Reunification of East and West German school systems:: Longitudinal multilevel modeling study of the big-fish-little-pond effect on academic self-concept

Longitudinal data from large cohorts of seventh grade (n = 2, 778) East and Lest German students were collected at the start of the reunification of the school systems to evaluate how, this remarkable social experiment affects self-concept formation. Multilevel modeling demonstrated a negative big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE); attending classes inhere class-average math achievement was higher led to lower math. self-concepts. Lest German students attended schools that were highly, stratified in relation to ability before and after the reunification, whereas East German students first attended selective schools after the reunification. Consistent with theoretical predictions based on this difference, the negative BFLPE-the negative effect of class-average achievement-was more negative in West German schools at the start of the reunification. This difference, however, was smaller by the middle of the year and had disappeared by the end of the first postreunification school near. Whereas East and West German results both support the negative BFLPE their differences supported theoretical predictions, extended theory, and demonstrated how changes in school policy influence the formation of academic self-concept.