The aim of the investigation is to analyze information openness municipal education system, identify problems and develop practical recommendations in dealing with them.

Methods. The conducted study is based on the methodology of the social audit, which includes the content analysis of the official websites of educational institutions in the network «Internet», the diagnosis of awareness among parents about the schools activities, expert assessment of informational openness of schools and the development of practical recommendations for improving information schools transparency. Research methods involve: description, analysis of documents, questionnaires, expert interviews, analysis of statistical data.

Results. The article presents the results of a social audit of information openness of the municipal General educational system of Pervouralsk city district. The analysis of the content of the official websites of educational organizations in the network «Internet» was conducted at the first stage of social audit. It showed that only one school website fully complies with the proposed requirements. The best developed parameter of website is technological effectiveness; less developed – the communicativeness and multimedia. Diagnostics of awareness among parents of the pupils of the schools activities was conducted at the second stage of the social audit. A survey of parents has shown that the most popular are the traditional ways of obtaining information: teacher-parent meetings and communication with child. Less than half of parents receive information via the websites of the schools. Expert assessment of the information openness of schools was realized at the third stage. Practical recommendations on improvement of information openness of schools have been developed at the fourth stage.

Scientific novelty. A new scientific idea of social audit of information openness municipal education system was set on the basis of the authors’ research that enriches the scientific concept of social audit. Authors have developed a new diagnostic technique that will reveal the state of information openness of municipal education system; proved promising use of social auditing techniques in the practice of evaluation of information openness of the municipal education system.

Practical significance. The implications of the research findings prove that the authors of the given paper have developed and tested the diagnostic methods of the social audit of information openness of the municipal education system. The research results demonstrate the prospects of the practical use of the theory of social audit in practice; and the practical recommendations for further improvement of information openness of the municipal education system. The results of the study can be used in the activities of the Department of education Pervouralsk city district and other municipalities, as well as heads of educational organizations can use the investigation data to improve information openness of the municipal education system.

1. Waldman I. A. In­for­ma­ci­on­na­ya otkrytost’ obshche­ob­ra­zo­va­tel’no­go uchrezhde­ni­ya kak us­lo­vie ego vza­imo­dejstvi­ya s so­ciu­mom. [In­for­ma­ti­on open­ness of edu­ca­ti­onal insti­tu­ti­on as a con­di­ti­on of its in­te­rac­ti­on with so­ci­ety]. Abstract of doct. diss. Mos­cow, 2010. 27 p. (In Rus­si­an)

2. Zercha­ni­no­va T. E., Zu­ba­re­va T. V. So­ci­al’nyj au­dit raz­vi­ti­ja mu­ni­ci­pal’noj sis­temy obshhe­go ob­ra­zo­va­ni­ja. [So­ci­al au­dit of the de­ve­lop­ment of mu­ni­ci­pal ge­ne­ral edu­ca­ti­on system]. Ob­ra­zo­va­nie i nau­ka. Izv. UrO RAO [Edu­ca­ti­on and sci­en­ce. News of Ural Branch of Rus­si­an Aca­demy of Edu­ca­ti­on]. 2013. № 7. P. 49–65. (In Rus­si­an)

3. Ko­va­le­va T. M. Otkrytost’ kak kac­hestven­na­ja ha­rak­te­ris­ti­ka ob­ra­zo­va­ni­ja. [Open­ness as a qua­li­ta­ti­ve cha­rac­te­ris­tic of edu­ca­ti­on]. De­par­ta­ment pro­fes­si­onal’no­go ob­ra­zo­va­ni­ja. [De­partment of Vo­ca­ti­onal Edu­ca­ti­on]. 2009. № 1. P. 33. (In Rus­si­an)

4. Ko­sa­retsky S. G. In­for­ma­ci­on­noe vza­imo­dejstvie shkoly s obshhestven­nost’ju: pon­ja­tijnyj ap­pa­rat i se­man­ti­ko-smyslo­voe prostranstvo (te­zau­rus). [In­for­ma­ti­on in­te­rac­ti­on with the pub­lic scho­ols: the con­cep­ti­on unit and se­man­tic-con­cep­ti­onal spa­ce (the­sau­rus)]. Ava­ilab­le at: http://www.isiksp.ru/lib­rary/ko­sa­recky_sg/ko­sa­recky-000003.html. (In Rus­si­an)

