Seoul General High School Admission Screening Changes from Relative to Absolute Evaluation

Announcement of the '2025 High School Admission Basic Plan'
Percentile Ranking and Achievement Evaluation System Contradict Intent... Excessive Promotion of Hierarchy
Grade Calculation Authority Shifts from 9th Grade Homeroom Teacher to Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education

The admission screening process for general high schools in Seoul will change from a relative evaluation system to an absolute evaluation system for the first time in 13 years. This decision was made based on the judgment that using individual rankings within schools as a method for high school admissions contradicts the purpose of introducing the achievement evaluation system and may promote hierarchy.

On the 29th, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced the 'Basic Plan for Seoul Metropolitan High School Admissions for the 2025 Academic Year,' which includes this change, and stated that it will ensure fairness and reliability in high school admissions.

The biggest change is the reform of the high school admission screening method. From the 2025 academic year, the admission screening method for late high schools selected by the superintendent, i.e., general high schools, will be improved from relative evaluation to absolute evaluation.

Until now, the evaluation method for middle school students' grades changed to absolute evaluation with the introduction of the achievement evaluation system in 2012, but in practice, relative evaluation has been maintained. The so-called relative evaluation conversion method (ranking percentile system) was used to convert grades (A to E) received during the 2nd and 3rd years, excluding the first year which is a free semester system, along with attendance records for all years, volunteer activities, and creative experiential activities (Changche) evaluation scores, into rankings expressed as percentiles.

This was a measure to filter out unsuccessful applicants when the number of applicants exceeded the quota in Seoul general high school admissions. However, the number of applicants rejected through this ranking percentile method was less than 1% of the applicants, leading to continuous criticism that it was an excessive administrative burden. With this reform, the previous method of calculating individual rankings based on the ranking list will be changed to calculating individual positions based on academic achievement levels and attendance status. Specifically, the scoring structure, which was previously 80% academic and 20% non-academic, will be changed to 80 points for academics and 20 points for attendance.

The entity responsible for calculating grades has also been adjusted from the homeroom teacher of the 3rd year of middle school to the Superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. This is intended to prevent the excessive workload on individual middle schools, where 3rd-year homeroom teachers directly process school life records and class data in the NEIS (National Education Information System).

Additionally, if the number of applicants for the social integration screening of international high schools, foreign language high schools, and autonomous private high schools falls short of the quota for that screening, the school principal may select students through the general screening within 50% of the difference between the quota and the number of applicants. This is a follow-up measure following the revision of Article 91-3, Paragraph 4 of the Enforcement Decree of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and Article 17 of the Ordinance on the Designation and Operation of Special Purpose High Schools.

With the termination of the recruitment for the subject-focused courses at Dongseong High School (Humanities) and Soongmoon High School (Artificial Intelligence Convergence), which operated from the 2022 to 2024 academic years, these schools will no longer admit new students for the subject-focused courses starting from the 2025 academic year.

Furthermore, principals of schools that select students independently (science high schools, international high schools, foreign language high schools, autonomous private high schools, specialized high schools, etc.) will announce the admission screening plan between April and August according to each school's schedule. The superintendent-selected late high schools will announce their admission screening plans by early September. Applicants to international high schools, foreign language high schools, and autonomous private high schools can simultaneously apply to the second stage of superintendent-selected late high schools. Students wishing to enter superintendent-selected late high schools must submit their high school application forms to their middle schools during the application period from December 4 to December 6. The assignment results for superintendent-selected late high schools will be announced in January of the following year.

An official from the education office added, "We expect that the improvement of the high school admission screening method based on individual achievement levels will significantly contribute to alleviating excessive grade competition among students, simplifying admission screening tasks at individual schools, and reducing the workload of 3rd-year middle school homeroom teachers."