Who have fallen behind? The educational reform toward differentiated learning opportunities and growing educational inequality in South Korea. (July 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lim, Youngshin; Park, Hyunjoon
• Is Part Of: International journal of educational development. Volume 92(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-07
• Subjects: Educational reforms -- Academic performance -- Differentiated learning opportunities -- Quantile regression -- Educational inequality; Education -- Periodicals; Education -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Education -- Economic aspects -- Periodicals; Education -- Periodicals; Éducation -- Périodiques; Education; Periodicals; 370.11
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2022.102599
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0738-0593

Abstract

Abstract: The Korean education has gone considerable reforms since the early 2000s toward more individualized and differentiated learning opportunities. We examine how students' math performance changed in the midst of the educational reform. The OLS regression shows that the overall level of math performance deteriorated among 10th graders educated in the reformed system than their counterparts before the reform. The performance disparity by family SES increased after the reform. The quantile regression analysis offers additional insights: the declining performance after the reform was notable among low-achieving students, while the stronger influence of family SES appeared among students scoring on/above the median. Highlights: The Korean education system has significantly shifted since the early 2000s. The reformed system offers more differentiated learning opportunities at the secondary school level. In the midst of the educational reform, students' performance deteriorated, particularly at the lower end of distribution. After the educational reform, the performance gap by socioeconomic background has increased. These changes before and after the educational reform are not observed when the two cohorts were in primary school.