or sanctions. This policy seems to be directly opposite of the path taken, for example, in the United States. […] In countries where educational institutions are strong, especially in the training and selection of good teachers, autonomy and accountability in school-based management may not be a necessary condition for success. In these conditions, which are found in many highperforming countries in Europe and East Asia, trust is the main element of accountability.“

Weltbank (Hrsg.), „How Shanghai Does It“ (2016), S. 81f

„Classroom assessments take place frequently in Shanghai’s education system. Students participate in weekly quizzes, oral tests and presentations, and homework assignments throughout the academic year. In addition to assessments planned by teachers for each individual class of students, students in the same grade regularly participate in common weekly or monthly, midterm, or finalterm paper-based assessments.“

Weltbank (Hrsg.), „How Shanghai Does It“ (2016), S. 86

„At the end of lower secondary school (ninth grade), all students must take the Lower Secondary School Graduation Examination in Shanghai. The subjects tested include Chinese, math, English, physics, and chemistry. Physical education, lab operations, and moral ethics of students also factor into students’ final exam scores. The exam serves the dual purposes of selection into high schools and providing information on the overall performance of the basic education system. The total score on the exam determines the type of high school in which students will enroll: admission into highly selective comprehensive schools requires outstanding performance on the exam. […] Because of its primary purpose as a mechanism for selection into high school, the zhong kao has become increasingly high stakes for children in Shanghai. The test ultimately determines in which type of high school ninth-grade graduates can enroll.“

Weltbank (Hrsg.), „How Shanghai Does It“ (2016), S. 90f

Shanghai: „Students undergo intensive preparation for gao kao, dedicating the last year of high school almost exclusively to demanding school drills, practice tests, and after-school tutoring sessions.“

Weltbank (Hrsg.), „How Shanghai Does It“ (2016), S. 94

„Trust impacts the governance of education systems in a number of ways. It enables stakeholders to take risks, facilitates interactions and co-operation, and reduces the need for control and monitoring.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „Governing Education in a Complex World“ (2016), S. 222

„One positive observation is that Shanghai has made an effort not to rank or publish individual student exam results or to use exam results as an explicit mechanism for teacher rewards or sanctions.“

Weltbank (Hrsg.), „How Shanghai Does It“ (2016), Executive Summary

„In the United Kingdom […] the permanent exclusion rate in schools increased 300 % in the three years following the implementation of league tables.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „Governing Education in a Complex World“ (2016), S. 85

„PISA 2012 analyses make it clear that simply making school achievement data public is not correlated with better student outcomes.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „Governing Education in a Complex World“ (2016), S. 168

„Standardbasierte Tests und Kompetenzorientierung führen mittels eines zunehmenden ‚Teaching-to-the-Test‘ immer mehr weg vom verstehenden Lernen und sorgen so für einen Bildungsabbau.“

Prof. Dr. Jochen Krautz, „ÖkologiePolitik“, Nr. 168 (November 2015), S. 32

„Standardisierte Tests entprofessionalisieren die Lehrerschaft. Sie müssen die Schüler auf die Tests hin trimmen, statt mit ihnen das Spannungsfeld der Bildung von Autonomie auszuloten.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Wolfram Meyerhöfer, Neue Zürcher Zeitung online am 22. Juni 2015

„Messen lassen sich Lernfortschritte oder Übungseffekte. Bildung kann gefördert, nicht aber vermessen werden.“

Dr. Axel Bernd Kunze, „Bildung ist mehr als Sozialpolitik“ in „elternforum“ (Zeitung der Katholischen Elternschaft Deutschlands), 2-2015, S. 9

„Finland does not monitor the performance of schools, and school inspections were in fact abolished in 1991.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „Starting Strong IV“ (2015), S. 208

„Was für das Gelingen von Lernen wesentlich ist, kann nicht auf dieselbe Art und Weise erfasst werden, wie man das Funktionieren technischer Geräte oder ökonomischen Erfolg misst.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Hans Brügelmann, „Vermessene Schulen – standardisierte Schüler“ (2015), S. 11f

