Education minister in hot seat

Lawmakers grilled the education minister and 16 superintendents yesterday over their mismanagement of standardized tests during a National Assembly committee session.

Both ruling and opposition party legislators on the education, science and technology committee bashed the ministry, metropolitan and provincial offices of education for lack of preparation and morality which led to test-result manipulation.

They were divided, however, over whether to continue with the current form of high-stakes testing.

Rep. Kim Young-jin of the main opposition Democratic Party said if the government wants to compile the scores of every student in the country, it should not publicize or use the results to evaluate teachers.

Several local education authorities including Seoul City`s said last week they will reward or punish principals and teachers based on the standardized test results.

"The standardized test policy is to blame for the test result forgery, not the principals or vice principals," Rep. Kim said to Seoul City superintendent Kong Jung-tack.

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Rep. Kwon Young-ghil of the minor opposition Democratic Labor Party said the test results announced by the ministry last week did not reveal any patterns significant enough to consider for policymaking.

The Education Ministry last week publicized the percentages of students under each local education administration who scored below basic standards, or achieved "basic" or "proficient" levels.

Ruling party lawmakers urged the government to improve the assessment system but did not question the need for standardized tests.

"What should be discussed is how to enhance students` grades, not whether to scrap the tests because problems occurred in some small schools," said Rep. Lee Chul-woo of the Grand National Party.

Education Minister Ahn Byong-man apologized for the controversy but echoed President Lee Myung-bak`s view that the standardized exams need to be administered.

Seoul City education authorities said yesterday it will organize fact-finding teams to inspect each school for possible errors in the grading system, data input, computation and reporting processes starting from Thursday.

Education commissioners and teachers will cross-check the test results of neighboring schools and report their findings by March 17, the metropolitan education office said.

A total of 1.96 million sixth graders, middle school seniors and high school freshmen across the country took standardized exams in Korean, English, math, science and social studies in October last year.

The Korean Teachers and Education Workers` Union and some parents` groups have opposed the idea of testing all students and holding the schools and teachers accountable for the results. They warn that the high-stakes testing would continue to coincide with suspicions of cheating in order to climb up in the national rankings.

By Kim So-hyun



(sophie@heraldm.com)