ROUNDTABLE: FEDERALISM: ELECTORAL OUTCOMES AND PUBLIC POLICY.

This study explores the influence of federalism on educational performance in the sixteen German Laender. It examines the impact of political, demographic, economic, and school characteristics on achievement scores and graduation rates cross-sectionally and over time (1992-2002). Germany presents a unique opportunity to understand how the established tradition of federalism in the ?old? Laender versus new institutional arrangements in the ?new? Laender affect educational performance. The research offers one of the first comparisons of educational performance between the East and the West. It finds that political factors influence school performance variations overall, but they are particularly powerful in the West. Many scholarly works have dealt with German federalism or German education separately, but there has been no attempt to fully consider how federalism affects educational performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]