„Menschen und ihr Lernen lassen sich nicht vermessen wie Maschinen und technische Prozesse. Und noch vermessener wäre es zu glauben, sie ließen sich in vergleichbarer Weise steuern und planen.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Hans Brügelmann, „Vermessene Schulen – standardisierte Schüler“ (2015), S. 15

„Politisch bedeutet die Zuständigkeit für Evaluation Macht – und damit für die Betroffenen auch Abhängigkeit.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Hans Brügelmann, „Vermessene Schulen – standardisierte Schüler“ (2015), S. 94

„Ein demokratisches Verständnis von Evaluation fordert, die Betroffenen durch externe Beurteilungen nicht zu entmündigen, sondern sie in ihrer persönlichen Evaluations- und Problemlösekompetenz zu stärken.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Hans Brügelmann, „Vermessene Schulen – standardisierte Schüler“ (2015), S. 94

„Studien in den USA belegen, dass die Schulleistungen in Bundesstaaten mit hohen Sanktionen für Institutionen oder Personengruppen in der Regel schlechter sind als in Bundesstaaten mit niedrigen Sanktionen: Über dem nationalen Durchschnitt liegen 60 bis 70 Prozent der Bundesstaaten mit niedrigen Sanktionen aber nur 10 bis 20 Prozent der Staaten mit hohen Sanktionen.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Hans Brügelmann, „Vermessene Schulen – standardisierte Schüler“ (2015), S. 104

„Evaluation als Blick von außen ist wichtig, um scheinbare Selbstverständlichkeiten in der Praxis infrage zu stellen – ‚von außen‘ heißt aber nicht zwingend ‚von oben‘. Dialog und Unterstützung statt Autoritätsanspruch und Vorschrift – nur so wird Evaluation im Bildungswesen produktiv.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Hans Brügelmann, „Vermessene Schulen – standardisierte Schüler“ (2015), S. 130

„Student achievement is the product of many factors, most of which teachers have little or no control over, such as students’ home and family contexts, their health and other personal factors, their other prior and current teachers, and school resources ranging from books, class size, and curriculum, to the availability of reading specialists. Indeed, researchers have found that teachers account for only about 7-10 % of the variance in student learning.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond u. a., „Teaching in the Flat World“ (2015), S. 22

„There is no regular and systematic external evaluation of schools in Finland.“

EU-Kommission (Hrsg.), „Assuring Quality in Education“ (2015), S. 157

„There is increasing evidence internationally of the benefits of collegiality within and between schools but such collaboration is more difficult to achieve in a competitive environment.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „Improving Schools in Sweden: An OECD Perspective“ (2015), S. 152

„Wer in Ländern wie England und den USA beobachtet hat, welche Konsequenzen die Publikation von globalen Testdaten einzelner Schulen z.B. auf die Immobilienpreise von Stadtteilen hat, wird sich keine Illusionen machen, was den verständigen Umgang mit solchen Daten in der Öffentlichkeit betrifft.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Hans Brügelmann, „Vermessene Schulen – standardisierte Schüler“ (2015), S. 110

„The Finnish education system does not employ external standardized student testing to drive the performance of schools. Neither does it employ a rigorous inspection system of schools and teachers. Instead of test-based accountability, the Finnish system relies on the expertise and professional trust-based responsibility of teachers who are knowledgeable and committed to their students and communities.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Pasi Sahlberg, „Developing Effective Teachers and School Leaders. The Case of Finland“. In: Darling-Hammond u. a., „Teaching in the Flat World“ (2015), S. 32

„A key characteristic of Finnish teachers’ work environment is that they are autonomous, trusted, and respected professionals. Unlike nations that have bureaucratic accountability systems that make teachers feel threatened, overcontrolled, and undervalued, teaching in Finland is a very sophisticated profession, where teachers feel they can truly exercise the skills they have learned in the university. Test-based accountability is replaced by trust-based responsibility and inspiration for human development.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Pasi Sahlberg, „Developing Effective Teachers and School Leaders. The Case of Finland“. In: Darling-Hammond u. a., „Teaching in the Flat World“ (2015), S. 37f

„Finnish schools accept that there may be some limitations on comparability when teachers do all the grading. At the same time, Finns believe that the problems often associated with external standardized testing – narrowing of the curriculum, teaching to the test, unethical practices related to manipulating test results, and unhealthy competition among schools – can be more problematic.”

