Performance Assessment Through Parents and Educators – Who Can Assess Children More Accurately?
SLLS Conference | Bamberg October 6-8, 2016 Dr. Monja Schmitt & Dr. Christian Lorenz (presenting)
FRAMEWORK • for children's education information about their stage of development is required • wide range of research on teachers‘ diagnostic skills (e.g. Südkamp, Kaiser & Möller 2012) • diagnostic skills are already required in preschool • diagnostic skills of parents are an implicit part of children's education
LIfBi e.V. at the University of Bamberg | Wilhelmsplatz 3 | 96047 Bamberg | Germany Phone: +49 951 863-3421 | Fax +49 951 863-3411 |
[email protected] | www.lifbi.de
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FRAMEWORK • the ability to assess a person's characteristics varies • far-reaching consequences in school • less far-reaching consequences in preschool
How accurately can parents and kindergarten teachers assess children's competences under consideration of certain child related characteristics?
LIfBi e.V. at the University of Bamberg | Wilhelmsplatz 3 | 96047 Bamberg | Germany Phone: +49 951 863-3421 | Fax +49 951 863-3411 |
[email protected] | www.lifbi.de
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METHOD AND VARIABLES Data • first and second wave of starting cohort 2 • 1.680 children out of 556 groups of preschool children Competence Tests • Language competence • Phonological awareness • Letter knowledge • Reception of grammar (TROG) • Listening comprehension (similar to PPVT) Mean of z-values • Mathematical literacy • NEPS test
LIfBi e.V. at the University of Bamberg | Wilhelmsplatz 3 | 96047 Bamberg | Germany Phone: +49 951 863-3421 | Fax +49 951 863-3411 |
[email protected] | www.lifbi.de
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METHOD AND VARIABLES Data • first and second wave of starting cohort 2 • 1.680 children out of 556 groups of preschool children Competence Tests • Language competence • Phonological awareness • Letter knowledge • Reception of grammar (TROG) • Listening comprehension (similar to PPVT) Mean of z-values • Mathematical literacy • NEPS test
LIfBi e.V. at the University of Bamberg | Wilhelmsplatz 3 | 96047 Bamberg | Germany Phone: +49 951 863-3421 | Fax +49 951 863-3411 |
[email protected] | www.lifbi.de
Parents' and teachers' assessments on • “language competences (German: vocabulary & grammar)” and • “mathematical competences (e.g. dealing with numbers and sets)” • Question: “The child is … … much worse (1) … worse (2) … as good (3) … better (4) … much better (5) … than other children of the same age” (5 years old) 5
METHOD AND VARIABLES Objective measures
0
.1
.2
Density
.3
.4
.5
• transforming the competence scores into 5-step-scale
-4
-2 0 2 Mathematische Kompetenz (z-Werte)
4
LIfBi e.V. at the University of Bamberg | Wilhelmsplatz 3 | 96047 Bamberg | Germany Phone: +49 951 863-3421 | Fax +49 951 863-3411 |
[email protected] | www.lifbi.de
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METHOD AND VARIABLES Dimension of over- and underestimating • Level-component (cf. Schrader, 1989) • Disadvantage: • impossible to determine the absolute position of the assessments in comparison to each other and to the objective measurement • assessment bias
LIfBi e.V. at the University of Bamberg | Wilhelmsplatz 3 | 96047 Bamberg | Germany Phone: +49 951 863-3421 | Fax +49 951 863-3411 |
[email protected] | www.lifbi.de
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METHOD AND VARIABLES Dimension of over- and underestimating • Level-component (cf. Schrader, 1989) • Disadvantage: • impossible to determine the absolute position of the assessments in comparison to each other and to the objective measurement • assessment bias • Multi-level-approach • Advantage: • possible to calculate if and to what extent the average assessments of educators and parents vary from the objective measurements and from each other • possible to calculate if and how well educators and parents are able to report competence differences between children based on child-related characteristics
LIfBi e.V. at the University of Bamberg | Wilhelmsplatz 3 | 96047 Bamberg | Germany Phone: +49 951 863-3421 | Fax +49 951 863-3411 |
[email protected] | www.lifbi.de
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METHOD AND VARIABLES Levels • level 1: information about the children's competences • level 2: children Interaction-terms • age • gender • highest number of years of education (HCASMIN) • highest social background of mother and father (HISEI) • migration background of the child • home learning-environment
