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Eleven-year secondary education in Russian is compulsory since September 1, 2007. Until 2007, it was
limited to nine years with grades 10-11 optional; federal subjects of Russiacould enforce higher
compulsory standard through local legislation within the eleven±year federal program. Moscow enacted
compulsory eleven±year education in 2005, similar legislation existed in Altai Krai, Sakha and Tyumen
Oblast. A student of 15 to 18 years of age 2
drop out of school with approval of his/her parent and
local authorities and without their consent upon reaching age of 18. Expulsion from school for multiple
violations disrupting school life is possible starting at the age of 15.

The eleven-year school term is split into elementary (grades 1-4), middle (grades 5-8) and senior (grades
9-12) classes. Absolute majority of children attend full program schools providing eleven-year education;
schools limited to elementary or elementary and middle classes typically exist in rural areas. Of 59,260
schools in Russia, 36,248 provide full eleven-year program, 10,833 - nine-year "basic" (elementary and
middle) program, and 10,198 - elementary education only. Their number is disproportionately large
compared to their share of students due to lesser class sizes in rural schools. In areas where school
capacity is insufficient to teach all students on a normal, morning to afternoon, schedule, authorities resort
to 
 schools were two streams of students (2
 and 
 ) share the same
facility. There were 13,100 
 and 75 
 schools in 2007-2008, compared to 19,201 and
235 in 2000-2001.

Children are accepted to first grade at the age of 6 or 7, depending on individual development of each
child. Until late 1980s, starting age was set at seven years and schooling lasted ten years (all
compulsory). The switch from ten to eleven-year term was motivated by continuously increasing load in
middle and senior grades. In 1960s, it resulted in a "conversion" of the fourth grade from elementary to
middle school. Decrease in elementary schooling led to greater disparity between children entering
middle school; to compensate for the "missing" fourth grade, elementary schooling was extended with a
"zero grade" for six-year-olds. This move remains a subject of controversy.

Children of elementary classes are normally separated from other classes within their own floor of a
school building. They are taught, ideally, by a single teacher through all four elementary grades (except
for physical training and, if available, foreign languages); 98.5% of elementary school teachers are
women. Their number decreased from 349,000 in 1999 to 317,000 in 2005. Starting from the fifth grade,
each academic subject is taught by a dedicated specialty teacher (80.4% women in 2004, an increase
from 75.4% in 1991). Pupil-to-teacher ratio (11:1) is on par with developed European countries. Teachers'
average monthly salaries in 2008 range from 6,200 roubles (260 US dollars) in Mordovia to 21,000
roubles (900 US dollars) in Moscow.

The school year extends from September 1 to end of May and is divided into four terms. Study program in
schools is fixed; unlike in some Western countries, schoolchildren or their parents have no choice of
study subjects. Class load per student (638 hours a year for nine-year-olds, 893 for thirteen-year-olds) is
lower than in Chile, Peru or Thailand, although official hours are frequently appended with additional
classwork. Students are graded on a 5-step scale, ranging in practice from 2 ("unacceptable") to 5
("excellent"); 1 is a rarely used sign of extreme failure. Teachers regularly subdivide these grades (i.e. 4+,
5-) in daily use, but term and year results are graded strictly 2, 3, 4 or 5