Monitoring Student Progress in Mathematics and Science
To ensure quality control of the national curriculum, the National Assessment of Education Achievement (NAEA) is conducted annually. The goal of the NAEA is to assess educational progress and achievement nationwide; to monitor the quality of education at the national level and the appropriateness of the national curriculum; to collect background information affecting educational achievement; and to provide information on achievement to students, teachers, parents, and the government. The NAEA is administered to all students in Grades 9 and 11, in the subjects of Korean, mathematics, and English (science and social studies tests are administered to Grade 9 sampled students only). The NAEA publishes the results online at http://www.schoolinfo.go.kr. Student results on the NAEA do not impact their school grades; schools do, however, provide appropriate support for students based on their NAEA results. NAEA results also provide a basis for the Korean educational authority to allocate extra support to underachieving schools. This has resulted in a dramatic decrease in the number of students below basic level since the NAEA was first administered in 2008.28
Student achievement levels and course subjects are evaluated in most schools using various assessment tools and methods. In principle, elementary schools provide evaluation records in the form of written documents for individual students, which mainly present an assessment of students’ activities, personal characteristics, and academic progress. Assessment at the secondary level includes a review of school records that is used later in the admissions process to higher education. Assessment results are recorded at the end of each semester with information on achievement based on a five-grade scale (A, B, C, D, and E), as well as the raw score, mean, standard deviation, and number of students for each subject. For the subjects of physical education, music, and arts, assessment records include achievement level based on a three-grade scale (A, B, and C) with special notes.29