Session Information
09 SES 14 A, Research And Practice On A-Level Examinations – A European Perspective On Student Assessment through High-Stakes Testing
Symposium
Contribution
Teaching of school mathematics in Germany has lately been influenced by two factors: First, findings from TIMSS and PISA revealed gender-specific differences in mathematical competencies in favor of male students. Second, since 15 out of 16 federal states in Germany currently make use of centralized A-level examinations (Eickelmann et al., 2012). These centrally organized examinations are supposed to increase comparability between individual schools and different types of schools. Also, as a part of the New Governance structure, central A-levels aim at quality development in teaching practice (Kussau & Brüsemeister, 2007). This paper focuses on the central A-levels in mathematics. Written examination questions are analyzed ensuing from the hypothesis that the examination tasks are equally fair constructed for male and female students. Therefore, the research question can be deduced whether the probability of solution depends on the content of the task. Starting from there, it is further inquired whether gender-specific differences in competencies can be ascribed to the tasks or the test construction. Methodically, we applied a triangulative approach: statistical DIF-analyses (cf. Angoff, 1993) are compared to assessments of experts.
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