The results of last year's national-level academic performance evaluation announced by the Ministry of Education last month were disastrous.
Last year, in the second year of Corona, the education authorities realized the harm of distance learning and tried to provide face-to-face classes as much as possible, but the students' academic performance dropped significantly.
In the case of mathematics in the second year of high school, 14.2% showed lack of basic academic ability.
That means 1.5 out of 10 people are completely giving up on math.
In the second year of high school, 9.8% in English and 7.1% in Korean did not have basic academic skills.
At this time, the Ministry of Education collectively announced that the level of the top-ranked students was above average, but I was curious to see how the impact of Corona 19 would have appeared in the top-ranked.
When we received data showing all the ratios of students by achievement level for the past 5 years, it was found that the ratio of excellent academic ability in high school math and Korean increased rather than last year.
Mathematics increased by nearly 8 percentage points compared to 2020.
High-ranking students studied harder on their own or with the help of private tutors while they were not in school.
After all, in the second year of Corona, the number of students from both the top and bottom ranks increased last year, and the polarization in academic ability became very serious.
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Assessment of academic achievement… How to break away from grading?
The current national level assessment of academic achievement is limited to middle school 3rd and high school 2nd graders, and it is only a sampling survey, not all students.
Still, it is meaningful as an evaluation of how well students are following the curriculum.
If there are children who do not follow the educational process well, it will be necessary to identify the cause and provide support.
However, in the part of diagnosing the cause, our government is revealing a major weakness.
They support <College Student Tutors> to help them learn, but they are trying to improve their academic ability without knowing whether the student's problem is due to a medical disability, family strife, friendship, or financial difficulties.
Without an accurate diagnosis and treatment, there will be no proper treatment.
"Let's find out about my learning style"... Learning comprehensive diagnostic test such as MBTI
While muttering "medicine to the pharmacist, treatment to the doctor" and looking for a solution to diagnose and prescribe the cause of poor academic performance, a comprehensive learning diagnostic test conducted by Osan City, Gyeonggi-do and the Osan Education Foundation caught my eye.
This project started in 2019 for second year middle school students, and this year, 58 million won will be invested in a total of 4,250 students including 2,600 middle school students and 1,650 elementary school students. .
It analyzes cognitive, psychological, and behavioral characteristics and suggests learning types like MBTI.
6 types of learning, such as logical analysis type, sincerity effort type, self-confidence type, emotion-oriented type, relational cooperation type, and practice-oriented type, along with the strengths and weaknesses of each, and study methods considering them.
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These days, elementary schools do not take mid-term and final exams, and in the first year of middle school, a free semester system for career exploration is implemented.
From the first official exam to the shocking score report, middle school students are bound to fall into chaos.
For this reason, the students eagerly participated in the workshop explaining the test results.
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Song Ye-pyo / 2nd year Maehol Middle School, Osan
"There are a lot of friends who throw away their test results, but I think it will be of practical help to achieve more career goals if I figure out a learning method that suits me through a workshop and use it."
Baek Seung-ah / 2nd grader at Maehol Middle School, Osan
"I heard about the shortcomings and strengths of my learning method. He taught me how to improve my strengths and fix my weaknesses, so I think my grades will naturally increase if I do that.... Confidence It came out that I had a weak concentration in my learning attitude. Now that I know my shortcomings, I just have to fix it."
I thought it might be a fun test like the MBTI, but the parents of the students who took the same test last year and took the intensive class said that it was a great help not only in guiding their children, but also helping them set their own study direction.
Kim Hyun-ah / Parent of 3rd grade in Osan
"The test results say that the child should be praised and acknowledged a lot, and that the recognition of the people around him has an effect on the child. He keeps telling me about the stressful part of the child at home. When you do, when you say, “Mom, I studied, but I really don’t know this part,” I can’t do it for you.
00 Oh, you can do it.” I think the child is more comfortable studying. … He has never used a 'study planner' before. I was surprised to see how he manages his time while writing."
The reason why Osan City went naked... "It's the right thing to do."
Usually, the test to determine the learning style of each student is conducted at the academy.
Of course, it is paid.
By the way, why is the city of Osan spending a budget to conduct such an inspection?
Noh Eun-young, head of the career advancement team at the Osan Education Foundation, who is in charge of the 'I DO Project', explains the purpose of the project to develop students' strength to find what they want.
“I think the most important part for children is a sense of efficacy that they can do something. With that feeling of efficacy, I can come up with a motive for what I want to do next. This project is a successful program that you can find a purpose in your life even if it is not just learning.”
The comprehensive learning diagnostic test and the workshops conducted in Osan are not to send students to a good university, but to give them the power to find happiness no matter what they do.
I felt like I was hit by the explanation of team leader Noh Eun-young.
The reason I study and teach at school is not simply to go to a higher school, and I forgot about it for a long time.
It is not just a score issue that we need to properly support and raise students who do not have basic academic skills.
