The Institute for Educational Quality Improvement (IQB), an associated member of the consortium, is a scientific institution jointly supported by the federal states (Länder) of the Federal Republic of Germany and an affiliated institute of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU Berlin). As a partner of the Länder, the IQB supports efforts to enhance and assure quality in the general education school system. The Institute’s work is based on the National Educational Standards adopted by the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (KMK). These standards define the competencies students are expected to have developed by specific stages of their educational careers.
Important work and services:
The IQB regularly assesses the extent to which the competencies defined in the educational standards are being achieved in German schools (educational monitoring). It also supports the federal states in implementing these standards. In addition, the IQB is one of Germany’s leading institutes in the field of empirical educational research.
The Institute’s work encompasses six major areas:
- The IQB coordinates the development and continuous refinement of the National Educational Standards.
- Through the IQB Trends in Student Achievement (IQB-Bildungstrends), the institute regularly evaluates the extent to which the educational standards are achieved across the school systems of Germany’s 16 federal states.
- The IQB provides the federal states with tests and instructional materials for the state-wide comparative assessments (VERA), which are administered annually to nearly all students in grades 3 and 8. These assessments provide teachers with regular feedback on the extent to which their students have already met the educational standards and in which areas further development is needed.
- The IQB coordinates the development of a joint pool of tasks for Abitur examinations (upper secondary school leaving examinations). Based on the educational standards for the general higher education entrance qualification, these pools help harmonize examination requirements across the federal states and ensure high-quality assessments.
- The IQB conducts research in areas of empirical educational science with relevance to the conceptual and methodological foundations of its work and to issues of particular interest to the federal states.
- Through its Research Data Centre (Forschungsdatenzentrum, FDZ), funded by the government and the federal states, the IQB provides data from educational monitoring and educational research studies. These data can be used by researchers to address a wide range of scientific questions.
Since 2024, the IQB has expanded its work to include the transition from early childhood education to primary school (Stark in die Grundschule starten, StarS). The Institute is developing digital assessment tools to measure students’ learning status at the beginning of grade 1 and their learning development at the beginning of grade 2. These instruments assess foundational competencies in language and mathematics, as well as aspects of self-regulation and motivational orientation. Their purpose is to support teachers in fostering these competencies in a targeted manner.
