Jeonnam Gwangju Metropolitan City Office of Education to Administer Nation’s First Regional Joint Achievement Assessment Next September

【Financial News Jeonnam Gwangju = Reporter Hwang Tae-jong】The Jeonnam Gwangju Metropolitan City Office of Education will integrate the existing Jeonnam 'J-FINAL CSAT Mock Exam' and Gwangju 'Final Completion Mock Assessment' and administer the nation's first 'Jeonnam Gwangju Regional Joint Achievement Assessment' next September.
The 'Jeonnam Gwangju Regional Joint Achievement Assessment,' like the National United Achievement Assessment, will require schools to register students through an online system. It will cover all CSAT subjects: Korean, mathematics, English, Korean history, social studies, and science. In particular, the assessment is expected to serve as a benchmark for gauging CSAT performance by providing answer sheets and explanations, computerized scoring, and individual score analysis reports.
Superintendent Kim Dae-jung said, "We expect students in Jeonnam and Gwangju to have another opportunity to experience a high-quality mock assessment through the 'Regional Joint Achievement Assessment.'" He added, "We will prepare thoroughly to help students prepare for university admissions and the CSAT, while establishing a distinctive education system unique to the 'K-Education Special City.'"
According to the Jeonnam Gwangju Metropolitan City Office of Education on the 10th, the former Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education had administered the 'J-FINAL CSAT Mock Exam,' while the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education had administered the 'Final Completion Mock Assessment' to support third-year high school students.
The mock assessments received positive reviews for providing opportunities to gain practical experience through the distribution of test papers, answers, and explanations. However, because official computerized scoring was not available, it was difficult to determine students' proficiency by subject. In addition, some elective subjects in social studies and science were excluded because of limitations in the teacher pool.
Accordingly, the Jeonnam Gwangju Metropolitan City Office of Education decided to integrate the two mock assessments and pursue the 'Jeonnam Gwangju Regional Joint Achievement Assessment,' introducing the same system used for the National United Achievement Assessment to enhance the practical effectiveness of evaluation following the integration of Jeonnam and Gwangju.
To this end, it plans to operate the Jeonnam Gwangju Integrated Test-Development Headquarters and introduce a residential test-development and review system to ensure the assessment's validity and reliability. It will also introduce a computerized scoring system comparable to the scoring management headquarters of the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE).
In addition, the office plans to establish a foundation for nationwide expansion and standardization of the regional joint achievement assessment model. It will provide schools with an assessment statistics package, including computerized scoring of examinees' OMR cards, real-time processing of test data, analysis of item responses and correct-answer rates, and achievement rates by area. It will also provide individualized learning diagnosis reports and tailored feedback for each examinee.
The assessment will first be administered next September to third-year high school students in Jeonnam and Gwangju, before expanding to first- and second-year students in the 2028 school year. The office also aims to become the education office responsible for administering the National United Achievement Assessment in the 2029 school year.
Meanwhile, this year the Jeonnam Gwangju Metropolitan City Office of Education will continue to administer Gwangju's 'Final Completion Mock Assessment' twice, in August and again in October. The Jeonnam 'J-FINAL CSAT Mock Exam' will be distributed to high schools at the end of October to help students prepare for the actual exam.

[email protected] Hwang Tae-jong Reporter