MONITORING STUDENTS' ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS AS A MEANS OF IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF PRIMARY EDUCATION

Introduction. Education quality is one of the important indicators that allow us to determine the potential and effectiveness of any education system. The issues of education quality and efficiency became relevant for education authorities, institutions of general secondary education and teachers due to the introduction of school education reform. The national system of monitoring education quality, which was developed and implemented in Ukraine, takes into account the importance of education quality, and possession of the necessary information in the field of education at the legislative, substantive and practical levels. Monitoring studies of education quality makes it possible to identify and track trends in the development of education quality, establish the conformity of the actual results of educational activities with the expected ones, assess possible deviations and their causes, and outline ways to overcome the identified shortcomings. Management decisions made considering the received information are reasonable and capable of ensuring the successful development of the specific educational system. Purpose. The article aims to analyse the modern scientific research on the stated issues, as well as to find out the features of monitoring the level of educational achievements of primary school students (tools, indicators, effectiveness, assessment indicators) and increasing the level of student's academic achievements through their regular measurement and targeted adjustment. Methods. In the scientific research such scientific and pedagogical methods were used: theoretical (analysis, synthesis, comparison, systematization and generalization of scientific literature to study conceptual approaches to the research problem), empirical (observations, conversations, analysis of the products of activity of younger students). Results. The concepts of «education quality» and «monitoring the education quality» are revealed. The tasks and functions of monitoring and criteria for evaluating the academic achievements of younger students are presented. The authors emphasize that quality monitoring of primary education is based on personal achievements and personal development of the student, formed competencies. The article shows the specifics of the formative assessment, its tasks, and principles of formation, and focuses on the feasibility of its use in the context of the introduction of a competence approach in education. Considerable attention is paid to methods of monitoring the quality of pupils' knowledge. The analysis of the student's portfolio as an effective tool for monitoring the education quality in the New Ukrainian School, its tasks, content, and indicative structural units is given. An example of a program for regulating and correcting the level of students' knowledge is performed. Conclusion. Monitoring the education quality is an effective tool for the practical implementation of modernizing education tasks, activating all participants in the educational process. The systematic monitoring of the quality of primary education makes it possible to carry out timely analysis, adjustment, and forecast for the further development of the industry and contributes to the improvement of indicators of education quality in general.