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Including students with disabilities in national academic assessments in Korea

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Abstract

In Korea, the effort to include students with disabilities in the educational accountability system has just begun. This paper reviews how Korean students with disabilities have been tested using the National Assessment of Educational Achievement (NAEA) and what issues have emerged as a result of the testing. Analysis of the 2009 and 2010 NAEA data reveals that only a small proportion of students with disabilities participated in these tests and that those who did participate showed low academic achievement compared with general education students. In addition, even though alternate assessments are conducted by special education teachers to assess the academic performance of students with disabilities, national academic assessments in Korea do not include a system for alternate assessment. Based on findings of the analysis, several suggestions are made for improvement in Korea’s educational accountability system for students with disabilities.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the grant from the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST-2011057-0).

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Correspondence to Eunju Jung.

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Choi, J., Lee, D. & Jung, E. Including students with disabilities in national academic assessments in Korea. Asia Pacific Educ. Rev. 13, 741–756 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-012-9233-x

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