Colloquium in June 2021
Choi, Seongsoo (Professor, Dept. of Sociology at Yonsei Univ.) and Youngshin Lim (PhD Student, Dept. of Education at Seoul National Univ.)
How have family background gaps in primary and secondary school students’ academic achievement changed in Korea?
To answer the question, based on the total 11 nationally representative data, this study builds the database on the family background and academic achievement of approximately 270,000 individuals born in the 1950s through 2008. Included in the database are almost all the data on the students’ academic achievement in Korea.
The study finds that the trends of family background gaps vary depending on school level and subject as well as the measurement of academic achievement and family background. Although in some indices the family background gaps have significantly increased, in the other indexes there are hardly found significant trends of the gaps. However, at least it is clear that the study finds no evidence of decreases in the gaps.
The study discusses these findings’ implications for the relevant studies and policy, and for the academic achievement data in Korea.
♣ Please let us apologize for not uploading the photos for this virtual colloquium.