People register for the 2027 college entrance exam. [Yonhap]
People register for the 2027 college entrance exam. [Yonhap]

Members of the National Education Commission's public participation committee, who have been deliberating on the direction of college admissions reform, said Sunday that a systematic plan must be put in place to ensure fair grading if short-answer and essay questions are introduced in the College Scholastic Ability Test.

The committee held small-group discussions Sunday — the second day of a two-day deliberation forum at the YBM Training Center in Hwaseong — focusing on the conditions needed to shift to a short-answer and essay-based assessment system.

Grading methods for such questions emerged as the central issue. One committee member said "grading is everything in a high-stakes national exam like the CSAT," adding, "Even if AI assigns the scores, we cannot just take it on faith."

Another member said that "even if the question format changes, the grading and scoring criteria must be as clear as they are for the current multiple-choice exam."

Some members also argued that short-answer and essay questions should be introduced gradually rather than all at once.

Members recommended that "a grading system capable of ensuring objectivity and fairness should be established before essay-type questions are phased in," and that "thorough preparation — including refining AI grading tools, training teachers and improving classroom instruction — is needed, with short-answer questions introduced before full essay questions."

Other suggestions included ensuring that assessment frameworks are aligned with subject content, that the grading process be explained clearly enough for students to accept the results, that professional graders be trained, and that pilot programs be run at designated research schools before any wider rollout.

The commission's special committee on college admissions reform is considering a model in which AI would initially score responses and teachers would then review them.

Concerns also arose that grading short-answer and essay questions could add to teachers' workloads. One member said that if teachers were responsible for scoring, "there would be a flood of complaints — parents asking why their child got a certain score, or saying they wrote better than that and refusing to accept the result."

Another member said that "no matter how advanced AI is, it will not be able to produce perfect scores, so ultimately teachers will end up bearing responsibility for the grades," adding that "the key question is how to address that burden."

At Saturday's session, which focused on the need for short-answer and essay assessments, a significant number of members who opposed the change also cited grading concerns as their main reason.

The special committee maintains that advances in AI technology make it possible to score hundreds of thousands of responses with precision, but a series of domestic and international studies have pointed to the limitations of automated grading.

The commission plans to gather a wide range of public opinions, including views expressed at the forum, before releasing a draft proposal for college admissions reform at the end of October. Of the 203 people who applied to participate in the forum, 180 attended.


klee@heraldcorp.com