Effects of the implementation of state-wide exit exams on students’ self-regulated learning Katharina Maag Merki * Institute of Education, University of Zurich, Freiestrasse 36, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland Introduction In almost all of the sixteen states (La ¨nder) of Germany, state- wide exit examinations (Abitur) at the end of academic-track high schools (Gymnasium) are one of the instruments that were recently implemented to increase student achievement levels, reduce the differences between schools, and attain the goal of a higher level of standardization in the grading system. State-wide exit exams in Germany are administered by the state government. They are end- of-course exams and focus on curriculum content. The main difference between class-based and state-wide examination systems is related to the question of who develops the tests. Whereas it used to be that teachers of each school subject and course designed the exams for their classes (class-based exams), now there are standardized, externally developed exams for each subject for all schools and courses in the entire state (state-wide exams). The grading of these state-wide exit exams is still done in a class-based manner, that is, by the individual teacher of the class. However, teachers now must use unified grading guidelines that were developed to standardize grading. The final result of the exam includes not only the results of the single tests at the end of high school but also the students’ grades during the last 2 years of high school. Furthermore, the students can choose their examination subjects to a certain extent. Comparing the examination system of Germany to the examination systems in the United States or other OECD countries, another important difference is that the system in Germany shows a rather low level of standardization without any high-stakes assessments for teachers and schools (Klein, Ku ¨ hn, Van Ackeren, & Block, 2009). For the students, however, the exams which are taken in common school situations are mandatory for graduation and relevant to gaining access to university. Several studies investigated the effects of implementation of state-wide exit exams on student achievement in school subjects (for an overview, see Holme, Richards, Jimerson, & Cohen, 2010). However, there is still little known about the extent to which the implementation of state-wide exit exams impacts students’ self- regulated learning (Zimmermann & Schunk, 2001). This compe- tency not only influences in-depth understanding of learning contents and the acquisition of school-subject competencies (see, for example, OECD, 2010) but also itself represents a significant competency that in many syllabuses in German- speaking countries is a stated educational goal (Maag Merki & Grob, 2002). Therefore, reaching a higher level of achievement as a goal of the implementation of exit examinations involves also significant enhancement of the self-regulated learning of the students. Furthermore, the findings of Miller, Heafner, and Massey (2009) make it clear that students have difficulty in developing appropriate strategies when dealing with the increased pressures caused by external examinations. Consequently, the implementa- tion of state-wide exit exams in Germany must also be assessed in view of the extent to which it successfully fosters learning with in- depth understanding and the relevant motivation and minimizes the use of dysfunctional strategies. Therefore, this study investi- gates the impact of the implementation of state-wide exit exams on students’ self-regulated learning. Studies in Educational Evaluation 37 (2011) 196–205 A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 20 February 2011 Received in revised form 15 July 2011 Accepted 1 December 2011 Available online 11 February 2012 Keywords: State-wide exit examination High school Low-Stakes testing system Program evaluation A B S T R A C T Whereas several studies investigated the effects of implementation of state-wide exit exams on student achievement, there is still little known about the impacts of the exams on students’ self-regulated learning. This paper examines the question as to whether the implementation of state-wide high school exit exams is associated with a change in the self-regulated learning of students in mathematics or English. We conducted a standardized questionnaire survey of students in two German states for a period of 3 years. In mathematics no significant effects of the immediate introduction of state-wide exit exams were identified. In English the results show significant positive and negative effects. The results are discussed and implications for further research are given. ß 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Tel.: +41 44 634 27 80; fax: +41 44 634 28 88. E-mail address: kmaag@ife.uzh.ch. Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Studies in Educational Evaluation jo ur n al ho mep ag e: www .elsevier .c om /st u ed u c 0191-491X/$ – see front matter ß 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.stueduc.2011.12.001