LIfBi e.V. at the University of Bamberg | Wilhelmsplatz 3 | 96047 Bamberg | Germany Phone: +49 951 863-3421 | Fax +49 951 863-3411 |
[email protected] | www.lifbi.de
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RESULTS – GENERAL ACCORDANCE MATH • parents overestimate the mathematical competences by .49 and educators by .18 on the five-step scale (objective measurement) • the average difference between the assessments is therefore .31
LANGUAGE • parents overestimate the language skills by .54 and educators by .18 on the five-step scale (objective measurement) • the extent of parents' and educators' overestimation and therefore the average difference of .36 between the assessments is close to the pattern shown for the mathematical competences
LIfBi e.V. at the University of Bamberg | Wilhelmsplatz 3 | 96047 Bamberg | Germany Phone: +49 951 863-3421 | Fax +49 951 863-3411 |
[email protected] | www.lifbi.de
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RESULTS – AGE MATH • children achieve better results in the competence test with increasing age • reported by educators accurately • parents judgments' reflect smaller differences
4
3.5
3
2.5 60
65
70 children's age
parents' judgement objective measurement
3.6
75
80
educators' judgement
3.4
3.2
3
2.8 60
65
70 children's age
parents' judgement objective measurement
75
80
LANGUAGE • educators also assess the real language competence difference with increasing age correctly • but their reports reflect competence differences on a higher level then they really are • parents assume even more than for the mathematical competences nearly no agerelated differences between children
eduators' judgement
LIfBi e.V. at the University of Bamberg | Wilhelmsplatz 3 | 96047 Bamberg | Germany Phone: +49 951 863-3421 | Fax +49 951 863-3411 |
[email protected] | www.lifbi.de
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RESULTS – GENDER 4
3
2
1
0 parents' judgement
educators' judgement boys
4
objective measurement girls
3
2
1
MATH • boys have significantly higher mathematical competences • parents and educators report the differences accurately • parents and educators overestimate children's competences, but they do assess the real competence difference through gender correctly
LANGUAGE • girls have higher language competences • again judged accurately by parents and educators • although parents as well as educators overestimate the children's competences, they do again assess the real competence difference between boys and girls correctly
0 parents' judgement
eduators' judgement boys
objective measurement girls
LIfBi e.V. at the University of Bamberg | Wilhelmsplatz 3 | 96047 Bamberg | Germany Phone: +49 951 863-3421 | Fax +49 951 863-3411 |
[email protected] | www.lifbi.de
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RESULTS – EDUCATION AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS 3.6
3.6
MATH • children's competences increase accordingly to the educational and socioeconomic status of their parents • educators see and report this correlation, even if they report it less distinct, while parents assessments hardly differ with their social origin • in conclusion this means that especially children of lower social origin are overrated by their educators and even more so by their parents 3.4
3.4
mathematic competence predicted values
3.2
3
2.8
3.2
3
2.6
2.8
8
10 12 14 16 parents' highest educational background (years) parents' judgement objective measurement
18
20
40 60 parents' highest socioeconomic background
eduators' judgement
parents' judgement objective measurement
80
eduators' judgement
LANGUAGE • the results of the children's competence tests increase accordingly to the educational and socio-economic status of their parents. • parents report this correlation correctly while educators strongly overestimate the differences for language skills by social origin • in conclusion this means that especially children with a higher social background are overrated by their educators 4
3.8
predicted values language competence
3.6
3.5
3
3.4
3.2
3
2.5
2.8
8
10 12 14 16 parents' highest educational background (years) parents' judgement objective measurement
eduators' judgement
18
20
40 60 80 parents' highest socioeconomic position
parents' judgement objective measurement
LIfBi e.V. at the University of Bamberg | Wilhelmsplatz 3 | 96047 Bamberg | Germany Phone: +49 951 863-3421 | Fax +49 951 863-3411 |
