Projekt Pro KiEl

Impacts of an Educational Programme on Children and their Parents. Evaluation of the Diesterweg Scholarship funded by the "Stiftung Polytechnische Gesellschaft"-Foundation in Frankfurt/Main

The empirical study focuses on a longitudinal assessment of data from the third generation of scholarship holders participating in the Diesterweg scholarship programme run by Stiftung Polytechnische Gesellschaft in Frankfurt am Main. 31 families are assessed across the entire period of funding, i.e. two years throughout the transition fromn the last year at primary school (school year 4) to the first year at secondary school (school year 5). A multi-method procedure and a combination of qualitative and quantitative assessment methods are applied to investigate a multitude of personal and environmental variables that enable researchers to draw conclusions regarding the development of personality, self-concept, learning and achievement of participating children. Individual aspects of the programme underlying the family support project (cultural education, parental support, science intervention, German language support, etc.) are tested regarding their specific influence. We are particularly interested in finding out in how far specific support components impact on the development of competencies that are relevant for education, particularly language and written language skills. Furthermore, we will investigate whether and how the relationship between parents and children changes over the course of funding, and whether the scholarship can impact on the lives of families concerned. The assessment will also explore the relationship between the schools and the foundation. The evaluation study draws on prior experience gained in the first and second generation of scholarship holders funded by Diesterweg. Participants from these earlier funding periods will be retrospectively interviewed regarding long-term effects of the educational support received.