Beginning in 1993 a new scholarastic aptitude test for college entrance called \"DAEHAK SUHAKNEUNGROK SEEHUM(abbreviated as DSNS)\" replaced the former test called \"DAEHAK HAKROK SEEHUM\" which had been accused of students\' lack of higher order thinking and the chronic problem of memory-oriented classroom instruction delivered to high school students unilaterally by a teacher. The introduction of the new college qualification test was expected to cure this problem including its expected effect of easing the heavy burden of students and their parents caused by the severe competition over the college entrance.
This is mainly concerned with identifying changes in high school education caused by the introduction of the new test. This research problem is tested by doing a survey of high school teachers. About 900 teachers were randomly sampled from 33 non-vocational high schools in Pusan-KyungNam area which were sampled in consideration of sex, public-private, and urbanicity ratios. A questionnaire was used to collect data on the changes in high school education including curriculum and instruction.
The results of research are summarized as follows. At first, the DSNS administered in 1993 and 1994 are evaluated by teachers as somewhat improved in measuring the higher order thinking ability of students as a basic scholarstic aptitude for college education, but as having almost no desirable effects on the recovery of high school education from teaching fragmented factual knowledges for the preparation for the previous college entrance examination and the personal and social problems caused by the severe competition for college entrance.
The changes in high school education were conceptualized as being grouped into several categories: school management and atmosphere; teachers\' work; teacher-student relationship; curriculum organization; and instruction. The results are, in overall, that there have been almost no significant changes except for instructional content and methods.
The instructional content was, in part, changed from fragmented factual knowledges to higher-order thinking substance and from inside the textbook boundary to including other materials outside the textbooks. The instructional methods were changed in certain extent from the teacher-centered recitation and lecture toward students’ thinking and experiences with the aids of various teaching methods.