The different TOSCA cohorts

There are now five cohorts in the TOSCA family: In the 2001/02 school year, the educational outcomes of 4,730 high school graduates from 90 general and 59 vocational high schools at the end of upper secondary school were studied (cohort 1, "TOSCA-2002"). Additional postal follow-up surveys were conducted at two-year intervals until 2012, each with approximately 2,000 participants. They were last surveyed at the end of 2016 after a break of four years. The former high school graduates are now in their thirties and almost all in professional life. With the help of the data obtained, important questions about their educational trajectories can now be answered.

In "TOSCA-2006" (cohort 2), 5,016 high school graduates from more than 150 high schools in Baden-Württemberg were surveyed for the first time in 2006. Postal follow-up surveys were conducted at two-year intervals until 2012. Here, too, the participants were surveyed again at the end of 2016. Thus, this cohort now spans 10 years.

The two cohorts "TOSCA-10" and "TOSCA-Saxony" were planned along the lines of the first two cohorts. "TOSCA-10" surveyed approximately 2,500 10th grade students from Realschulen and Gymnasien. The first survey took place in 2007, and participants were surveyed again in 2014. In "TOSCA-Saxony," the effects of a reform of the upper secondary schools in Saxony were investigated. For this purpose, high school graduates were surveyed in 2009. Subsequently, two more surveys took place in 2010 and 2011.

Finally, the first TOSCA cohort, which participated in the so-called LAU study ("Aspekte der Lernausgangslage und Lernentwicklung"), has been in existence since the mid-1990s. The aim of this study was to examine the quality development of the school system in Hamburg. In 2005, the participants in this cohort took the same achievement tests as those in the TOSCA 2002 study. At that time, they were about to graduate from high school.