AI to Grade Student Essays... Seoul Education Office Develops 'AI Essay and Short-Answer Assessment Support System'

Beyond Multiple Choice: Measuring Critical and Creative Thinking
Establishing a Collaborative System with Universities and Naver
Plans to Implement in General Schools by 2027

From now on, artificial intelligence (AI) will grade students' essay and short-answer exam responses. On August 4, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced the official launch of its AI Essay and Short-Answer Assessment Support System, designed to evaluate students’ in-depth thinking and creativity.

The AI Essay and Short-Answer Assessment Support System is a platform where AI grades students’ written answers and provides corresponding feedback. This marks a shift away from the traditional multiple-choice-focused assessment method, introducing a new system where students express their thoughts in writing and are evaluated accordingly. To this end, on August 1, the Office of Education signed a contract with a private company (Naver) that possesses AI automated grading technology to jointly develop the system.

The Office of Education expects this system to reduce grading time and maintain greater fairness in grading standards. In addition, by integrating with digital devices to provide rapid feedback, the system is anticipated to be well-suited for competency-based education and the assessment of creative thinking skills.

The AI Essay and Short-Answer Assessment Support System will include features such as: ▲ problem and grading criteria to evaluate creative problem-solving ability ▲ grading aligned with the 2022 revised curriculum achievement standards ▲ a workflow of grading → feedback → report provision ▲ personalized feedback for each student ▲ accumulation and management of assessment results.

The Office of Education will oversee the project, create test items and grading criteria, while the Educational Research Information Institute will handle informatization projects. The private company will develop the grading system and automated grading programs, and universities will establish the problem frameworks and scoring standards.

An official from the Office of Education stated, "This is not simply an AI-based automatic grading program, but an assessment innovation system that embodies the Office’s educational direction and evaluation philosophy," adding, "A range of experts?including AI private companies, universities, and in-service teachers?will collaborate in its development."

It is expected that about three years of training will be needed to build an accurate AI grading model, using standard questions and grading criteria, student answers, teacher grading results, and feedback content.

The Office of Education anticipates that, after system enhancement and pilot implementation next year, the AI assessment support system will be expanded and applied to general schools starting in 2027. In the future, the Office plans to increase discussion, debate, project, and inquiry-based classes, and to expand essay and short-answer assessments linked to classroom instruction.

Superintendent Jung Geunsik stated, "Seoul education will create a new assessment system that evaluates students’ competencies and supports their growth," adding, "The AI Essay and Short-Answer Assessment Support System is expected to serve as a crucial stepping stone in transforming current assessment practices into future-oriented student evaluation."

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