Korean students excel in math, science – john

Korean eighth graders, or second year students in middle school, ranked number one in math and third in science, according to a study comparing the achievements of students of 42 countries.

Fourth graders showed equally impressive achievements in these subjects, ranking second in math and first in science among 50 nations, seemingly due to the great fervor for education here.

The findings are from “Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study” for 2011 conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). Some 300,000 students in total were examined for comparison.

Students’ achievements were measured by the scores they obtained on tests in each subject.

The Korean students were selected so that same sex and co-ed schools and schools in large cities as well as those in smaller towns could be equally represented.

The rank for fourth grade students remained the same as in 1995 when the age group was last tested, but their score rose from 581 to 605 for math and from 576 to 587 for science.

The percentage of eighth grade students in the top level increased by 7 percentage points for math and 3 percentage points for science, compared to 2007, when the study was last conduced on them.

“Korean students’ outstanding scores in math and science can be attributed to the government’s policies on providing differentiated education according to the students’ levels, which started in December 1997,” said Kim Soo-jin, a researcher at the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation.

The study also showed Korean teachers of fourth grade students had high levels of participation in activities enhancing their knowledge and skills in science, compared to the international average.

“Korean students’ excellence is backed by the great enthusiasm for education among parents as well as teachers. Korean teachers’ level of professionalism has been evaluated to be high among the countries that participated in the study,” said Kim.

The percentage of Korean students failing to meet the basic standards for math and science was very low. For fourth grade students it was zero for math and 1 percent for science. For eighth grade students, it was 1 percent and 3 percent for math and science respectively.

“The government has also been implementing policies to support students in the lower levels since 2009, which may have been a contributing factor,” Kim said. <The Korea Times/Kim Bo-eun>