Academic Ability Test Cancelled, but Problems Remain

Academic Ability Test Cancelled, but Problems Remain
United Daily News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
September 12, 2014

Summary: Under pressure from all quarters, Taipei City and Taichung City announced that next year they would follow the lead of other counties and municipalities, and no longer hold the Academic Ability Test for Admission to Senior High School. Tainan City alone insists on holding them. The Academic Ability Test for 12 Year Compulsory Education will be terminated this year. Junior high school admissions will no longer require Academic Ability Tests. But without Academic Ability Tests, the 12 Year Compulsory Education System will suffer numerous shocks and long-term effects. Educational authorities and junior and senior high schools must think hard about how to respond.

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Under pressure from all quarters, Taipei City and Taichung City announced that next year they would follow the lead of other counties and municipalities, and no longer hold the Academic Ability Test for Admission to Senior High School. Tainan City alone insists on holding them. The Academic Ability Test for 12 Year Compulsory Education will be terminated this year. Junior high school admissions will no longer require Academic Ability Tests. But without Academic Ability Tests, the 12 Year Compulsory Education System will suffer numerous shocks and long-term effects. Educational authorities and junior and senior high schools must think hard about how to respond.

In June, the State Education Department said that Academic Ability Tests are no different from the Comprehensive Assessment Program for Junior High School Students. It said that "one way would be to cancel Academic Ability Tests." Almost all counties and municipalities have eliminated Academic Ability Tests. Yet the Ministry of Education insists that schools should be encouraged to continue Academic Ability Tests to ensure diversity in admissions. They should not return to the old path where "a single exam will determine the rest of one's life." Such changes leave people baffled. In any case, this year the exam system for 12 Year Compulsory Education is in chaos. The current situation was inevitable.

Cancelling the Academic Ability Test leaves the Comprehensive Assessment Program. Examinations are still required. In fact, the Comprehensive Assessment Program will become the sole means of screening. A single exam will determine the rest of one's life. The Comprehensive Assessment Program was supposed to be a remedy. Now, however, it is used to grade one's ability. Next year's Comprehensive Assessment Program results will eliminate "three classes and four lables." It will add scoring on a scale of one to ten if needed, to meet enrollment where students are more numerous. As a result, the Comprehensive Assessment Program will become more like basic examinations in the past. Students must answer every question. Every point will count. The Comprehensive Assessment Program will be turned into a basic examination. Admissions will be "unified." In fact, it will be more at odds with the spirit of 12 Year Compulsory Education.

The Academic Ability Tests have become a whipping boy. The main reason is the chasm separating ideals from reality. The Academic Ability Tests were originally supposed to determine which schools were exceptional, and to design and teach special curricula. It was supposed to adapt itself to the needs of the students. It was supposed to counsel them to help them reach their full potential. The emphasis was on the design and teaching of special curricula. In reality, the Academic Ability Tests have become the means by which elite schools are allowed to pick over the most gifted students, and so-so schools are left to fight over the rest, in a struggle to save face. The Academic Ability Tests also lengthen the semester. Most schools wait for the elite schools to finishing picking through their candidates. Most students wait for the elite students to find their seats first. This is why the Academic Ability Tests have become everyone's target.

In the past, the policy was to recruit special students, but offer no special curricula. The suspicion was that recruiting the 10% special students would hijack the other 90% of the student body. Now that the Academic Ability Tests have been discontinued, we need to ask ourselves whether we still intend to develop elite senior high schools. New students in September will be the only class enrolled by means of the Academic Ability Tests. Over the next three years, do we still intend to maintain the special curricula? New students next year will not be Academic Ability Test recruits. Schools must consider how they intend to retain their special curricula. Many schools say they will not hold Academic Ability Tests, but that will continue to develop special curricula. But can they actually make any of this happen? That remains to be seen.

We now face immediate consequences. Some ninth graders still hope to participate in the Academic Ability Tests. They may have exceptional academic aptitude. But they may not have scored well in the community, in competitions, in service-learning for a variety of reasons. Therefore they are making a special effort to do well in the Academic Ability Tests. Now, however, counties and municipalities have announced that they are discontinuing the Academic Ability Tests. How can we help them make up the necessary marks and hours during the coming year? That will be a major challenge. Also, many students may have moved. They may have been studying their ideal senior high curriculum or subjects. They hope to be graduate by means of the Academic Ability Tests. Once this door is closed, these students who transferred or changed school districts, will face problems in counties and municipalities with excess enrollment.

In Tainan City this year, a student who received a perfect score still could not be admitted. He could become an "Academic Ability Test valedictorian." This might make Tainan City more careful about ensuring diversity in admissions. The student failed to accumulate enough points and was therefore dropped. Tainan City has a complex method for evaluation. This leads to a huge irony. Recently one Tainan City Elementary School PTA chairman openly exhibited a price list for admission to the PTA. The chairman said allowing children to participate in community service and extracurricular competitions will help address the problem of excess student enrollment. Such blatant practices amount to competing for points.