[email protected] | www.lifbi.de
100
eduators' judgement
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RESULTS – MIGRATON 4
3
2
1
0 parents' judgement
eduators' judgement
no migration background
objective measurement migration background
MATH • children with migration background have significantly lower mathematical competences • neither educators nor parents report these differences correctly • both, especially the parents, overestimate the competences of children with migration background • they even believe that these children have a competence advantage
4
3
2
1
0 parents' judgement
eduators' judgement
no migration background
objective measurement migration background
LIfBi e.V. at the University of Bamberg | Wilhelmsplatz 3 | 96047 Bamberg | Germany Phone: +49 951 863-3421 | Fax +49 951 863-3411 |
[email protected] | www.lifbi.de
LANGUAGE • no language competence differences between children with and without migration background • parents' assessments reflect this correctly • in contrast educators assume a language competence advantage for children without migration background by mistake 14
RESULTS – HOME LEARNING ENVIRONMENT MATH • frequent parental activities with numbers do not lead to better test results • overestimation by parents • educators' higher assessments do not vary with this variable
3.6
3.4
3.2
3 0
2 4 6 home environment - activities with numbers parents' judgement objective measurement
3.8
8
eduators' judgement
LANGUAGE • in contrast to mathematical competences frequent language-related activities (e.g. reading, rhymes) do lead to better test results • reported correctly by parents and educators
3.6
3.4
3.2
3
2.8 0
2 4 6 home environment - language related activities parents' judgement objective measurement
8
eduators' judgement
LIfBi e.V. at the University of Bamberg | Wilhelmsplatz 3 | 96047 Bamberg | Germany Phone: +49 951 863-3421 | Fax +49 951 863-3411 |
[email protected] | www.lifbi.de
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SUMMARY AND DISKUSSION Educators recognize competence differences between children according to age, gender and home learning environment BUT: (1) general overestimation of childen's competences (2) competence differences between children with different social backgrounds: • underestimating these differences for mathematical competences • overestimating – in contrast even stronger – these differences for language competences (3) competence differences between children in terms of migration background: • advantages in mathematical competences for children without migration background remain unidentified by educators • nonexistent advantages in language competences are assumed instead for children without migration background
LIfBi e.V. at the University of Bamberg | Wilhelmsplatz 3 | 96047 Bamberg | Germany Phone: +49 951 863-3421 | Fax +49 951 863-3411 |
[email protected] | www.lifbi.de
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SUMMARY AND DISKUSSION Parents recognize competence differences based on the considered characteristics for language skills are recognized correctly by parents (only age related language skill differences are underestimated) BUT: (1) their assessment for the mathematical competences is not that accurate though • only differences between girls and boys are recognized correctly • age and origin related differences are hardly seen • their own impact on their children's competences is overestimated (2) the average assessment of parents is always higher than the objective measurement and higher than the educators' assessments LIfBi e.V. at the University of Bamberg | Wilhelmsplatz 3 | 96047 Bamberg | Germany Phone: +49 951 863-3421 | Fax +49 951 863-3411 |
[email protected] | www.lifbi.de
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SUMMARY AND DISKUSSION • our findings should be considered when using third person perspective as a proxy for objective measures
Short outlook • longitudinal perspective will show how the relation between parents‘ assessments and children‘s competences develops within the elementary school years • comparison to teacher related research concerning their judgement accuracy
LIfBi e.V. at the University of Bamberg | Wilhelmsplatz 3 | 96047 Bamberg | Germany Phone: +49 951 863-3421 | Fax +49 951 863-3411 |
[email protected] | www.lifbi.de
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
Wilhelmsplatz 3 96047 Bamberg, Germany Phone: +49 951 863-3421 Fax: +49 951 863-3411 www.lifbi.de
[email protected] 