The results of the exam average score. How USE scores differ by region: student performance and regional inequality

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On June 22, on the official website of the Unified State Exam, the results of the USE 2017 in Russian according to passport data became known.

An exciting time has come for 11th grade graduates - they get acquainted with the results of the USE 2017 in the main compulsory subject, which is the Russian language. It is known that schoolchildren, for whom very soon the school will be in the past, passed this exam on June 9th. It should be noted that approximately 628 thousand people applied for participation in it during the main period, and 5.4 thousand points for examinations were involved in the exam, both in the Russian Federation and abroad.

This year, Rosbrnadzor announced the results of the Unified State Exam in the Russian language 5 days earlier, that is, on June 22, as reported by the head of the department, Sergei Kravtsov, at a press conference on Monday. Prior to that, it was planned that the results of the exam will be known on the 27th.

“There has never been anything like this in history,” said Sergey Kravtsov.
In accordance with the data of the regions, the exam passed as usual. There were no leaks of control measuring materials into the Internet, the head of Rosobrnadzor said.

Rosobrnadzor reported that in 2017, 0.5% of USE participants in the Russian language did not overcome the minimum threshold for obtaining a certificate of 24 points.

“The Federal Service for Supervision in Education and Science has summed up the preliminary results of the Unified State Exam in the Russian language, which was held on June 9, the main date for the exam. Almost 617 thousand people took part in the exam. The minimum threshold for obtaining a certificate of 24 points did not pass 0.5% of the exam participants (in 2016 their number was 1%), ”the ministry said.

The press service also noted that the average score on the exam in the Russian language this year is comparable to last year's result.

“This year the trend of improving results in compulsory subjects continues. The share of graduates who were left without certificates has decreased by almost one and a half times, and this is not taking into account the results of the upcoming retakes. These results testify to the success of the project "I will pass the exam" and are the result of serious targeted work that was carried out with lagging schoolchildren in regions and municipalities, where the results USE of the past years have revealed serious problems with the level of school education ", - said the head of Rosobrnadzor Sergei Kravtsov.

The fastest way to find out the USE results in 2017 is on the Internet. The exam results are posted on the official website of the Unified State Exam, which is located at ege.edu.ru. In order to find out the results of exams in the Russian language and other subjects, you need to enter the graduate's passport data, the registration code for the exam, indicate the region and consent to the processing of the entered data.

You can apply for admission to 5 universities, in each of which there are no more than 3 faculties.
It is known that the completed main period of the USE 2017 continues with reserve days for passing all subjects of the USE, which will be held from June 20 to July 1. Graduates who graduated from schools last year and schoolchildren who received an unsatisfactory result in one of the compulsory subjects will be able to pass the exams at this time.

Recently, a new wave of the unified state exam has started, and over the 8 years that the Unified State Exam has existed on a mandatory basis, the controversy around it has not subsided. In this article, we are trying to show the dynamics of the average uSE scores on the Russian language and mathematics in the regions, and also explain what may be associated with regional differences in the exam results.

The data presented here is collected from open sources. The USE results were obtained from the regional websites of educational departments and centers for assessing the quality of education. Other indicators are collected on the websites of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Rosstat, and the Federal Treasury.

USE results: regional differences

If you look at the map, you can see that the regions of the Central Federal District show the highest average scores in both Russian and mathematics. In 2015, among the leaders in the Russian language were the Orenburg and Samara regions, as well as the Perm Territory, by profile mathematics - Republic of Kalmykia, Perm Territory and Udmurtia. The lowest results, contrary to stereotypes, are observed not in the North Caucasian regions, but in the Far East.

Of particular interest is the dynamics of the USE results in the regions. It is incorrect to compare scores by year directly - the exam has gone through many changes over the years. For example, in 2013, during the massive leaks of answers, the scores of participants in the country as a whole turned out to be higher, and in 2014, after tightening security measures, they fell. With this in mind, we looked at the position of the regions in relation to the mean score in Russia and used standardized z-scores. In other words, we compared the dynamics of the regions relative to the national average. The results of the regions in 2010 and 2014 were compared, since during this period the content and structure of the exam were the most stable.

In general, 16 subjects of the Russian Federation demonstrated significant (more than one standard deviation) growth over these five years in mathematics, and in Russian - 11. Basically, these are the regions that in 2010 showed results below the average. A serious decrease in scores occurred in mathematics in 6, and in Russian in 3 regions - where in 2010 there were quite high scores. In the constituent entities of the Russian Federation with average results, there were no significant changes in scores.

Factors of regional differences in USE results

2009-2014 years:

In order to understand what explains the results of the USE in mathematics and the Russian language in 2009-2014, we analyzed their relationship with a number of regional characteristics. The focus was, firstly, on the role of resource provision for schools, and secondly, on the role of family resources.

School resources are largely determined by the size of government funding. If we adjust the volume of per capita financing of schools for inflation and differences between regions in the cost of living, then the growth of this indicator from 2006 to 2013 was about 40 percent. At the same time, the maximum gap in per capita financing over the same period decreased slightly - from 6 to 5 times. The largest increase in school funding occurred in 2012, when the May Presidential Decrees were adopted.

Changes in school funding are important to student outcomes. According to our estimates, regions with a higher level of per capita funding show higher average USE scores in mathematics (with an equal level of economic development, household income, and a number of other characteristics of the regions). In the Russian language, the significant relationship between USE results and per capita funding (taking into account other regional indicators) in 2009-2014 not found. This can partly be explained by the fact that the social characteristics of families play an important role in the results on the Russian language.

