„Leistung macht Schule“ – LemaS Transfer
Establishing talent development and performance in the German school system – A National Research and School Development Initiative
Recognizing and nurturing students’ potential and strengths is a core responsibility of every school. The LemaS-Transfer Research Network, part of the joint federal and state initiative Leistung macht Schule (“Excellence in Education”), is dedicated to embedding talent development and individualized support sustainably into school structures and teaching practices across Germany. The overarching goal is to design schools in ways that enable all children and adolescents, regardless of their background, gender, or social status, to develop their unique abilities. In doing so, the initiative promotes equitable learning and educational opportunities for all.
To ensure a broad and effective transfer of talent development practices, the initiative relies on school networks: schools that partnered with researchers in the first phase now act as multipliers, sharing their experiences and mentoring new schools. Together, they implement and adapt the LemaS P³roducts — evidence-based tools and approaches developed in Phase I to support talented, gifted and high-achieving students.
Alongside extensive professional development and support programs for participating schools, the interdisciplinary research consortium is investigating key questions about effective transfer processes — specifically how practices, knowledge, and tools for talent development can be successfully established and sustained in diverse school settings.
The Joint Federal and State Initiative ‘Leistung macht Schule’ (LemaS): Background and Project Structure
International educational studies have shown that many high-achieving and particularly capable students in Germany are not fully realizing their potential. In response, the joint federal and state initiative Leistung macht Schule (LemaS) — which translates to “Promoting Talent and Performance in School Education” — was launched in 2016 to improve development opportunities for these learners through a long-term, research-based school development strategy.
Phase I (2018–06/2023): Research and Development
In the first phase of Leistung macht Schule, researchers from 22 sub-projects collaborated closely with 300 schools of all types across Germany to explore how schools can better foster talent and academic potential through classroom and whole-school development.
Phase II (07/2023–2027): Transfer and Dissemination
This second phase prioritizes the sustainable integration of talent development into school systems nationwide through:
• Professional teacher development and capacity building
• strong school networks
• regional coordination continuous research and evaluation of transfer effectiveness
The overarching aim remains to create equitable learning environments where all students, regardless of background, gender, or social status, are empowered to develop their individual strengths and talents.
Impact Potential
LemaS Transfer is a model initiative for embedding research-based innovation into Germany’s school system. By combining research and transfer processes, LemaS-Transfer aims to:
• establish equitable, talent-supportive school cultures across 1,000+ schools
• foster sustainable knowledge networks between schools, researchers, educational administration, and teacher educators.
• inform future educational policy with data-driven insights on scalable school improvement.
The LemaS Transfer Research Network
The LemaS-Transfer Research Network is an interdisciplinary consortium coordinated by Professor Gabriele Weigand at the Karlsruhe University of Education. It brings together researchers from 16 universities across Germany and one Swiss university. 15 of which are directly funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, with two additional partner institutions contributing on an associate basis. The research teams represent a wide range of academic fields, including educational science, psychology, sociology, and subject-specific didactics.
At the heart of the network is a steering group of around 26 lead researchers, supported by academic staff at each participating university. Together, they guide the consortium’s scientific, strategic, and implementation-related activities.
The consortium is structured around five regional coordination hubs, each responsible for supporting and connecting school networks within their area. These hubs link schools that participated in Phase I with newly involved schools, fostering peer mentoring and exchange of practical experience. This structure ensures that local needs are addressed while maintaining alignment with national research and development goals.
To provide focused support and foster interdisciplinary learning, the work of the consortium is organized into four thematic content clusters. These clusters address key areas such as differentiated instruction, professionalization, school development, and inclusive talent support. They also serve as the basis for targeted training and exchange among educators and researchers. The research network not only provides schools with a broad portfolio of practical tools, professional development opportunities and tailored implementation support, but also continuously investigates the processes, conditions, and success factors that influence the sustainable transfer of talent development strategies across diverse educational contexts.
Mission & Goals
• Implementing proven concepts at scale: Transfer LemaS-P³roducts — including guides, tools, e-learning and videos — to incoming schools and adapt them within contexts.
• Researching transfer processes: Investigate how ideas spread within school networks, using a multi-level, participatory, and formative evaluation model combining quantitative and qualitative methods.
• Developing teachers’ professional competences, empowering them: and school leaders as multipliers through multi-disciplinary professional development in areas such as school development, cross-disciplinary instruction, STEM, and language teaching.
• Promoting inclusive talent development: stimulating a mindset shift toward recognizing talent as a part of student diversity and enhancing equitable opportunities across gender, background, or social status.
Understanding talent development in LemaS
LemaS takes a broad, dynamic view of talent development seeing it not as a fixed trait, but as a developable potential that can unfold in academic, social, emotional, creative, and ethical domains. Every student, regardless of their background, gender, or social status, has individual strengths that deserve recognition and support.
The consortium has developed a shared, multidimensional understanding of talent and performance, grounded in international research. This forms the foundation for all collaboration with schools.
LemaS promotes a school culture that values diversity, student agency, and social responsibility. To support this, six key dimensions of talent-friendly schools were defined — from personalized learning and diagnostics to shared values and professional cooperation.
This understanding guides the development of the LemaS-P³roducts helping schools embed inclusive and equitable talent development into everyday teaching and learning.