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Cited by 507Education during COVID-19 pandemicEducational Assessment and ImprovementSurvey Methodology and Nonresponse

COVID-19 and schooling: evaluation, assessment and accountability in times of crises—reacting quickly to explore key issues for policy, practice and research with the school barometer

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Huber, Stephan Gerhard, Helm, Christoph·2020·Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability
DOI 10.1007/s11092-020-09322-yPMC PMC7286213
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Abstract

The crisis caused by the COVID-19 virus has far-reaching effects in the field of education, as schools were closed in March 2020 in many countries around the world. In this article, we present and discuss the School Barometer, a fast survey (in terms of reaction time, time to answer and dissemination time) that was conducted in Germany, Austria and Switzerland during the early weeks of the school lockdown to assess and evaluate the current school situation caused by COVID-19. Later, the School Barometer was extended to an international survey, and some countries conducted the survey in their own languages. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, 7116 persons participated in the German language version: 2222 parents, 2152 students, 1949 school staff, 655 school leaders, 58 school authority and 80 members of the school support system. The aim was to gather, analyse and present data in an exploratory way to inform policy, practice and further research. In this article, we present some exemplary first results and possible implications for policy, practice and research. Furthermore, we reflect on the strengths and limitations of the School Barometer and fast surveys as well as the methodological options for data collection and analysis when using a short monitoring survey approach. Specifically, we discuss the methodological challenges associated with survey data of this kind, including challenges related to hypothesis testing, the testing of causal effects and approaches to ensure reliability and validity. By doing this, we reflect on issues of assessment, evaluation and accountability in times of crisis.

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  • Lack of mentoring and support and issues related to teachers' competencies in the use of digital instructional formats have been identified.

    “In addition, lack of mentoring and support (Judd et al. 2020) and issues related to teachers' competencies in the use of digital instructional formats (Huber and Helm 2020) have also been identified.”

    From COVID-19 and teacher education: a literature review of online teaching and learning practices (2020) · cites this paper as Huber and Helm 2020

  • Less than a third of students in Germany, Switzerland and Austria had a high level of learning commitment with a study time of 5 hours or more per day during the school lockdown, while a substantial share studied for 2 hours or less per day.

    “According to a survey conducted in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, less than a third of students had a high level of learning commitment with a study time of 5 hours or more per day during the school lockdown, while a substantial share of students only studied for 2 hours or less per day (Huber & Helm, 2020).”

    From The effect of school closures on standardised student test outcomes (2022) · cites this paper as Huber & Helm, 2020

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Huber, S. G., & Helm, C.
Affiliations
University of Teacher Education Zug (CH)
Corresponding author
Huber, Stephan Gerhard
ORCID
Venue
Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2020-05
Volume
32
Issue
2
Pages
237-270
ISSN
  • 1874-8597 (ISSN-L)
  • 1874-8600
DOI
10.1007/s11092-020-09322-y
PMC
PMC7286213
OpenAlex
W3033034418
Cited by
507
References
7
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 60 · 2023: 110 · 2022: 134 · 2021: 155 · 2020: 15
FWCI
157.09
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Educational Assessment Evaluation and Accountability (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Education › Education during COVID-19 pandemic
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Educational Assessment and Improvement
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Survey Methodology and Nonresponse
Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic, school closures, educational assessment, survey methodology, reliability and validity, school lockdown, Germany, Austria, Switzerland

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