Alternative Pupils' Competence Measurement in Hamburg during the Corona Pandemic

This article focuses on measures of basic competencies in reading (German) and mathematics, comparing data from learner cohorts before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a response to the conditions posed by the pandemic, the test instruments LERNSTAND and FLIP were provided for Hamburg schools as an alternative to the mandatory annual KERMIT tests. FLIP and LERNSTAND allow for a comparison between competence levels of students in selected grades in the academic year of 2020/21 with groups in the academic year of 2019/20. The objective was to assess whether COVID-19-related changes in teaching practices (e. g., distance learning) have led to lower competence levels and/or an increase in social disparities. In the article, LERNSTAND results in grades 4 and 5 from 2020 are reported and compared with the results from KERMIT 3 and KERMIT 5 from 2019.