The system for checking the quality of school education in the Russian Federation was subordinated to the government

All-Russian testing works (VPR), also known as “shortcuts of knowledge” at school, are increasing in status. From the beginning of the next academic year, the Federal Information System for Assessing the Quality of Education will be subordinated to the state, and not to Rosobrnadzor, as before. It is reported that the corresponding government decree has been signed, the matter is to “form and maintain” a new state system. How does this “increase in the quality” of secondary education threaten the average student or teacher?

If you dance from the stove, then “knowledge sections” in schools of the Russian Federation appeared back in 2006, when the country joined the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) system of international monitoring of the quality of education. This happened under the auspices of the Economic Cooperation Organization (OECD).

First in one class, then in another, from 4th to 11th, unusual test tasks appeared in various subjects, including a meta-subject component. For example, in a literature assignment they might be asked to calculate the cost of tickets to a museum, and in a physics assignment they might be asked to write a formula for a chemical reaction. This tested functional literacy, the student’s ability to navigate, to demonstrate not only established knowledge, but erudition, ingenuity and logic.

PISA is not the only such school competency testing organization in the world. There is also the TIMSS system, which assesses knowledge in mathematics and natural sciences, PARLS – a study of the quality of reading and text comprehension, etc.

In 2022, Russia suspended participation in international programs for assessing the quality of education. “The Russian school education system is self-sufficient and can function and develop without participation in comparative international studies,” Rosobrnadzor decided. And they emphasized that experience has been accumulated, and it will definitely “benefit national education.”

Back in 2015, Russia developed its own pride in the field of knowledge control in schools, VPRy. All-Russian tests for internal assessment of the quality of knowledge acquisition, which are based on the principles of testing the quality of education “according to PISA,” including functional literacy.

Over time, control tests became established in schools. And they did not become targeted actions, as was the case with PISA tasks, but regular and systematic checks. The Federal Institute for Education Quality Assessment (FIOKO) was created within the structure of Rosobrnadzor, which, according to experts, became the “head and hands” of assessing the quality of schools in the country.

In 2023, it became known that the tasks of assessing the quality of secondary education will move from the level subordinate to Rosobrnadzor to the state level, and FIOKO will be disbanded. Specialists from there, however, will move to the FIPI system (Federal Institute of Pedagogical Measurements), known to many from the FIPI database, which contains demo versions of tasks for the Unified State Examination and Unified State Examination and admission to them. And to the Federal Testing Center – both organizations under Rosobrnadzor.

How will these bureaucratic transformations turn out for the average schoolchild and the schools themselves? First of all, because no one is going to abolish VPR in schools. On the contrary, most likely, checks will intensify. International projects will not return. And, perhaps, there will be more reporting from the school administration and subject teachers. Which is somewhat at odds with the trend towards reducing the bureaucratic burden on teachers, and with the course towards reducing test scores too.

“It is always emphasized that the results of the VPR should not influence anything other than the assessment of the quality of knowledge acquisition at school,” says Lidia Leonidova, head teacher of a Moscow school. — They say that the results of the VPR should not be a component of the school’s rating. Both the ministry and Rosobrnadzor are repeating this. But this is not so, they still look at VPRs and take them into account. Moreover, they are closely compared with the overall performance in the subject in the class. If children write poorly, the school will receive minus points. If they write it too well, they can arrange an analysis of why this is so.

But that’s not the only reason why “knowledge slices” are a headache. Everyone knows that there can be an “elephant” in the task itself. A problem from an 8th grade course in 7th grade, or just some kind of ambiguity, discrepancy, invariance of the answer. Therefore, to be honest, they prepare for VPRs a long time ago, at least 1.5-2 months in advance. They send children demo versions of assignments and ask them to solve them at home and study during the holidays. Another inconvenience is that VPRs are usually placed in the spring or closer to spring, when the school is actively working with graduates taking the Unified State Exam and the Unified State Exam.

I don’t know what will happen after the inspections are transferred to the state level. I can assume that there will be some kind of new electronic system, a portal. Or it will be implemented on an already existing federal educational platform. It’s new and still being debugged. It’s possible that not only the VPR reporting will be transferred there, but also the tasks themselves. Maybe this will be for the better, over time. But during testing, the load on the school will increase.