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Pasi Sahlberg, „Developing Effective Teachers and School Leaders. The Case of Finland“. In: Darling-Hammond u. a., „Teaching in the Flat World“ (2015), S. 41

„Standardized testing that compares individuals to statistical averages, competition that leaves weaker students behind, and merit-based pay for teachers all jeopardize schools’ efforts to enhance equity. None of these factors currently exists in the Finnish education system.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Pasi Sahlberg, „Finnish Lessons 2.0“ (2015), S. 66

„It is almost a truism that what gets assessed is what gets taught and if a system judges teachers and schools largely on the results of standardised tests, it can lead to narrowing the curriculum as they focus on the skills that are tested and give less attention to learners’ wider developmental and educational needs.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „Improving Schools in Scotland“ (2015), S. 152

„Testing what students have learned in school is not a bad thing as long as it does not harm teaching and learning. Problems arise when tests become higher in stakes, when they are of poor quality, and when students’ test scores are used to judge other things, such as the quality of teachers or schools.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Pasi Sahlberg, „Finnish Lessons 2.0“ (2015), S. 94

„The Finnish system has not been infected by market-based education reform models, such as tougher competition between schools over enrollment, standardization of teaching and learning in schools, and high-stakes testing policies.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Pasi Sahlberg, „Finnish Lessons 2.0“ (2015), S. 48f

„The kinds of skills that are easiest to teach and test are also easiest to automate, digitise and outsource.“

Dr. Andreas Schleicher, „Schools for 21st-Century Learners“ (2015), S. 12

Finnland: „The focus of national evaluations is on the education system, not on individual schools and there is no system for school inspection.“

Eurydice (Hrsg.), „Assuring Quality in Education“ (2015), S. 157

„The latest PISA results show that, on average across countries, school competition is not related to better mathematics performance among students.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „PISA in Focus“ Nr. 42, August 2014, S. 2

„Finns want to avoid the disadvantages often associated with external standardised testing – narrowing of the curriculum, teaching to the test, and unhealthy competition among schools.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „Lessons from PISA for Korea“ (2014), S. 175

„Man muss sich im Klaren darüber sein, dass das Gelingen von Bildungsprozessen weder an Standards gemessen noch an Erfolgsquoten welcher Art auch immer überprüft werden kann.“

Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Konrad Paul Liessmann, „Geisterstunde – Die Praxis der Unbildung“ (2014), S. 130

„The standards only measure a small percentage of what a student actually knows or has learned over the course of a school year. A standardized test cannot measure or encourage growth or improvement, creativity, or curiosity – all essential elements to foster true learning.“

Kelly Lynch, „A Comparison of the American Common Core State Standards with the Finnish“ (2014), S. 40

„Wie sich am Absturz Schwedens in der letzten PISA-Runde lernen lässt, verlieren gerade jene, die die Umstellung auf Vermessungsstrategien mit Standardisierung und Konkurrenz am konsequentesten umgesetzt haben, genau gemessen an jenen Parametern, die zu diesen Programmen Anlass gaben.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stefan Hopmann, in „Alois Mock: Visionen im Spiegel der Zeit“ (2014), S. 100

„Current discussions focus on promoting skills by improving schools. Within this very narrow purview, the success of schools is measured by scores on the exams of the students in them. This mindset is a consequence of very limited conceptualisations of human capabilities that assumes that achievement tests capture the important life skills. It misses important dimensions of human flourishing.“

Dr. Tim Kautz u. a., „Fostering and Measuring Skills: Improving Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skills to Promote Lifetime Success“ (2014), S. 11

„There is pressure on both students and teachers to concentrate on the specific content and format of the tests, which leads to a narrowing of the delivered curriculum. Excessive time spent on test preparation reduces the amount of content to which students are exposed.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „Reviews of Evaluation and Assessment in Education: Netherlands“ (2014), S. 73

