“High School Student Polarization”: Students Split into Those Good at Math and Those Weak in Korean and English

[Financial News] An analysis of high school students' achievement levels found that the top-performing group was formed around strong mathematics performance, while the lower-performing group showed simultaneous declines in Korean and English. This indicates that polarization in performance across subjects has gradually intensified.
According to the report titled "Analysis of the 2019–2024 National Assessment of Educational Achievement Results," released by the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) on the 4th, the association among high school students' subject scores grew stronger across achievement-level groups during the period analyzed.
The changes went beyond overall scores simply rising or falling. The subjects in which students showed strengths and those that declined together differed clearly by achievement-level group.
The highest-achieving group was notably characterized by relatively strong mathematics performance. In contrast, the lower-achieving groups clearly showed a pattern of simultaneous weakness in Korean and English. While overall achievement level served as the biggest factor separating students' scores by subject, the subject among Korean, English, and mathematics in which students performed relatively better became the key dividing line between the higher- and lower-performing groups.
Cascading effects across subjects were also identified. Science scores were relatively strongly linked to mathematics scores. Social studies was evenly associated with Korean, mathematics, and English, although its relationship with Korean was slightly stronger. The findings point to a structural pattern in which weak mathematics performance extends to science, while weak Korean and English performance spreads to literacy-based subjects such as social studies.
Meanwhile, academic achievement among middle and high school students overall declined in 2022 before beginning to recover in 2023. In 2022, disruptions to in-person classes caused by COVID-19 reduced the proportion of top-performing students at Levels 4 and 3 and increased the proportion of lower-performing students at Levels 2 and 1. As schools returned to normal in 2023, achievement began to recover.
A survey of students' perceptions of the subjects found that they placed high value on and recognized the necessity of Korean, mathematics, and English, but reported relatively low levels of interest and confidence in their actual learning. In particular, the gaps in interest and confidence by achievement level were greater in mathematics and English than in Korean.
Differences by gender and region were also observed. Male students generally accounted for a larger share of both the highest-performing group at Level 4 and the lowest-performing group at Level 1, while female students made up a larger share of the middle-performing groups at Levels 3 and 2. By region, metropolitan areas had a higher proportion of top-performing students, whereas town and rural areas had a relatively higher proportion of lower-performing students.
KICE proposed strengthening tailored teaching and learning support so that weak foundational skills in one subject do not lead to learning difficulties in others. It also plans to expand the grades and subjects covered by the National Assessment of Educational Achievement and strengthen data sharing with achievement assessments conducted by metropolitan and provincial offices of education. 

[email protected] Kim Man-gi Reporter