Abstracts - Earli

F 129 August 2007 17:00 - 18:20Room: -1.62Paper SessionAssessment of competenceChair:Patrik Scheinin, University of Helsinki, FinlandFrom theoretical notions of competence to adequate psychometric modelsJohannes Hartig, DIPF, GermanyEckhard Klieme, DIPF, GermanyIn educational assessment, the term competence is associated with the idea of assessing complexcombinations of abilities and skills that are needed in specific real life situations. This complex,context specific definition of competencies differs from most traditional constructs in cognitiveability testing, which are often conceptualized to consistently affect performance behavior across alarge range of different situations. Nevertheless, in empirical studies often the same traditionalpsychometric models that are usually used in ability testing are applied in the measurement ofcompetencies. The aim of this paper is to analyze and illustrate the different demands onpsychometric models that arise from the conceptualization of competencies as complex, contextspecific constructs compared to traditional ability testing. Adequate measurement models forcompetencies can do more than summarize to what extent an individual will master certainsituations. If interactions between different abilities of persons and different situational demandsare represented adequately, psychometric models for the measurement of competencies cansupport the understanding of why persons are successful in coping with certain situations. A briefoverview of existing psychometric models that may meet these demands is given, and one possiblemodel meeting the demands outlined in the paper is illustrated using data from a large scaleassessment of foreign language competencies. Implications of the use of adequate psychometricmodels for the development of empirical methods to assess competencies are discussed.Conditions of immigrant students’ competency status and development in mathematics andscience: Results from a German supplement study to PISA 2003Oliver Walter, Leibniz-Institute for Science Education, GermanyThe results of both of the OECD-Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) studieshave called educational researchers´ attention to the educational success of immigrant students inthe participating countries. Especially in Germany, students who immigrate together with theirparents (first-generation immigrant students) perform much worse than native students andchildren of immigrants born in Germany (second-generation students) perform even worse thanfirst-generation students. Research indicates that the differences in mean competencies in reading,mathematics and science between the aforementioned student groups correlate with the students´social, cultural and economic background and their language abilities. But since PISA is designedas a sequence of cross-sectional studies it is very difficult to make causal inferences. Because ofthis the German PISA research consortium has conducted a supplement study to PISA 2003. Thissupplement study has been called PISA-I-Plus and has assessed the performances of the same6,020 students in mathematics and in science in their ninth and tenth grade. Therefore, it waspossible to analyze the immigrant students´ performance gains and to relate their competencies atninth and tenth grade to social, cultural and economic factors and language usage. The results for– 316 –