Dr. Michael Becker

Projects

• BIJU – Learning Processes, Educational Careers, and Psychosocial Development in Adolescence and Young Adulthood Study
• Berlin Longitudinal Reading Study (LESEN 3 – 6)
• Development of an achievement test for the assessment of student competencies in Economics - Labour - Technics - Vocational Orientation (WATB)
• Educational choices and educational pathways within the context of structural changes in Berlin’s secondary school system (BERLIN study)
• From Abitur to doctoral degree and beyond
• Individual Developmental Trajectories and Institutional Contexts Across the Lifespan
• International Project for the Study of Educational Accountability Systems (IPEA)
• KEGS – Competence Development in Elementary Schools – Enhancement Study
• MILES-HuGS – Primary and Secondary Social Background Effects at Different Points of Transition in the Education System
• NimoErt – Non-monetary Outcomes of Education
• Tradition and Innovation: Developmental processes at non-academic track secondary schools in Baden-Wuerttemberg and Saxony

Curriculum Vitae

2009	Dr. phil. (Freie Universität, Berlin)
2004	Diploma in Psychology (Freie Universität, Berlin)
2004	M.A. phil. in Modern History, Catholic Theology and Psychology (Freie Universität, Berlin)

Professional activities

Since 2020	Professorship for Empirical Educational Research with a focus on Individual Developmental Trajectories and Institutional Contexts, TU Dortmund
Since 2015	Head of the research group "Individual developmental trajectories and institutional contexts across the lifespan"
Since 2013	Academic staff member at DIPF
2013	Visiting Scholar at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (Prof. Kai S. Cortina) and the Institute for Social Research/Research Center for Group Dynamics, Ann Arbor, MI (Prof. Jacquelynne Eccles)
2010 – 2013	Academic staff member at the University of Potsdam
2008 – 2010	Academic staff member at the Max-Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin
2005 – 2008	Scholarship holder (doctorate) at the Max-Planck-Institute for Human Development/ International Max Planck Research School on the Life Course (LIFE), Berlin

Current work and research priorities

• Cognitive and psycho-social development in childhood, adolescence and early adulthood
• Development and change of education systems
• Quantitative methods in social research, particularly causal analytical approaches

Publications

• Publications (DIPF database of publications)
• List of publications (pdf)

Selected publications

• Stäbler, F., Dumont, H., Becker, M. & Baumert, J. (2017). What happens to the fish's achievement in a little pond? A simultaneous analysis of class-average achievement effects on achievement and academic self-concept. Journal of Educational Psychology, 109, 191–207. Doi: 10.1037/edu0000135
• Becker, M. & Neumann, M. (2016). Context‐related changes in academic self‐concept development: On the long‐term persistence of big‐fish‐little‐pond effects. Learning and Instruction, 45, 31‐39. Doi: 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2016.06.003
• Kigel, R., McElvany, N., & Becker, M. (2015). Effects of immigrant background on text comprehension, vocabulary, and reading motivation: A longitudinal study. Learning and Instruction, 35, 73‐84. Doi: 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2014.10.001
• Tetzner, J. & Becker, M. (2015). How being an optimist makes a difference: The protective role of optimism in adolescents’ adjustment to parental separation in academic achievement and self‐esteem. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6, 325‐333. Doi: 10.1177/1948550614559605
• Becker, M., Cortina, K. S., Tsai, Y.‐M., & Eccles, J. S. (2014). Sexual orientation, psychological well‐being, and mental health: A longitudinal analysis from adolescence to young adulthood. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 1, 132‐145. Doi: 10.1037/sgd0000038
• Becker, M., McElvany, N., Lüdtke, O. & Trautwein, U. (2014). Lesekompetenzen und schulische Lernumwelten: Besondere Fördereffekte des Frühübergangs in Gymnasien? Zeitschrift für Entwicklungspsychologie und Pädagogische Psychologie, 46, 35‐50. Doi: 10.1026/0049‐8637/a000104
• Becker, M., Neumann, M., Tetzner, J., Böse, S., Knoppick, H., Maaz, K., Baumert, J., & Lehmann, R. (2014). Is early ability grouping good for high‐achieving students’ psychosocial development? Effects of the transition into academically selective schools. Journal of Educational Psychology, 106, 555‐568. Doi:10.1037/a0035425