Education through Language and Writing (Bildung durch Sprache und Schrift, BiSS) was a research and development program, in which groups of child day care centres and schools worked together closely in order to exchange their experiences and to implement coordinated language education measures.

In this program, the language education of children and youths was scientifically assessed together with respective measures introduced by the federal states to promote language, reading skills, and their diagnosis, which were evaluated and further refined regarding their effectiveness and efficiency. In addition, the program supported the necessary further education and continuing qualification of child care personnel and teachers.

The MI together with the research domain Intercultural Learning at the University of Cologne, DIPF and the Humboldt-University in Berlin in cooperation with the IQB as responsible consortium took on the scientific organisation and overall coordination of the program.

The tasks of the DIPF within the consortium included consultancy with regard to content in elementary education, setting up an information and communication platform as well as management and further development of toolboxes: therein, information on the diagnostic instruments and supportive measures (tools) used was made available to the participating groups on a central server. The information and communication platform http://biss-sprachbildung.de went online in 2014.

At the Mercator Institute under the direction of Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Roth and Prof. Dr. Michael Becker-Mrotzek, blended learning courses were developed for the sustainable qualification of the participating specialists and teachers in the states.