School on the Way from SFE to USE: Inertia or Progress?

Abstract

Marina Kirina, advisor at the Directorate for Design and Analytical Activities, Ministry of Education and Science of Samara Oblast, Samara, Russian Federation, award winner in Pinsky Awards Education Research Competition (2011). Email: kirinam@bk.ru Address: 38/16, A. Tolstogo St., Samara, 443099, Russian Federation.

The author argues that it is necessary to introduce performance assessment of teachers and school administrators based on the dynamics of individual student achievements. A study which was carried out in Samara region in 2009 confirmed that individual results of the Unified State Exam (11th grade) are closely related to results of the State Final Examination (9th grade). The author proposes a method of assessing the dynamics of individual academic progress. The method consists in comparing the percentage results (%) each student gets in each discipline in SFE and USE.
Educational institutions often owe their positive image to high initial abilities of students promoted to the 10th grade. That is to say, the existing charts of general schools based exclusively on USE results but ignoring students’ achievements before the 10th grade do not reflect the real achievements schools make in educational activities. Maximum efficiency is achieved when schools demonstrate high USE results after getting low average points in SFE two years earlier.
Having revealed that students with higher SFE points make less progress than those with lower SFE points, the author concludes that modern school has a goal of bringing all students to the “medium” level, thus providing progress only for those who are poorly prepared. The author suggests that if teachers and school administrators focus on individual dynamics indicators, academic performance of graduates will not get lower than in the 9th grade.