Wer überspringt eine Schulklasse?: Befunde zum Klassenüberspringen in Deutschland

This study examines how often and in which form students use the option of grade-skipping in Germany and what characterizes those students. The database was derived from a sample of N = 4,103 students (grades 8 – 10), who were tested within the standardisation process of the national educational standards in mathematics. For these students data existed on their ma-thematical competence (educational standard items) and intelligence (subtests word analogies and figural analogies of the KFT 4 – 12 + R). Furthermore, we identified n = 33 (0,8 %) students by -questionnaire, who had already skipped one grade. Those accelerated students are predominantly boys, had skipped the grade during their first years at school and performed only slightly above-average on two cognitive ability scales. At the time the survey was conducted, 39 % did not attend a Gymnasium and 34 % had to repeat one grade after having been accelerated. While they report average grades in relation to their peers, their mathematical competence is well above average.