The article investigates the specific features of science education in Russian schools as they are manifested in international assessments: the decrease in science achievements between elementary and middle school and the startling difference between the TIMSS and PISA scores of eighth-and ninth-graders. Conclusions are drawn from analysis of data obtained from the international studies (test results, participant surveys, item analysis) as well as from the characteristics of science education

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... idelines contained in the federal education standards and curricula. Factors affecting science performance in elementary, middle, and high school are identified. For instance, the high TIMSS scores of fourth-graders are largely explained by active acquisition of scientific knowledge beyond the school walls at this age. The sharp difference between the TIMSS and PISA results of eighth-and ninth-graders has to do, on the one part, with the close correspondence between Russian science curricula and the TIMSS conception, and on the other part with the considerable disagreement between science education in Russia and the PISA conception, since the former is little oriented toward developing scientific literacy in students. The decrease in eleventh-graders' performance in TIMSS Advanced-2015 (advanced physics) as compared to the previous cycles may be due to, among other things, the increase in the percentage of items on atomic/nuclear physics, which turned out to be the cause of more difficulties for students. The TIMSS, PISA, and TIMSS Advanced results of 2015 indicate that science education in Russian schools is aimed more at acquiring and demonstrating knowledge rather than applying it or learning the scientific procedures and practices, i. e. evaluating and designing scientific enquiry, inter-