Anastasiya Kapuza - intern researcher, International Laboratory for Education Policy Analysis, Institute of Education, National Research University Higher School of Economics. E-mail: akapuza@hse.ru

Yuliya Kersha - intern researcher, International Laboratory for Education Policy Analysis, Institute of Education, National Research University Higher School of Economics. E-mail: ykersha@hse.ru

Andrey Zakharov - head of the International Laboratory for Education Policy Analysis, Institute of Education, National Research University Higher School of Economics. E-mail: abzakharov@hse.ru

Tatiana Khavenson - research fellow, International Laboratory for Education Policy Analysis, Institute of Education, National Research University Higher School of Economics. E-mail: tkhavenson@hse.ru

Address: 20 Myasnitskaya Str., 101000 Moscow, Russian Federaton

Dynamics of academic performance of Russian school students depending on cultural capital and the size of community is analyzed using PISA and TIMSS data. In order to reveal tendencies in TIMSS and PISA scores dynamics ten educational experts were interviewed. The last 15 years have witnessed a slight improvement in performance of Russian school students and a drop in social and territorial inequality. These changes do not affect all subject areas and result from educational attainment improvements in small populated localities and social groups of low cultural capital. Meanwhile, no growth has been observed in the scores of students with higher levels of cultural capital. The interviews shed light on possible changes in the education system associated with the dynamics of school students’ educational attainment.