Center for International Cooperation in Education Development (CICED)

In 2017 Unified State Examination (USE) is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The exam was introduced in Russia in 2001 and up to 2008 was passing the experimental stage. In 2009, the exam has become mandatory for all who wish to continue their further education. USE introduction has enabled the implementation of an objective external evaluation of schools at the stage of completion of secondary education. Also the exam significantly evens the odds of students for admission to tertiary education  regardless of their place of residence.

However, the society still didn’t develop full trust for the exam. One of the reasons for mistrust is a claim to the quality of control and measuring materials (KIMS), which in some opinions do not pass proper validation. Also  the methodological bases of the development of the KIMS is not very open to general public, which reinforces the mistrust.

To enhance the credibility of the exam and especially among parents whose children are preparing for the exam, the Federal service for supervision in education and science (Rosobrnadzor) scheduled a series of information events.

On 15th of February, the head of Rosobrnadzor Sergey Kravtsov held a national meeting with the parents regarding the USE and other national exams.  During the meeting the questions of parents concerning the organization and holding of USE in 2017,  KIMs content, characteristics of the state final examination for graduates of schools with disabilities, the minimum number of points exam for graduation and admission to universities and others were discussed.

Also jointly with the Public television of Russia the Rosobrnadzor has prepared a new series of the tv program “On the exam subject.” In the 13 editions of the cycle, which will air in January-April 2017, specialists of Rosobrnadzor and Federal Institute of pedagogical measurements (FIPI) will explain the 2017  company, new technologies, changes in examination tasks. They will give guidance on how  to prepare for the delivery of the USE in various subjects and will answer questions from viewers. The program will go live every Thursday at 19:30 (Moscow time). The project, which was first launched in the 2015/16 school year, was greeted with great interest.

Another initiative of Rosobnadzor was the launch of the Youtube channel and video consultations in preparation for the exam in 2017. In a series of 11 lectures performed by the heads of Federal commissions on the development of control and measuring materials  the features and contents of examinations for each subject, changes 2017,  recommendations for preparation for the exam and answer questions from graduates were presented.