The Difference That One Year of Schooling Makes for Russian Schoolchildren

Abstract

The PISA 2009 data (in reading) investigated the effectiveness of one year of schooling in seven countries: Russia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Germany, Canada, and Brazil. We used an instrumental variable, which allowed us to estimate the effect of one year of schooling through the fuzzy method of regression discontinuity. The analysis was performed both for regular and vocational education programs collectively as well as individually for regular schools. It was found that in general for Russian students enrolled in all programs, the effectiveness of one year of schooling is insignificant. In countries that practice the early separation of students into regular and vocational programs, the effectiveness of schooling is lower than in countries where all fifteen-year-olds are enrolled in regular programs. The effectiveness of one year of schooling for students enrolled in regular educational programs is significant in all countries. Students enrolled in vocational programs typically perform more poorly than those enrolled in regular programs. The strength of the relationship between the socioeconomic status of the student's family and the effectiveness of schooling are highly dependent on the education system and vary from country to country. For Russia, as well as for some other countries, the effectiveness of schooling does not depend on socioeconomic status. The significance of these results for the evaluation of the effectiveness of schooling, and in particular for the fair evaluation of national achievement in countries that offer different educational trajectories, is discussed.