Teacher's Perception for Korean's Achievement Standards-Based Testing System and Evaluation Method of Learners' Academic Ability

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to evaluate teachers’ perception of Korean’s achievement standard-based testing system (ASTS) and its process of implementation, and to propose a method of evaluating students’ academic aptitude based on university entrance examinations. The core of the 2015 Revised National Curriculum is asserted by changes in classroom instruction, specifically encouraging students’ participation in class based on a new method to evaluate student achievement. A total of 124 teachers in charge of student career counseling in middle and high schools in the Jeonbuk province participated in the study. The schools implementing the new method of ASTS were using 61.6% for unit school cut-off point, as opposed to the existing fixed cut-off point of 38.4%. The teachers understanding of the achievement evaluation method was rated 3.54 on the 5-point Likert scale, implying that they had a relatively good understanding of the method. Some of the challenges associated with reflecting the scores from the new student ASTS include difficulty of comparing scores across schools; grade inflation; advantages and disadvantages associated with the type of high school; and the increased importance of university entrance examination. In the ASTS, the fairness during the evaluation of the high school grades and the consequently the reliability of the evaluation prove worrying. As an ultimate result, selecting students based on university admissions data became untrustworthy. There should be further discussions on how students' achievement obtained from the new ASTS should be applied during the university admission process and how students’ academic aptitude can be assessed in order to set a direction for secondary school education.