The above examples are not all the fault of Academic Ability Tests. Counties and municipalities may or may not cancel the Academic Ability Tests. But they must make reasonable adjustments to excess admission numbers and order. Otherwise, in Keelung and Taipei, diversity in admissions will be a sham. The Comprehensive Assessment Programs will be deceit. In Tainan, the spirit of diversity will result in vicious competition, grabbing of cadres, participation in sports, and phony community service. How can 12 Year Compulsory Education not be led astray?

The enthusiasm for Academic Ability Tests is dying. The spirit of pluralism has been shaken. Se Hwa Wu, Minister of Education, can only encourage elite senior high schools to hold small scale Academic Ability Tests. He wants elite senior high schools to boldly tell the community, "We have a special curriculum, we want to recruit certain kinds of students." In fact, we should first ask schools to cease using Academic Ability Tests to grab the best students, and instead devote themselves to developing special curricula, Only then can we jettison 12 Year Compulsory Education egalitarianism, and return to "diversity in admissions, and the education of students according to their abilities."

停辦特招後，還有一堆問題要面對
【聯合報╱社論】
2014.09.12 02:19 am

在各界壓力下，台北市和台中市繼其他縣市之後宣布明年不辦理特招，如今僅剩台南市堅持續辦。至此，今年首度實施的十二年國教特招考試分發入學將成絕響，國中會考則成為「免試」入學的唯一考試。然而，沒有特招的十二年國教仍將面臨許多衝擊，並對教育造成長遠影響，教育當局及各國高中都不能不嚴肅思考、因應。

國教署六月間曾說，如果特招跟會考沒區別，「取消特招也是一種方式」；而今，幾乎所有縣市都放棄特招之後，教育部卻反而說，鼓勵各校續辦特招維持多元入學，不要回到「一試定終身」的老路。這樣的變化，讓人無法捉摸。無論如何，今年十二年國教升學制度繁複冗長，亂象橫生，如今發展成這樣的情勢，恐怕也是必然的結果。

取消特招，尚有會考，仍非免試；甚至，會考將因此成為篩選的唯一管道，一試定命運。會考原本具有「能力補救」的作用，現在不得不拿來作為「能力分級」的手段；而明年會考成績除「三等第、四標示」外，必要時還要再加上十級量尺分數，以滿足學生較多的部分招生區鑑別需求。如此一來，會考將變得更像以往的基測，學生必須題題不漏，分分計較。會考「基測化」，加上入學「一元化」，其實更有違十二年國教精神。

特招之所以成為過街老鼠，主要是理想與現實的落差過大。特招的原意，是評鑑優良學校規劃特色課程與教學，並據以篩選適性學生，輔導助其揚才，重點仍在特色課程的設計和教學。現實上，特招卻淪為明星學校優先挑選資優學生、一般學校顧面子又搶學生的工具；加上特招拉長入學期程，多數學校等待少數名校挑完學生，多數學生等待少數菁英先就定位，遂使特招成為眾矢之的。

正因先前已見「有特色招生，沒特色課程」、「一成特招生挾持九成一般生」的質疑；如今，停辦特色招生考試後，更應思考的是：高中未來還要不要發展特色？尤其，面對九月剛入學的唯一一屆特招學生，未來三年的課程還要不要維持特色？至於明年入學皆非特招生，學校也要慎思如何保留特色課程？許多學校稱，不辦特招，仍將發展特色；但能否名實相副，都是未來的重要課題。

眼前立即面臨衝擊的，還有一些原本志在特招入學的本屆國三生。他們或許是學術能力傾向較強，或許因不同主客觀因素而無法在社團、競賽、服務學習等多元學習領域爭取高分，因而努力拚特招。現在各縣市相繼宣布停辦特招，在未來一年，如何協助他們在這段期間補足分數、時數的門檻，將是一大挑戰。此外，還有不少學生或因為遷居之故，或為就讀心目中理想的高中職課程群別或類科，希望透過特招考試跨區升學；在特招大門關閉後，這些學生不論轉學或變更學區，都將面臨各縣市超額比序積分不同的困擾。

至於台南市，今年一名會考「滿分落榜」卻成「特招狀元」的學生，或許能讓台南市在維持多元入學管道時有更慎重的考量。這個學生因比序積分不佳而在會考落榜，對台南市複雜的比序方式，形成莫大諷刺。再如，最近台南市某國小家長會長明列加入家長會的價目表，表示可讓孩子優先參加社團和校外比賽等有助於超額比序加分的項目；這種赤裸裸的作法，豈不也是競逐積分走火入魔使然？

上述事例，雖非全是特招之過，但各縣市不論是否取消特招，都該合理調整超額比序項目與順序。否則，在基北區，多元比序玩假的，唯會考是賴；到了台南，恪遵多元比序精神，卻帶起拚競賽、搶幹部、補體育、假服務的歪風。如此，十二年國教如何不走上歧途？

面對特招偃旗息鼓，多元精神蕩然，教育部長吳思華只能鼓勵有特色的高中辦理「小規模特招」，並要明星高中勇敢告訴社會「有什麼特色課程，要招收什麼樣的學生」。事實上，應先要求各校擺脫特招搶學生的心態，認真發展特色課程，才能打破十二年國教的平均主義，回歸「多元入學、適性揚才」的精神。