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Korean Education at a Glance: National Assessments & Educational Attainment of Korea. Moonbok Lee Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation. Historical backgrounds about Korea’s “education fever”. Hendrick Hamel’s account of Korean education in 17 th century
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Korean Education at a Glance: NationalAssessments & Educational Attainment of Korea Moonbok Lee Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation
Historical backgrounds about Korea’s “education fever” • Hendrick Hamel’s account ofKorean education in 17th century The nobles and the free men take great care for the education of their children. They place their children under the direction of teachers to learn to read and write. The peope of this country are very enthusiastic about [education] and the method they use is gentle and ingenious. Teachers offer their students the teaching of earlier scholars and constantly cite their example of those who attained fame through high scholarship. The boys devote their time to study day and night (Choe, 1987, p. 98).
Historical backgrounds con’t • “The Story of Spring Fragrance” (Chunhyangjeon in Korean), Korea’s best-loved folktale • The protagonist, Yi Doryong, is able to save his sweetheart, Spring Fragrance (Chunhyang), from a venal new governor by placing first on the governemnt exam. He is consequently appointed a secret inspector who anonymously wanders the countryside checking up on local administrators, and, in the nick of time, coming across the new governor oppressing the love he left behind in the countrysice.
Historical backgroundscont • Education both as a means for personal self-cultivation and as a way of social advancement • High-stake examination system served as main selection mechanism for the limited number of government posts • Formal education organized largely around exams preparation
Historical backgroundscont • EDUCATION = EXAMs = SUCCESS • TESTocracy” culture
CSAT Key characteristics • College Scholastic Ability Test • An assessment tool designed to measure students’ academic readiness for college education • An achievement + proficiency test that also measures high-order thinking skills Administration • The CSAT is administered once a year (in Nov.). • Commissioned by the Ministry of Education, KICE develops and implements the test each year. Test-takers • High school seniors • People with a high school diploma or equivalent certificate
Test implementation • Annual events Mar. Jun. Sep. Nov. Announcement of Annual Administration Plan June Mock Test September Mock Test Administration of the CSAT • Test Development & Administration
NAEA • Assessment Based on National Curriculum • National Assessment of Educational Achievement • Achievement Standards • Descriptions specifying the objectives and content of the national curriculum enough to guideline in teaching and learning • Assessment for Population • Since 2008, NAEA is census test for all students who study national curriculum
Assessment framework • Assessing academic achievement based on national curriculum * Social Studies and Science for 6th grade are assessed in a sample survey(since 2012)
Achievement levels of NAEA ADVANCED • Superior academic performance of required knowledge and skills(Above 80% reached to the desired performance that must be achieved in each content and grade ) PROFICIENT • Solid academic performance of required knowledge and skills (50 – 80% reached to the desired performance that must be achieved in each content and grade ) BASIC Partial mastery of required knowledge and skills (20 – 50% reached to the desired performance that must be achieved in each content and grade ) Base Line of basic academic achievement BELOW- BASIC
Achievement trends in 9th Grade (2009-2012) Percentage(%)
PISA 2012 results PISA 2012 Result: Performance of Korean students
PISA 2012 results: Ready to learn 0.31 0.17 OECD average -0.2 -0.21 -0.21 -0.36 -0.38 -0.39 CATEGORY Intrinsic M Extrinsic M Self-efficacy Participation in math activities Math intentions Subjective norms in math Self-concept Anxiety RANKING 27 32 33 4 8 33 33 24
PISA 2012 results: Ready to learn cont Percentage of students who reported being happy at school . . .
Concluding remarks • In Korea, entering a prestigious university is a decisive factor in accomplishing socio-economic success of one’s life and desired career. For Korean students, CSAT score is the first priority to consider when selecting which university to enter and what to major in, rather than their academic interests or aptitude. • Since the measures of effectiveness of education is primarily based on the standardised tests, good teaching means teaching students to ace both in-class achievement tests and high-stake exams like the CSAT. However, the reality is frustrating because many high schools in Korea mainly focus on cramming for knowledge and test-preparations in the classroom. • In a broad sense, education is meant to include socilising skills in teaching, such as attitude, communication, character, leadership and collaboration. In order to make positive educational reform in Korea, we need to seek ways to use the assessment for supporting students to develop talents andachieve their dreams, such as performance assessment, formative assessment, portpolio, etc, instead of using it as a decisive factor to make one’s life decision.
