He was born on September 1, 1949 in the village Cossack Sloboda of the Shatsky district of Ryazan region.

He is Russian. He has higher education.

In 1970 he graduated from the Ryazan State Pedagogical Institute as a teacher of physics and mathematics.

After graduation and service in the Armed Forces he worked as a teacher, deputy director of the secondary school, head of the district executive committee department.

From 1978 to 1990 he was a director of the Spassky Pedagogical College.

In 1990 he was elected as a deputy chairman of the executive committee of Ryazan.

From 1991 to 1994 he was a deputy head of the Ryazan region and a head of the complex on social protection and social guarantees.

From February 1994 to December 1999 he worked as a rector of the Ryazan Regional Institute of Education Development.

In 1999 – 2003 he was elected as a deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the third convocation and was a deputy chairman of the Committee on Information Policy.

In 2003 - 2007 he was elected as a deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the fourth convocation and was a chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education and Science.

On October 4, 2007 he was appointed as a head of the Federal Agency on Education.

From April 2, 2010 he was a deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the fifth convocation and a member of the Committee on Science and High Technologies.

He is a member of the faction "United Russia".

Since 2013 he is a member of the Higher Attestation Commission under the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

On October 7, 2015 he was endowed with the powers of a member of the Council of the Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and became a representative of the legislative (representative) body of the government of the Ryazan region. He is a member of the Committee of the Council of the Federation on Science, Education and Culture.

He is a doctor of pedagogical sciences, professor.

On February 10, 2016 he was appointed as a member of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation by the order of the Council of the Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

On March 28, 2016 he was elected as a Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation.

He has state awards: the title of "Honored Teacher of the Russian Federation" (1989); Order of Merit; Order of Amity; Order of Merit for the Motherland of the IV degree.

He is awarded with Honorary Diploma of the President of the Russian Federation, «For the development of parliamentarism in Russia"; Honorary Diploma of the Council of the Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation; Certificate of Merit of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation; Honorary Diploma of the Russian Federation; Certificate of Merit of the Russian Federal Service for Drug Control.