What Russian High Schools Can Teach in a Year Based on PISA-2009: Reading Literacy

Yuliya Tyumeneva, Ph.D. in Psychology, senior researcher at the Center for Monitoring Educational Quality, National Research University - Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation. Email: jutu@yandex.ru Yuliya Kuzmina, analyst at the Center for Monitoring Educational Quality, National Research University - Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation. Email: papushka@mail.ru This study uses PISA-2009 (reading) results to estimate effects of spending one year in schools of Russia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Germany, Canada, and Brazil. An instrumental variable was used, which allowed to assess the effects using a flexible regression discontinuity method. The analysis involved both general education schools and schools combining general education with vocational courses. Overall effects of spending one year in Russian schools turned out to be insignificant. The effects are lower in the countries with early division into general and vocational programs than in the countries where all 15-year-old students take general education programs only. Moreover, effects of spending one year in schools with general education only are found to be large in all countries. Vocational students have lower academic progress as compared to students in schools with general education trajectories. The relationship between socioeconomic status and efficiency of school education, as well as the extent and power of this relationship, depend a lot on the educational system and vary widely from country to country. In Russia and in some other countries, effects of studying have nothing to do with socioeconomic status of students. The results obtained may be very important in assessing efficiency of education and in assessing national achievements properly in countries with different sets of educational trajectories.