Parents seek private academic assessment tests for elementary students

Fourth graders at Beondong Elementary School in Seoul sit in class in this Sept. 6 photo. Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon

By Bahk Eun-ji

Lee Sae-ron, a second grader at an elementary school in northern Seoul's Nowon-gu, has been taking English and math assessment tests offered by a publishing company of study materials every semester since last year.

Such academic performance evaluations have grown popular, because elementary schools across the country do not administer mid-term and final exams.

Beginning with Seoul in 2011, elementary schools abolished mid-term and final exams to reform the score-centered education system. And from 2017, the national evaluation of academic achievement, organized by the education ministry, was abolished and only a small number of students take it for a sampling evaluation, leaving parents with no way of knowing their children's academic abilities.

The COVID-19 outbreak and problems involving online classes have also increased concerns over a widening gap between students in the quality of education, as children of wealthy families generally have greater access to private institutes and other study aids.

Hong Eun-hee, 46, Lee's mother, said, “Children in elementary school don't take tests regularly, so I have no way of knowing what level my daughter is at, so I have her take these tests.”

Through such tests, parents can compare the scores of their children with the national average. The application fee for such private assessment tests is about 45,000 won ($38).

This year, Chunjae Education, a publishing company of private education materials, organized a “national Korean language academic proficiency assessment,” for which elementary school children answer 30 questions in 40 minutes.

Visang Education has been conducting an evaluation test since last year and Megastudy has been running a similar testing program since 2019.

It is estimated that between 100,000 and 150,000 children, or 5 percent of all elementary school students here, take these these exams every year.

Universities have also jumped on the bandwagon. Major universities in Seoul, such as Yonsei University and Korea University, are conducting nationwide academic evaluations for elementary school students.

Hong said she has heard a lot of stories from other mothers around her, saying, “When their children were in elementary school, they just believed they were doing well (in terms of academic achievement). But they soon realized they weren't actually doing well at all after receiving their first mid-term test scores after entering middle school.

“As the period of children being unable to go to school properly due to COVID-19 has been prolonged, more parents seem to want to check their children's academic levels,” Hong said.

Parents are not to blame for such anxiety over academic achievements.

According to the education ministry's report in June, 13.4 percent of middle school students did not meet the basic academic level in math in 2020, nearly double the figure in 2017 (7.1 percent). For English, 7.1 percent did not meet the basic academic level, more than doubling since 2017 (3.2 percent).

There is fierce debate among educators that a nationwide evaluation is necessary to check whether the education gap has widened.

Since April, the Korean Federation of Teachers' Administration (KFTA) has been steadily urging members of the National Assembly Education Committee to enact a law to guarantee basic scholastic ability for elementary schoolchildren as well.

"In order to resolve the polarization in education, a standardized, national-level evaluation system should be made and comprehensive measures to support students' learning should be prepared,” KFTA President Ha Yun-su said in a statement.

“With the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, students' scholastic abilities have been declining. Achieving basic academic skills is a fundamental right of our students,” Ha said.