The present paper describes and discusses the SAM test (School Achievements Monitoring) — a new approach to measuring educational outputs in different subjects. The test is being developed by specialists from the Center for International Cooperation in Education Development (CICED) in the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. The paper includes the examples of test assignments and information about the testing of this measuring instrument.

In this article we review and discuss different explanations of the university tenure presented in the literature. For our analysis both the probation period and the lifelong employment guarantees are important. We analyze different types of models: for the first type of models the information structure is important, for the second type of models the scarcity of job vacancies explains the tenure phenomena. 

The article describes dynamics (during last five years) of several indicators of graduates’ ability to adopt to their social and cultural environment (functional literacy), to meet the market challenges (competences), to solve different problems connected with important life choices, aims and meaning of their actions (spirituality). Effects of school characteristics on these indicators are studied as well.

Development and realization of Bachelor program «Instructional Design» and Master Program «Educational Sciences» are considered; their interrelations are emphasized as well. As experience of the BA and MA program realization collected in Freiburg University shows, the program graduates are required in the labor market and easily find job positions in complete accordance with their education. 

In the present paper several articles concerned with current issues in educational system in Germany are analyzed to describe three problem groups: immigrants and their children, socially vulnerable groups (handicapped people, prisoners and those who were released from prison) and some groups of women. Gender issues in educational system include problems of professional education and training of single mothers, and equal opportunities in scientific career. The main conclusion in these articles is that the educational system of the reunited Germany doesn’t perform its function any more — it doesn’t create a background which would make abilities, energy and insistence the major predictors of social success. Downward mobility, instead of an upward one, prevails even in the comprehensive school.

This article examines different approaches to teaching economic theory. We discuss several experiments which help to clarify some economic concepts. The paper outlines an idea that despite a large volume of literature on innovational teaching methods that was accumulated, students’ active involvement in educational process and several techniques that were developed, usual lectures stay the most prevalent form of conducting classes. 

The paper report results from a psychological study of 90 biology students (Moscow State University) and five doctors of biology. Faculty expert opinions were used to determine ten most successful performers and ten poor performers among students. They were compared by several cognitive and personal factors. The paper shows that success in scientific work is connected not with separate cognitive, communicative and personal characteristics, but with their system interaction. When this interaction is not stable and optimal, efficiency of scientific work is low even if the level of personal development and cognitive abilities are relatively high. 

Statistics and Monitoring data of the education economics. The aim of this paper is to describe a current state of higher vocational education in Russia. The analysis is based on federal statistics on institutions in higher vocational education, number of faculty and their salary, data from the Federal treasury on the fulfillment of the consolidated budget and results of a survey of six economic industries, which was carried out as a part of the study «Economics of education monitoring».

This article is concerned with development of autonomous institutions as a part of reforming the network of budgetary institutions from different levels of Russian budget system. Now there is a lack of information concerning this reform. The article provides data from various sources to describe results and scale of the reform. Time series of corresponding indexes for different spheres of activity were drawn for each region of the Russian Federation and at the federal level. The evaluation of actions that state executive power and local administrations take to reform budgetary institutions was made.

In the first half of XIX century Russian educational reforms imply changing the system of public education. As a part of the reform gymnasiums, county and parochial colleges were opened in several Russian cities as well as some rural specialized schools under different departments. In this study materials from archival sources and periodical press, memoirs of school principals and former students were analyzed to describe the establishment and development of specialized schools of the Ministry of State Property in the settlements of state peasants. These schools were the most numerous and they had the most accurate organization of learning and economic activity.

Translation of review from The New York Review of Books. Reflections on: the feature film "Social Network" (directed by David Fincher, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin), the book by Jaron Lanier "You are not a gadget: A Manifesto" (Knopf Publishing House). 

This article focuses on the major rules for preparing a text for publication in an academic journal. The paper provides recommendations concerning how to choose an article’s title and publication genre, how to plan the work and edit the text, and guidelines regarding the content of the main parts of the paper.