[New York Diary] "Mom, Please Sign This" ? The Power of Evaluation Learned at U.S. Elementary Schools

"Mom, please sign this."

This is what children attending elementary school in New Jersey, United States, say as they hand over their test papers at least once a week. Both my eldest child, who is in fourth grade, and my younger one in second grade, take a variety of tests every week, including math, social studies, science, and vocabulary. It doesn't end with the children simply taking the tests. Teachers write detailed feedback on the test papers and send them home, and parents must review the results and sign the papers before returning them to the teachers. One of the things that surprised me when I first came to the United States as a correspondent and raised my children here was how frequent and meticulous school testing and evaluation are.

However, elementary school tests in the United States are not about ranking students. The evaluation results are divided into three levels: "Exceeds Expectations," "Meets Expectations," and "Below Expectations." This is what is known as an absolute grading system. The number of correct answers and scores are disclosed, but parents cannot know their child's rank in the class. Through the test papers sent home by teachers each week, parents can see what their child knows and does not know, along with the teacher's feedback. Children also prepare for tests and reflect on the results, allowing them to check and supplement what they have learned on their own. In this way, the few test papers that arrive each week serve as a compass for the child's learning.

My eldest child completed third grade in Korea before coming to the United States. There were also tests such as unit assessments at the time, but the frequency was much lower than in the United States, and the feedback from teachers was relatively limited. Official midterm and final exams had already been abolished, and it was more common to check what the child was missing at private academies rather than at school. Naturally, for major subjects such as math and English, children would take tests at academies and make up for deficiencies there, which helped ease parents' anxieties. The focus of learning evaluation had already shifted from public education to private education.

Recently, the Supreme Court ruled that the results of basic academic skills assessments for elementary, middle, and high school students in Seoul can be disclosed by school. The Seoul Metropolitan Council had promoted such an ordinance, and although the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education filed a lawsuit citing concerns about ranking and excessive competition, the Supreme Court determined that this could not be considered illegal. Schools are places that foster community values in children, but at the same time, they are the most fundamental educational institutions responsible for students' learning. Children must learn, and their deficiencies must be addressed. Education without evaluation fails even at this basic level and can ultimately infringe on children's right to education.

In New Jersey, where the reporter resides, the state Department of Education conducts the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment (NJSLA), a statewide standardized test, every year to evaluate the academic achievement of public school students. This serves as a means to assess students' academic understanding and to check the educational function of schools. The results are used as comparative indicators between schools, and each school provides intensive guidance and test preparation for students to achieve better outcomes. When standardized testing season arrives, both teachers and students spend about a month reviewing and taking practice tests. My 10-year-old eldest child, who recently took the NJSLA, spent a month intensively preparing for various subjects such as reading, writing, grammar, and math. Ultimately, it is the school that takes the lead in guiding students' learning. There are hardly any concerns raised about ranking or fostering competition. This is a scene that cannot be found in Korea, where elementary school exams were abolished in Seoul in 2011 and nationwide in 2019.

Education without evaluation inevitably creates learning gaps. When public education lets go, private education fills the void, and children who cannot access even that are deprived of the most basic educational opportunities. In the moment when a child hands over a test paper and says, "Mom, please sign this," public education may be fulfilling its most fundamental role. Is it too much to hope that I might hear those words again when I return to Korea?