Natalya Borisenko - Candidate of Sciences in Philology, Leading Researcher, Psychological Institute of Russian Academy of Education. Address: 9 Mokhovaya str., p. 4, Moscow, 125009, Russian Federation. E-mail: borisenko_natalya@list.ru

This review article discusses the results of a fundamental research on factors affecting the educational achievements of students. Among the discussed concepts are meta-analysis, synthesis of meta-analyses, barometers of influence, and effect size. The author presents an abstract overview of the book contents by chapters and analyses the six main sources of influence: the student, the family, the school, the teacher, the curricula, and teaching and learning approaches. Examples of specific factors (including effect size) are presented, such as biographical factors, feedback, meta-cognitive strategies, repeated reading programs, homework, school finances, class size, etc. The reviewer draws the conclusion that, despite its uniqueness, which appears in the coverage of meta-analyses and the amount of considered factors, the results of John Hattie’s study should be transferred to Russian educational practice very cautiously.