Projects 2019

Research on the effectiveness of using the digital educational platform "Yandex.Uchebnik"

Heads: Zakharov A., Loyalka P.

Goal: to analyze the features of the introduction and use of electronic educational resources by primary school teachers.

For the first time in modern Russia, the "gold standard" for assessing effects in school education was used - a large-scale experiment. We randomly determined which of the participants would be in what experimental conditions. Conventional “cross-sectional” studies do not allow to “clear” the studied effect of many external factors - as a result, it can be difficult to determine what exactly influenced the results. Random distribution solves this problem.
In the experimental groups, students completed their homework in maths and the Russian language using the Yandex.Uchebnik service (contains more than 35,000 tasks for primary school) using smartphones and computers. In the control group, homework was done in a more traditional way. Psychometricians from Institue of Education compared the results of both groups for two testing cycles using a set of modern iPIPS + instruments.
The results showed that completing electronic assignments has a positive effect on educational outcomes, and students retain a higher interest in learning. Secondly, the greatest benefit new technologies can bring to lagging students: they are the ones who have recorded the greatest growth in results. Third, we did not find that working with electronic assignments increased the workload on teachers: they did not spend more time preparing for lessons and checking homework. At the same time, they began to increasingly turn to other digital resources in their work - not only to those involved in the experiment.
Detailed results are in the presentation below:

Yandex.Uchebnik (Russian) (PDF, 3.13 Мб) 

Center of Fundamental Studies project "Mechanisms of social inequality in school education"

Head: Zakharov A.Karnoy M.

Goal: to analyze the channels of action and reproduction of social inequality at different stages of school education.

Cross-country analysis showed that educational strategies of parents related to teaching children to read before school do not always unambiguously depend on the cultural capital of the family, although the strategies that are most effective for children's reading literacy (informal learning: reading books, telling stories, discussing what has been read) are mainly used by parents with a high cultural capital in most countries.
The choice of the intensity of teaching reading in families with a high cultural capital is associated with the duration of preschool education for children - parents are trying to compensate for the lack of institutional education and engage more with children using non-formal education. We see no compensation strategy for mothers without a college degree. This result complements the discussion on social differences in parenting styles (Annette Larot) by describing the role of educational institutions.
The hypothesis about socio-economic and gender biases in teachers' expectations regarding the educational results of students was confirmed. Teachers tend to overestimate girls' performance, seeing them as more assiduous or diligent. The performance of children from families with high cultural capital is often underestimated. This observation explains, through the expectations of teachers, how a “glass ceiling” effect can be created, thanks to which Russian students with high cultural capital perform in TIMSS and PISA international studies with lower results than their peers with an equal cultural capital in other countries.
It is shown that teaching practices aimed at developing low-order cognitive skills (a set of teacher's actions during classwork, developing memorization, understanding, and application of information) are positively associated with students' achievements in maths only from families with low socioeconomic status. At the same time, teaching practices that develop high-order cognitive skills (associated with solving atypical and unfamiliar problems) increase students' results in maths, regardless of their socio-economic status. The effect of teaching practices also depends on the types of math activity: teaching practices that focus on higher-order cognitive skills are less effective for interpretation skills than for formulation and application skills.
The importance of the socio-economic composition of the school (the composition of children according to their socio-economic status) for educational results and for the choice of an educational trajectory was analyzed. The high concentration of students with low socioeconomic status in school leads to poor results and the choice of a non-academic educational path. Of the contextual conditions for educational results, the type of settlement in which the school was located is more important, as an indicator of the capabilities of the educational infrastructure. For the choice of an academic trajectory, the academic aspirations of classmates - the “peer effect” - are more important. After graduating from basic school, students with a high socioeconomic status are more likely to continue their studies in grades 10-11 compared to students with a lower status, but equal academic performance. After graduation from high school, high socioeconomic status is manifested in a more frequent choice of selective (with a high admission score) universities. In addition to differences in the level of aspirations, structural factors are associated with the choice of the trajectory: education in gymnasiums and lyceums, as well as in urban schools, where more children from families with high socioeconomic status, increase the chances of going to university, and especially to a selective university.
Territorial inequality in education is clearly manifested in the choice of the academic trajectory by children after the 9th grade and in the results of the Unified State Exam. In recent years, the gap between regions in the share of children remaining in the senior grades of school has been increasing due to a decrease in this indicator in less socially and economically developed territories, where admission to a university is associated with higher competition for places, relocation, and additional financial costs. The institutional factor associated with the trajectory of students can be tested in the regions of educational reforms. The inequality in the choice of the trajectory is superimposed on the relatively large socio-economic inequality, which contributes to the growth of interregional differences in the educational results of graduates.
Thus, the obtained results make a significant contribution to the scientific discussion at the international level and complement existing theories of inequality in education. Also, the results of the study are important for the formulation of educational policy in Russia.

Analytical support for the promotion of Russian initiatives within the WorldSkills Kazan 2019 business program

Head: Larina G.

We developed and tested a pilot tool for comparing national systems of secondary vocational education using the WorldSkills methodology. Mechanisms were proposed for the development of a system for assessing the skills and competencies of those young specialists who enter the labor market after completing secondary education.
Detailed results are in the presentation below:

Demonstrational Exam (Russian) (PPTX, 4.86 Мб)