If the child does not nap at noon, points will be deducted; Incorrect sitting posture, points deducted; Monday without ceremonial clothes, points deducted ... An investigation by a reporter found that an educational app covering 3000 million students, "Class Optimization Master", is widely used in some primary and secondary schools across the country.

The app records almost all of students' behavior in school, and ranks students by adding or subtracting points and evaluating them publicly. Some school ranking results are also linked to merit. Many parents and students have new anxiety about this.

Using digital technology to empower education evaluation reform is both a direction and a trend, providing new possibilities for solving long-standing problems in education evaluation. However, in practical applications, we must not distort the "good scripture" of education digitalization.

Every move is quantitatively scored

The "Class Optimization Master" app is widely used in primary and secondary schools across the country. According to the information provided to the reporter by Guangzhou Shirui Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., the developer and operator of the app, since its launch in 2016, the "Class Optimization Master" App has now covered more than 3000 million students, more than 380.80 million teachers, and about <> billion messages from teachers commenting on students.

In the "Class Optimization Master", teachers can use electronic touch screens and software to score students' performance in real time during class hours, with extra points such as "raising your hand to answer questions", "positive thinking", "arriving at school on time", "gathering quickly and quietly", "group mathematics (Chinese) class first", etc., and deductions including "not completing the tasks assigned by the teacher", "not registering homework", "not wearing ceremonial clothes on Monday", etc. The teacher adds or subtracts points to the student, which the student can see on the spot and will be pushed to the student's parents.

Many school teachers explicitly require parents to use "class optimization masters" to keep abreast of their children's performance at school. A parent of a primary school in Liwan District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, told Banyuetan reporter that in October 2022, the teacher clearly notified in the class group: the "class optimization master" deducted point evaluation, asking parents to check every day to keep abreast of their children's situation and performance in school. Parents in Haizhu District, Guangzhou, also reported that after the start of school in February this year, their children's class teachers informed the group that the "class optimization master" was used for class management in the new semester.

Half a month talking about the reporter found on the Internet found that parents in many places complained and complained about the App on Internet social platforms: "Good children are divided into three, six and nine grades" and "Do you think that the pressure on children is not enough?" Are parents not anxious enough? ”......

A parent with the online name "Little Rafter de World" transferred the screenshot of the App to the Quanzhou Municipal Education Bureau, and the screenshot was full of children's deductions: 1 point deducted for chasing and making trouble, 1 point deducted for not handing in homework, 2 points deducted for small actions in class, 1 point deducted for distracting in class, 1 point deducted for neglecting thinking... In just two days, the child was deducted nearly 10 points. He said on Weibo that his children were tired of school, did not want to go to school, and found learning boring.

Many parents complained to the reporter that the rating and ranking on the App were linked to the evaluation of joining the Young Pioneers and Miyoshi students, and the parents were required to check every day, and the children were very nervous. Some teachers announce the cumulative situation of the addition and subtraction of points in the App to students in real time, so that some children who lose more points "hurt their self-esteem".

One elementary school student expressed his dissatisfaction with the app's rating ranking: "I was embarrassed to be deducted points in front of the whole class today, and other students would laugh at me." "Many parents also said that as soon as their children returned home, they would ask if their parents saw the points deducted that day. Some students are worried that their deduction of marks and falling behind in the ranking will make the teacher unhappy.

The evaluation criteria are not scientific and the fees are questioned

Chen Xianzhe, a professor at the School of Education Science at South China Normal University, said that some schools use educational apps to record students' so-called whole-process growth, combined with students' evaluation files, which looks quite scientific, but these practices are easy to increase students' psychological pressure and parents' educational anxiety, which is not conducive to educational development.

In addition to dissatisfaction with scores and rankings, what causes dissatisfaction among parents and students is the grading standard itself. Many parents complained that the App's evaluation criteria were not scientific.

Some parents reported that their children were deducted points for not taking a nap at noon and sitting incorrectly, questioning "Is this to make students fools?" Some teachers add or subtract 1 or 2 points, while others add or subtract 10 or 20 points, and the scoring is all subjective and there is no objective standard to speak of.

In addition, the "Class Optimization Master" app also induces parents to pay a fee to check the ranking. Half moon talk reporter login to the App to see that parents can only see their children's addition and subtraction points and other simple situations if they do not pay, and after paying an annual fee of 39.9 yuan, you can see how many classmates the child has in the class, and the App also shows the child's ranking in the form of the first, second, third, fourth and other "echelons".

Some parents questioned that although there was no notice to pay the fee, as soon as the teacher gave the notice, the parents did not dare not use it. If most parents pay fees, app operators can earn a lot of income every year from this business.

It is strictly forbidden to score and rank, and strengthen process supervision and standardization

The Ministry of Education has repeatedly issued orders prohibiting schools and teachers from ranking students' achievements, and explicitly requires teachers not to disclose students' results and rankings. In 2019, the Ministry of Education and other eight departments jointly issued the "Opinions on Guiding and Regulating the Orderly and Healthy Development of Mobile Internet Applications in Education", which clearly stipulates that educational apps that require unified use must not charge any fees to students and parents, and recommended educational apps must not be bound to teaching management behaviors, and must not be linked to credits, grades and evaluations.

The relevant person in charge of the education department of Guangdong Province said that many schools do not have the manpower and material resources to do the collection and feedback of learning information, but some schools feel that if necessary, they can introduce educational apps to do it. However, the premise is that there can be no fees, no mandatory, and cannot be linked to grades and evaluations. If the class teacher proposes in the class parent group to let parents install and use educational apps related to the learning situation, and there is an act of inducing fees, it is definitely a violation of the regulations.

A school in Liwan District, Guangzhou, that uses "class optimization masters" told Banyuetan that after discovering parents' complaints, it had stopped using the app at school. Some teachers also told the reporter that they used the App because of the recommendation of other teachers, and the school did not yet have a unified standard.

The product designer of Guangzhou Shirui Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. said that the "class optimization master" is just a tool, and how to use it is decided by the teacher. Some teachers set a lot of extra points, mainly to reward students; Some teachers set a lot of minus points to manage students.

At present, there are more than "class optimization masters" in the education app on the market, and the ranking problems are similar.

Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences, believes that the management and evaluation of students based on the Internet and other technical means is currently technically immature, and the use procedures and specifications are not mature. In this case, schools must avoid allowing students to be easily manipulated by tools when promoting the application.

In addition, it is especially necessary to be wary of relevant companies exploiting loopholes and doing business in the classroom in the name of science and technology. Parents call on the regulatory authorities to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the educational apps used by primary and secondary schools, and strictly prohibit the use of ranking apps; Strengthen the supervision of educational authorities and schools recommending the use of apps; Conduct a retrospective look at how existing applications enter the campus, and not tolerate possible profit transmission and corruption problems.

Half-moon reporters: Ye Qian, Zheng Tianhong, Huang Haoyuan, Hu Linguo

(Half Moon Talks)