대입 개편안, 내년 3월 공표는 이르다 [왜냐면]

The education ministry and National Education Commission held a work report at the Blue House on the 5th, where National Education Commission Chairman Cha Jeong-in and Education Minister Ko Young-jin announced a long-term reform plan for college entrance examinations. The plan includes introducing essay and argumentative essay question types in university entrance exams and shifting the evaluation system to absolute grading.

President Yoon Suk-yeol agreed with the shortcomings and improvement possibilities of objective evaluation methods, but emphasized the need for careful consideration regarding the potential for new private education and possible chaos in the system. The annual report by the National Education Commission and the education ministry is a significant improvement over the previous administration, according to the outgoing presidential administration.

However, the issuance of the new college entrance reform plan by the National Education Commission and the education ministry this year is very short due to the 1 year and 3 months since the establishment of the University Admissions Special Committee. This short time frame reminds one of the frequent education reforms in the 1970s and 1980s, which caused significant turmoil.

Despite the ongoing research and studies by educational process scholars and researchers, government-wide reforms usually take 2-3 years. The college entrance reform plan, which has a larger impact than the regular educational process reform, requires more extensive research, development, and preparation. Since the early 2000s, when the high school final exam score reporting system was changed to only absolute grading, many high schools engaged in 'score inflation' (teachers giving students higher scores to achieve better results).

Many universities stopped considering high school final exam scores or minimized their importance in college admissions. Universities also implemented 'high school grade system' policies and expanded the scope of the university entrance exam and college-based subject emphasis policies. For this reason, high school and university final exam score reporting should be considered in the context of high school education and college admissions, which currently require absolute grading or a combination of absolute grading and relative grading based on subject characteristics.

The introduction of essay and argumentative essay question types in the university entrance exam also has several potential problems. After the university entrance exam, the education ministry immediately publishes the correct answers and accepts appeals. The appeal review, which determines the final correct answers, and the computer-based scoring of tens of thousands of student answer sheets takes about 20 days after the exam (based on last year's data).

However, how long will scoring essays and argumentative essays take when computers are involved? If 1st AI scoring is overseen by a second review by humans, can it achieve objectivity, fairness, reliability, and validity? The report from the National Education Commission and the education ministry this year on the new college entrance reform plan is a very short-term national education issue compared to the previous high school grading system controversy.

Therefore, the National Education Commission and the education ministry plan to take a mid-term report on the research results and public opinion until next year's March, and it is considered appropriate to include it in the revised educational process when it is revised in 2029.