Middle School Grade 3 Math: Highest Rate of Underperformance in Basic Skills... Achievement Gap Persists

Ministry of Education Announces 2025 Academic Achievement Assessment Results
for Third-Year Middle and Second-Year High School Students

In the academic achievement assessment targeting third-year middle school and second-year high school students, it was found that the achievement level of third-year middle school students in mathematics dropped significantly.

On June 23, the Ministry of Education and the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation announced the results of the "2025 National Academic Achievement Assessment," revealing that 14.9% of third-year middle school students fell into "Level 1," which indicates a lack of basic academic skills. This is the highest proportion since the national academic achievement assessment shifted to a sample-based evaluation in 2017.

Achievement Level Ratios (%) by Subject. Ministry of Education · Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation

This assessment is conducted annually to systematically analyze the current status and trends of students’ academic achievement levels. Approximately 3% of all third-year middle school and second-year high school students are sampled, and their achievement levels in Korean, mathematics, and English are diagnosed on a four-level scale: Level 4 (high), Level 3 (average), Level 2 (low), and Level 1 (very low). In the most recent assessment conducted in September of last year, 25,992 middle and high school students from 539 schools nationwide participated.

The Ministry of Education and the Institute explained that, while the achievement levels by subject were generally similar to the previous year, there was a statistically significant change in mathematics among third-year middle school students. The proportion of these students at Level 1 in mathematics reached 14.9%, a 2.2 percentage point increase compared to the previous year. It is analyzed that learning loss caused by COVID-19, which occurred when these students were in upper elementary grades between 2020 and 2022, contributed to this outcome.

By gender, both third-year middle and second-year high school female students showed significantly higher academic achievement in Korean and English compared to their male counterparts.

Among third-year middle school students, the proportion at Level 3 or higher in Korean was 56.7% for boys and 72.9% for girls. In English, it was 56.2% for boys and 65.1% for girls.

For second-year high school students, the proportion at Level 3 or higher in Korean was 48.1% for boys and 58.0% for girls. In English, the figures were 68.3% for boys and 77.5% for girls.

Regional disparities in academic achievement persisted. In large cities, the proportion of third-year middle school students at Level 3 or higher surpassed that of students in town and rural areas across all subjects, including Korean, mathematics, and English.

Specifically, in Korean, 67.0% of third-year middle school students in large cities achieved Level 3 or higher, compared to only 57.0% in town and rural areas. In mathematics, the proportion was 54.2% in large cities versus 37.6% in town and rural areas. In English, it was 65.2% in large cities and 49.8% in town and rural areas. The previous survey also showed that gaps between large cities and town/rural regions existed across all subjects.

At the high school level, there were no significant regional differences in the proportions of students at either Level 3 or Level 1 across all subjects.

In the "school life happiness" survey, which was conducted alongside the academic achievement assessment, both third-year middle and second-year high school students reported a slight decline in happiness compared to the previous year.

The proportion of third-year middle school students who responded that their happiness was "high" was 57.4%, down by 0.6 percentage points from a year earlier. Among second-year high school students, this proportion was 60.8%, a decrease of 1.6 percentage points. In the "class preparation and participation" survey, the proportion of third-year middle school students who responded "high" was 39.4%, a statistically significant drop of 2.3 percentage points from the previous year's 41.7%, according to the Ministry of Education.

The Ministry of Education and the Institute plan to conduct an in-depth analysis of the trends in assessment results, the relationship between achievement levels and affective domains, and to utilize the findings for improving education policies.

In particular, to boost students’ confidence and interest in mathematics, the government will support hands-on and inquiry-based classes and student participation-focused math education activities. In addition, to prevent the accumulation of learning loss among students, the government also plans to strengthen support for small-group supplementary instruction and one-on-one mentoring sessions during after-school hours and vacation periods.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.