Developing the Enabling Context for Student Assessment in Russia
In the first decade of the twenty first century, Russia launched a comprehensive reform of its student assessment system. This task was part of a broader reform of the education system, which aimed to ensure that students developed the skills requi...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/06/17924729/developing-enabling-context-student-assessment-russia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16551 |
| Summary: | In the first decade of the twenty first
century, Russia launched a comprehensive reform of its
student assessment system. This task was part of a broader
reform of the education system, which aimed to ensure that
students developed the skills required for the
country's social and economic development. This case
study focuses on the main types of assessments used in
education: large?scale assessments for monitoring
educational quality (international, national, and regional);
examinations for secondary school certification and tertiary
education selection; and classroom assessments in support of
teaching and learning. The paper also examines the enabling
context for assessment activities in Russia, which
encompasses the policy framework, institutional
arrangements, and the human and fiscal resources needed to
carry out assessment programs and activities. Russia has a
strong education system, but there are concerns about its
quality. The country inherited a strong tradition of
universal high quality education from the Soviet era. Some
13 million students presently attend 53,000 schools and are
served by 1.3 million teachers. The education system is
divided into preschool, primary (grades 1-4), basic (grades
5-9), secondary (grades 10-11), and tertiary education.
Important lessons can be drawn from this case study. The
Russian experience clearly indicates that a national reform
to the student assessment system has to be supported by a
strong and stable political leadership. Focusing on one
strategic reform (in the case of Russia, the Unified State
Examination) can open the door to reforms in other areas.
The case study is organized as follows. Following the
introduction, the paper provides an overview of the enabling
context for student assessment in Russia. It analyzes
existing policies, institutions, human resources, and
funding for assessment activities. The following section
describes the different types of assessments that are
conducted in Russia: international, national, and regional
large scale assessments; examinations; and classroom
assessments. The fourth section reviews the driving factors
that enabled (or not) reforms in the assessment system. The
final section distills the main lessons learned in the
course of the reforms. |
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