The main share in the budget funding of schools is made up of teachers' salaries. At the same time, the dynamics of their salaries relative to the average level of wages in the region is important. On the whole, these dynamics were positive. The most significant increase in the relative salaries of teachers was observed in 2008 and in 2012-2013, with a slight decrease in 2007 and 2010.

According to our estimates, the level of teachers' salaries relative to the average salary in the region is positively associated with regional results Unified State Exam in both Russian and mathematics. Wages determine which teachers will come to schools and with what attitude they will work. For example, data from a 2012 PISA survey of school principals show that in regions with higher relative salaries, teachers are more motivated, enthusiastic, and driven to achieve.

In addition to the state, families invest in children's education. The resources of families are determined by their income. Our analysis shows that in regions with a high level of poverty (the proportion of people with incomes below the subsistence level), the USE results are lower. The high level of income inequality within the region also negatively affects the average USE scores (with the same level of budgetary funding for schools and a number of other regional characteristics).

In other words, family resources are also important for enhancing the educational achievement of schoolchildren. At the same time, in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation with low incomes of the population, on average, the resources of the regional budgets are lower, and hence the funding of schools.

In general, at this stage, the leveling of the level of budgetary funding for schools between regions is not enough to level the scores of children.

2015 year:

If we talk about the results of 2015, the gap between the regions with the minimum and maximum average USE scores can be 28 points in Russian and 16 in mathematics. Socio-economic characteristics of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation (gross regional product, school funding per student, share of the population with higher education, as well as the share of the urban population) by 25 percent explain the average USE score in mathematics and 34 percent - the average USE score in Russian. Children from less affluent regions are less likely to get high scores on the exam than those who live in the more economically developed part of the country. Moreover, in the Russian language, this gap is somewhat larger than in mathematics.

Almost to the same extent (28 percent in mathematics and 30 percent in Russian) the regional average scores are explained by the characteristics of schools and teachers. It is important to consider how many children in the region after grade 9 go to college, and how many remain in high school and take the exam. Our analysis shows that in schools where fewer than half of the ninth graders remain in high school, the results are also higher than in schools where the selection (or self-selection) of children is less strict.

Teacher characteristics also matter. In all regions, teachers with completed higher education prevail, however, where there are more than 80 percent of such teachers, the results Unified State Exam for students above. But the relationship between the results and the category of teacher turned out to be not so unambiguous - the highest results were among graduates in the regions where the proportion of teachers with the highest category varies from 22 to 30 percent.

Thus, our analysis shows how unequal are the chances of high USE scores among students from different regions. By the way, the average results of Moscow schoolchildren on the USE are 13 points in profile mathematics and 5 points in the Russian language higher than those of schoolchildren from the Republic of Buryatia.

In general, the economic and educational characteristics of the regions determine the USE scores by 64 percent in Russian and by 53 percent in mathematics. At the same time, these factors are outside the sphere of influence of the teachers and schools themselves, therefore it is incorrect to evaluate them according to this result.

conclusions

As our analysis shows, in Russia there are quite large regional differences in the educational results of schoolchildren. These differences can determine the future fate of children, including, affect admission to universities.

In many ways, this difference is related to the extent to which students are provided with educational resources. Inequality in resources exists both at the family level and at the level of public funding for schools. Often one accompanies the other.

Our analysis does not take into account variations in the scores of a single exam within regions, although this task seems to be extremely useful in developing educational policy measures. Such an analysis requires access to impersonal USE data for researchers. In developed countries, the results of such tests are used to analyze and develop management decisions, and it is important to use this experience in Russia as well.

The Unified State Exam as an objective tool for assessing school graduates showed the existence of a problem with inequality in education. You cannot place all the responsibility for solving this problem on the exam itself or on the teachers. Equalizing educational opportunities is a public policy challenge.

The Unified State Exam in Russian is a compulsory exam. Mostly in total period of the exam 616 590 people took part in the Russian language in 2017 (in 2016 - 658 392 people; in 2015 - 672 407 people).

The results of the USE in the Russian language in 2017 are generally comparable with the results of the USE of previous years.

On the official website of FIPI in the section "Analytical and methodological materials" are published Guidelines for teachers, prepared based on the analysis of typical mistakes of the 2017 USE participants ", this is where you can find information about what is the average USE score in the Russian language was in 2017.

Download the document.

Table 1

Average USE score in Russian 2015-2017

The share of examinees who scored 100 points based on the exam results remained unchanged compared to 2016 - 0.5%. The share of high-scorers remains stable: 25.5% in 2016 and 25% in 2017.

In 2017, the share of graduates who did not overcome the minimum threshold (who did not receive the minimum (24) test score) decreased by 0.5%: from 0.99% (2016) to 0.54% (2017). The main reasons for the decrease in the share of such participants in the Russian language can be attributed to the successful implementation of the Rosobrnadzor system of measures to improve the quality of teaching the Russian language in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Data on changes in the number and share of 100-point students in 2015–2017. are given in table. 2.

table 2

Statistics on the performance of the work as a whole and on individual tasks allows us to identify the main problems in the preparation of examinees in the Russian language. As in previous years, the sections of the course related to the formation of communicative competence remain insufficiently mastered. Insufficiently developed skills of analytical work with word and text, lack of sufficient practice in the analysis of linguistic phenomena also affect the quality of writing an essay-reasoning. Graduates experience the greatest difficulties when applying punctuation and spelling norms in writing.

The site "Teach in School" presents an interesting article on the average USE score in 2017 in Russian, based on other data from the Internet.