Indicative evaluation of the impact of program-target management of educational systems

Among the major challenges that Russia faces in the long term, the Concept for long-term socio-economic development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2020 indicates the increasing role of human capital as a key factor in economic development. Also, it determines that the country’s competitiveness cannot be sustained through savings on the development of education. However, by many indicators of education development, Russian Federation lags behind the leading developed countries of the world. These problems cannot be solved without increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the management of educational systems at various levels. The program-target management is one of the most widespread and well-established management methods. Its use in Russia was enshrined in the federal law on strategic planning. Currently, program-target management is used in various spheres of life and in the education system as well. Often, however, the application of this method has shortcomings and mistakes, it can be a mere formality, and in practice it is dominated by traditional management methods. As a result, the planned effect is not always achieved. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the impact of program-target management of educational systems on the example of the Vologda Oblast. The author carries out a comparative analysis of basic provisions of the state programs for education development of the Russian Federation and the Vologda Oblast for the period of 2013-2020 in order to estimate their coherence. The composition of the main indicators of the policy documents under review is considered, the similarities and differences between the expected results are identified. The author carries out an indicative analysis of the effectiveness of program-target management of the education system of the Vologda Oblast in comparison with the performance at the federal level. However, not always does the achievement of the planned values indicate the effectiveness and efficiency of management. This situation may occur if the system of target result indicators is not correct, which entails negative consequences, called “paradoxes of performance”. The article, on the basis of the analysis of a number of domesticand foreign studies, attempts to identify the “paradoxes of performance” on the example of the state program “Development of education in the Vologda Oblast” for 2013-2020. On the basis of the research the author proposes ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of evaluation of implementation of state programs at the regional level.