This study examines inequality based on family structure within the school environment, focusing on South Korea's standardized education system. Previous research has pointed to potential challenges associated with a high concentration of students from single-parent families in schools. However, in the context of a standardized education system…

This brief examines Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) science achievement of the 20% highest and the 20% lowest performing fourth and eighth graders in 11 countries. To do so, the authors compare achievement distributions across countries, using measures of relative equality within countries. Such an examination…

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement's (IEA) mission is to enhance knowledge about education systems worldwide and to provide high-quality data that will support education reform and lead to better teaching and learning in schools. In pursuit of this aim, it conducts and reports on major studies of student…

Consequential learning is an equity-oriented framework in which students create learning pathways to pursue what matters to themselves and to the communities they care about. In this paper, I seek to identify the moments of consequential learning from a story in which my students and I danced together to express a set of scientific knowledge:…

This study explores the implications of the flipped classroom experiment in South Korea as a counter-proposal for the school innovation project based on the Korean educational context. Using Dongpyung middle school in South Korea for this case study, this paper focuses on how and why the flipped classroom impacts Korea's education culture. The…

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement's (IEA) mission is to enhance knowledge about education systems worldwide, and to provide high-quality data that will support education reform and lead to better teaching and learning in schools. In pursuit of this aim, it conducts, and reports on, major studies of student…

Drawing upon the experiences and dilemmas of the author, a middle school English teacher in South Korea, this article illuminates the ways in which neoliberal reforms in education intersect with English, and how such links have entailed the class-based polarization of education in Korean society. Given the prominent role that English plays in…

A dearth of literature examines across-school disparities in education resources within local government agencies, particularly in Asia Pacific countries. Little is known about what leads to their inequitable distributions. In this article, we provide some answers by decomposing the inequalities of school resources. In Korea, individual schools…

Korea is recognized as a high-performing country in international achievement studies; however, many researchers in and outside Korea have been worried about the existing gaps between high-socioeconomic and low-socioeconomic (SES) students in both student achievement and educational resources. We analyzed the resource and output equity of Korean…

The theme for the 62nd annual conference of the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers was Educating for a Just Society. Connie Briggs, previous Program Chair, reminded us that, "Education has always been the foundation of a democratic nation. It is important that our students understand the principles upon which our nation was…

In 1972, the South Korean government proposed the high school equalization policy (HSEP) to eliminate high-stakes exams and introduce random school assignment to high school entrance. This policy was intended to reduce a financial burden imposed on families due to the costs of children's shadow education. Since its first implementation in major…