„There is a risk that the high stakes associated with the test lead to a narrowing of the delivered curriculum and, possibly, a shift of emphasis from other valued outcomes of schooling.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „Reviews of Evaluation and Assessment in Education: Netherlands“ (2014), S. 74

„Monitoring is not always the solution because it is costly and can have perverse effects on incentives if it is badly implemented. Moreover, monitoring can actually create a system of distrust between stakeholders.“

Dr. Lucie Cerna, „Trust: What it is and Why it Matters for Governance and Education“ (2014), S. 30

„Eine gute Testaufgabe – bei der man genau benennen kann, was sie misst – ist das Gegenteil einer bildenden Schulaufgabe, welche geistige Vielfalt und Debatte über diese Vielfalt herausfordert. Deshalb führt der Weg der immer stärkeren Standardisierung von Bildung – getragen von einem nicht hinterfragten Glauben an die mathematische Modellierbarkeit des menschlichen Geistes – das Schulsystem in eine Kultur der intellektuellen Armut.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Wolfram Meyerhöfer, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung vom 27. September 2013

„The summative assessment culture that has emerged in many parts of the world, especially in the United States, has undermined one of the most potent uses of tests; i.e., as learning tools.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Olusola Adesope u. a., „The neglected benefits of testing: Implications for classroom and self-directed learning“ in „The WERA Educational Journal“, August 2013, S. 22

„Die internationale Forschung zeigt, dass Standard-Tests zu keiner nachhaltigen Leistungssteigerung führen - eher im Gegenteil.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stefan Hopmann, Die Furche vom 18. April 2013

„Tests vernachlässigen zwingend genau das, was das Interessante von Bildung ausmacht.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Wolfram Meyerhöfer, „Unterrichten – standardisiertes Testen – Erziehen. Effekte der Standardisierung“ in Lin-Klitzing u. a., „Zur Vermessung von Schule“ (2013), S. 183

Finnland: „PISA has thrown a country to the top of the international ranking charts that least follows the OECD’s ‘standard global reform package’ – i.e. an accountability-driven and standardized-test based model of global education.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Heinz-Dieter Meyer u. a., „PISA and the Globalization of Education Governance: some puzzles and problems“ in Meyer u. a., „PISA, Power und Policy“ (2013), S. 14

„Finland has not followed the Anglo-Saxon accountability movement in basic education, which believes in making schools and teachers accountable for learning outcomes. There are consequently no inspection systems or centrally organized examinations or nationwide tests in basic education.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Tiina Silander u. a., „The Theory and practice of Building Pedagogical Skill in Finnish Teacher Education“ in Meyer u. a., „PISA, Power und Policy“ (2013), S. 79

USA: „This unnatural focus on testing produced perverse but predictable results: it narrowed the curriculum; many districts scaled back time for the arts, history, civics, physical education, science, foreign language, and whatever was not tested.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Diane Ravitch, „Reign of Error – The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools“ (2013), S. 13

„Although external accountability may be a useful strategy at the early stages of an improvement process, its continued use will reduce both performance and motivation.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. David Hopkins, „Exploding the myths of school reform. CSE Seminar Papers No. 224“ (2013), S. 9

„The monitoring of student outcomes must extend beyond knowledge skills in key subject areas and include broader learning outcomes, including students’ critical thinking skills, social competencies, engagement with learning and overall well-being.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „Synergies for Better Learning“ (2013), S. 25

„There are a range of statistical, methodological and practical challenges in using student standardised assessment results to appraise individual teachers. […] Safeguards should be established against a simplistic use of student test results for high-stakes decisions about teachers.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „Synergies for Better Learning“ (2013), S. 337

„As standardised student assessment becomes a more profitable industry, companies have strong incentives to lobby for the expansion of student standardised assessment as an educational policy therefore influencing the activities within the evaluation and assessment framework.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „Synergies for Better Learning“ (2013), S. 51

