The problem of academic achievement decrease in 12–14 year olds

Abstract

Pedagogical observations and an analysis of data on the recent academic achievements show that by the middle of the basic school course (in the seventh and in particular in the eighth year) the academic achievement drastically decreases. It is shown that the learning results are directly connected with the development of information skills in students. The lack of ability to extract necessary information from various types of sources and the lack of academic independence decrease the preparedness of a student to self educate. The same tendencies show in the PIRLS and PISA results nationwide. There are discussed possible measures to improve information skills in students, as a part of implementation of the «Lifelong learning» school education project. The article proposes ways of work with texts that would allow to improve the learning results of 12–14 year old students.