Studying at school is ultimately about nurturing problem-solving skills, and even students who do not have basic academic skills will be able to lead their own future lives only when they have the confidence and sense of efficacy that “I can do something well”.
Even in the workshop conducted based on the results of the diagnostic test, the goal is not to achieve a perfect score in math or English, but rather sets a goal slightly higher than the current score and leads them to achieve it.
When small achievements are gathered, the self-confidence that 'I can do it' is growing.
“When children are first born, when they are 6-7 months old, if they give them a boiled egg, they completely crush it. When they turn into a stone, they can now hold a boiled egg in their hands. The little senses of achievement that can be had step by step are gathered together and the children feel that they can do it…. When the child was really young, there was a time when parents were happy to hold a boiled egg in their hands. However, I wonder what it would be like to return to the parents where we were satisfied with the smallest things and felt a sense of accomplishment. It can be very difficult for children to achieve, so set the goal little by little and think about the happiness of the children. If
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can instill a sense of efficacy instead of despair in students whose self-esteem may be dwindled because of their grades from the second year of middle school, and if they can be nurtured into healthy members of society in body and mind, it is an investment of tens of millions of won. I thought that none of it was worth it.
It is right and right for local governments to step forward to nurture local talents with a sense of self-efficacy and competence.
“The confidence (that I can do it, learning) doesn’t go up with 2-3 hour workshops. But since last year, we’ve been doing an enrichment program, 7 sessions for 2-3 months. Then self-management. The sense of self-efficacy increases. You can check that part with the numbers (post-effect survey), and there are a lot of such sentences in the testimonials written by the children themselves.”
You can also find out the cause of your academic failure!... What if it was expanded nationally?
By the way, can we find out the root cause of students' academic failure in detail through this diagnostic test?
"It is possible" is the foundation's answer.
In the case of borderline intelligence disorder, it is revealed because the test results cannot be derived, and emotional or economic problems are also included in the questionnaire, so it can be identified.
The student's condition revealed as a result of the test is shared by teachers and parents, and when a fundamental diagnosis of the student's condition as well as grades is made, the school, parents, and Osan Education Foundation work together to find a solution.
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Then, wouldn't it be necessary for the government not only to evaluate academic achievement, but also to diagnose the cause, such as the Osan City Learning Comprehensive Diagnostic Test?
Team leader Noh Eun-young of the Osan Education Foundation emphasized the need to expand nationally, but suggested that it would be better to proceed with a differential test.
"Actually, the test we're using right now is a diagnostic test, but sometimes I think that a differential test might be necessary. Diagnostic test is a diagnostic test that ranks grades from 1 to 10, and ranks 1 to 100 if they are ranked. , because the discrimination test is a test that decides pass/non-pass, so if there is something wrong with the learning method, it is a differential test, and it is not 'You are this high and you are this low', but 'It is okay to this extent and , I need some help here.”
In particular, team leader Noh added, saying that elementary school students who suffered from Corona 19 were emotionally unstable and had poor learning ability.
He emphasized that it would be much more effective if the program was not introduced to simply teach academic skills, but rather accurately analyzes the cause and helps children based on the data.
Accurate diagnosis, prescription and treatment
Lastly, I would like to talk about an education welfare teacher I met at an elementary school in Wonju.
Of the 800 students in the entire school, more than 25% or 200 said that they were subject to the management of the education welfare teacher.
In other words, something is in need of support.
Although they do not conduct diagnostic tests at the school level as in Osan, teachers in charge hold a multi-support council once a semester and diligently connect students who are in need of help to hospitals, psychological counseling centers, and sponsoring organizations. You said.
Recently, he said that it was unfortunate that a student who was supposed to receive special education missed the time.
On the way back, the reporters all said, "He's Superman" about this guy.
This is because the eyes were drawn to discovering students in need through keen observation and seeking sponsors or sponsoring organizations to help in any way.
I thought it would be a perfect system if such comprehensive and multi-layered support was included after the comprehensive learning diagnostic test conducted in Osan.
Indeed, the placement of educational welfare workers is not compulsory, but is operated according to the circumstances of each province.
In Seoul, only education welfare center schools have educational welfare workers.
The name is slightly different as 'Community Education Specialist'.
Educational welfare base schools are designated according to the ratio of low-income and multicultural students. 170 out of 607 elementary schools in Seoul and 123 out of 389 middle schools in Seoul.
High school was completely out of the question.
Restoring education deficit, the new government's main task
The Ministry of Education's work report is scheduled for this Friday (29th).
The education deficit recovery project due to COVID-19 will also be addressed as a key task.
In addition to the projects announced at the beginning of the year, such as college student tutoring and the 1 class 2 teacher system, other contents may be included.
No matter what kind of business you run, I want you to have a customized approach to your students.
As each and every student is a valuable future talent, I hope that we can help them develop their learning capabilities for the future with customized solutions rather than symptomatic therapy.
In TV commercials, actor Lee Byung-hun often says, "English and math also need PT." But a customized solution should be provided for the entire educational process for student growth, and this should be our school's mission, not the private education market.