„In some countries (notably the United States [US]), current policies have prioritised test scores, ignoring evidence proving their instability. These policies tend to promote teaching to standardised tests, a narrowing of the curriculum, and a culture of competitiveness among teachers.“

Laura Figazzolo, „The Use and Misuse of Teacher Appraisal“ (2013), S. 6

„Täuschungsstrategien nehmen zu; die Orientierung auf quantitative Steigerung der gemessenen Leistungen kann mit einer Verringerung der Breite und qualitativen Tiefe der Lernerfahrungen oder gar mit einem Ausschluss von schwachen Schülerinnen und Schülern von Lern- und Prüfungsgelegenheiten einhergehen.“

BIFIE (Hrsg.), „Nationaler Bildungsbericht - Österreich 2012“ (2013), Band 2, S. 377

„In dem Maße, in dem man standardisierte Tests als Bewertungsmaßstab für Schulen heranzieht, drängt man die sokratischen Anteile in Curricula und Methodik in den Hintergrund.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Martha Nussbaum, „Nicht für den Profit! Warum Demokratie Bildung braucht“ (2012), S. 66

„In the United States, the singular focus on a cognitive achievement gap created by national policy and funding has led to schools narrowing their curriculum and focusing on test preparation as a major instructional strategy.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Henry M. Levin, „More than just test scores“ (2012)

„Unlike nations that have bureaucratic accountability systems that make teachers feel threatened, overcontrolled, and undervalued, teaching in Finland is a very sophisticated profession, in which teachers feel they can truly exercise the knowledge and skills they have learned in the university.“

Dr. Pasi Sahlberg, „Lessons from Finland“. In: „American Educator“ (Sommer 2011), S. 36

„It is not the presence of standards and assessment that is the problem, but rather the attitude (philosophy or theory of action) that underpins them, and their dominance (as when they become so heavily laden that they crush the system by their sheer weight).“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Michael Fullan, „Choosing the wrong drivers for whole system reform“ (2011), S. 8

„Singapore’s Primary School leaving Examination at the end of Year 6 is not just one more standardized test. It carries astonishingly high stakes. Pupils’ scores affect the status of the secondary school they or their parents might be able to choose and the stream (or track) that they will be assigned to.”

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Andy Hargreaves u. a., „The global fourth way“ (2011), S. 74

„Accountability or feedback systems based on the use of measurable performance indicators may create messages that give incentives for schools to focus mainly on areas that are easily measured. This may result in the neglect of areas where measurement is more difficult.“

OECD (Hrsg.), „Reviews of Evaluation and Assessment in Education – Sweden“ (2011), S. 90

USA: „Teachers and administrators also move students that they expect not to test well out of the schools, or treat them poorly hoping they will drop out, or they hold them back so they get to be a year older and maybe a little smarter before they have to take the tests, and so forth.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. David Berliner, „The Context for Interpreting PISA Results in the USA“ in Pereyra u.a. (Hrsg.), „PISA Under Examination“ (2011), S. 87

„In den USA macht man seit mindestens 25 Jahren Erfahrungen mit einer standardbasierten Schulreform. Obwohl man immer wieder von großen Erfolgen dieser Reform hören kann, trifft bei nüchterner Betrachtung eher das Gegenteil zu. Probleme zeigen sich in mindestens drei Bereichen: Demotivierung der Lehrkräfte, Verengung des Lehrplans und Unzuverlässigkeit der Tests.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Walter Herzog, Tagung des Wissenschaftlichen Beirats des Deutschen Philologenverbandes, 8./9. Oktober 2010

„Finland never developed national standardized tests for evaluation of the comprehensive schools or their students, and does not publish statistics that would allow ranking of either individual schools or students.“

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Charles Sabel u. a., „Individualized Service Provision in the New Welfare State: Lessons from Special Education in Finland“ (2010), S. 25

USA: „It has been shown that the so-called accountability movement has not closed the achievement gap as it was intended to; and that the dropout rate for students from poorer families has risen.“

Debbie Tye u.a., „The Slow Death of the American Teacher“ (2010) in „Scholarlypartnershipsedu“, Vol. 5, S. 33