5. Me­to­di­ka postro­eni­ja rej­tin­ga in­for­ma­ci­on­noj otkrytos­ti ofi­ci­al’nyh saj­tov obshhe­ob­ra­zo­va­tel’nyh uchrezhde­nij (shkol). [A met­ho­do­logy of construc­ting the ra­ting of in­for­ma­ti­on open­ness of of­fi­ci­al web­si­tes of edu­ca­ti­onal insti­tu­ti­ons (scho­ols)]. Ava­ilab­le at: http://www.hse.ru/da­ta/2013/04/18/1297812643/si­te_scho­ol_me­to­dik.pdf. (In Rus­si­an)

6. Pozdnya­ko­va E. V. So­ci­al’nyj au­dit re­gi­onal’nyh prog­ramm v sfe­re go­su­darstven­noj mo­lo­dezhnoj po­li­ti­ki. [So­ci­al au­dit of re­gi­onal prog­rams in the fi­eld of sta­te yo­uth po­licy]. Abstarct of doct. diss. Ye­ka­te­rin­burg. 2011. 226 p. (In Rus­si­an)

7. Po­no­ma­re­va N. A. Otkrytost’ kak antro­po­kul’tur­noe os­no­va­nie byti­ya i ee pro­yav­le­nie v ob­ra­zo­va­nii. [Open­ness as anthro­po-cul­tu­ral gro­und of be­ing and its ma­ni­fes­ta­ti­on in edu­ca­ti­on]. Abstract of doct. diss. Omsk, 2004. 17 p. (In Rus­si­an)

8. Rez­nic­hen­ko D. V. So­ci­al’nyj au­dit de­ya­tel’nos­ti mestnyh ad­mi­nistra­cij. [So­ci­al au­dit of lo­cal ad­mi­nistra­ti­ons]. Abstract of doct. diss. Ye­ka­te­rin­burg. 2004. 22 p. (In Rus­si­an)

9. Re­ko­men­da­cii, nap­rav­lennye na povyshe­nie kac­hestva pub­lichnyh dok­la­dov. [Re­com­men­da­ti­ons aimed at impro­ving the qua­lity of pub­lic re­ports]. Ed. by Waldman I. A., Ko­sa­retsky S. G., Mertsa­lo­va T. A. Mu­ni­ci­pal’noe ob­ra­zo­va­nie: in­no­va­cii i ehkspe­ri­ment. [Mu­ni­ci­pa­li­ti­es: in­no­va­ti­on and ex­pe­ri­ment]. 2009. № 5. P. 43–51. (In Rus­si­an)

10. So­ci­al’nyj au­dit v up­rav­le­nii malym se­vernym go­ro­dom. [So­ci­al au­dit in the ma­na­ge­ment of a small northern town]. Ed. by V. G. Po­pov. Ye­ka­te­rin­burg, 2002. 236 p. (In Rus­si­an)

11. So­ci­al’nyj au­dit [So­ci­al au­dit]. Ed. by A. A. Shu­lus, Y. N. Po­pov. Mos­cow, 2008. 620 p. (In Rus­si­an)

12. Fe­de­ral’nyj za­kon ot 29.12.12 № 273‑FZ. «Ob ob­ra­zo­va­nii v RF» [The Fe­de­ral Law of the Rus­si­an Fe­de­ra­ti­on d.d. 29.12.12 № 273-FZ «On Edu­ca­ti­on in the Rus­si­an Fe­de­ra­ti­on»]. Ava­ilab­le at: http://mi­nobrnau­ki.rf. (In Rus­si­an)

13. Can­dau P. Au­dit so­ci­al. Vui­bert, 1985. 282 p. (Translated from English)

14. Cou­ret A., Iga­lens J. L’au­dit so­ci­al. Pa­ris, 1988. 128 p. (Translated from French)

15. L’évo­lu­ti­on du con­cept d’au­dit. Ava­ilab­le at: http://www.au­dit­so­ci­al.net/?pa­ge_id=53. (Translated from French)