Ministry of Education Announces 2024 National Assessment of Educational Achievement
Regional Disparities Stand Out
Wider Gap in Korean, English, and Math Scores Between Ninth Graders in Large Cities and Rural Areas
The academic achievement gap between students in large cities and those in rural areas widened in last year's National Assessment of Educational Achievement. In particular, the percentage of ninth-grade students in rural areas who did not meet the basic proficiency level in English was twice as high as that of their counterparts in large cities.
On July 22, the Ministry of Education and the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation announced the results of the "2024 National Assessment of Educational Achievement," which included these findings. This assessment is conducted annually to systematically analyze the current status and trends in students' academic achievement levels.
Approximately 3% of all ninth-grade and eleventh-grade students were selected as a sample to assess their academic achievement in Korean, mathematics, and English. The assessment uses a four-level scale: Level 4 (advanced proficiency), Level 3 (proficient), Level 2 (basic proficiency), and Level 1 (below basic proficiency). In the assessment conducted in September 2024, a total of 27,606 middle and high school students from 524 schools nationwide participated.
The results revealed a pronounced regional achievement gap among middle school students. The proportion of ninth-grade students in large cities who achieved Level 3 or higher surpassed that of students in rural areas in all subjects, including Korean, mathematics, and English.
For Korean, 71.9% of ninth-grade students in large cities achieved Level 3 or higher, compared to only 58.2% in rural areas. In mathematics, 55.8% of students in large cities reached Level 3 or higher, while the figure was 38.3% in rural areas. In English, 68.9% of students in large cities achieved Level 3 or higher, compared to 49.5% in rural areas. Compared to the previous survey, the gap between large cities and rural areas has widened further. In the 2023 survey, the percentage of students achieving Level 3 or higher in Korean was 63.0% in large cities and 56.2% in rural areas, while in mathematics, the respective figures were 56.2% and 38.6%. For English, 68.6% of students in large cities and 54.5% in rural areas achieved Level 3 or higher. In the latest survey, the proportion of students in large cities achieving Level 3 or higher in English remained almost unchanged, but in rural areas, the figure fell below half.
The regional achievement gap was also evident among lower-performing students. The proportion of ninth-grade students who did not meet the basic proficiency level (Level 1) in Korean was 8.2% in large cities and 13.8% in rural areas. In mathematics, the percentage of Level 1 students was 9.7% in large cities and 19.7% in rural areas, showing a marked difference. Notably, in English, only 5.4% of students in large cities were at Level 1, compared to 10.5% in rural areas, a difference of nearly twofold.
The Ministry of Education cited the increasing number of students with migrant backgrounds in rural areas as one of the reasons why academic achievement in large cities is significantly higher than in rural areas.
An official from the Ministry of Education stated, "Although the number of students in rural areas is declining, the number of students with migrant backgrounds is increasing. The academic achievement in Korean and English among students with migrant backgrounds is inevitably lower than that of their peers in large cities." The official added, "We will do our best to improve educational conditions and ensure the basic academic proficiency guarantee system to address regional disparities."
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