Daegu Superintendent of Education Kang Eun-hee: "Critical and Creative Thinking Must Be Fostered Through Evaluation Innovation"

Daegu Superintendent of Education Kang Eun-hee held a New Year's press conference on the morning of the 6th at the Yeomin Room of the Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education and announced the "2025 Daegu Education Policy Direction."

On this day, Superintendent Kang announced "Education Innovation 2.0," which builds upon "Education Innovation 1.0," a change in child-centered and classroom-centered instruction and school culture that Daegu education has focused on for the past six years. It embodies the determination to take a step further toward completing public education innovation by implementing three strategies: evaluation innovation, customized learning innovation, and school culture innovation.

Kang Eun-hee, Superintendent of Education in Daegu

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Superintendent Kang emphasized that evaluation innovation must be achieved to firmly transform Korea's education into a future-oriented education system. He stated that evaluation should shift from being a test for the success of a few students in college entrance exams or competition to an evaluation that helps all students learn, providing customized feedback to cultivate critical and creative thinking skills in students, measuring competencies necessary for living in the future society, and supporting student growth.

The Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education plans to move away from multiple-choice tests that ask how much knowledge of others students have memorized and establish written, essay, and oral evaluations that allow students to express their own thoughts and engage in critical and creative learning. They will present a future-oriented evaluation model that assesses thinking ability and problem-solving skills to continuously innovate public education.

To this end, they will establish a platform for written, essay, and oral evaluations, build a database of excellent evaluation questions and answers, and train scoring experts by subject to firmly establish these evaluation methods in the field. They will also lead the way in presenting a future-oriented evaluation model that assesses students' thinking and problem-solving abilities.

Additionally, they will expand the experience of absolute evaluation based on essays, writing, discussions, and projects from IB schools to general schools, build an expert network for Daegu Future Schools, and strengthen process-centered evaluation based on practice books to enhance the design and execution of instructional evaluations.

Superintendent Kang plans to strengthen customized learning to provide differentiated learning experiences based on the diverse characteristics of all children, enabling each to maximize their potential. To this end, they will train 100 literacy experts, strengthen reading activities centered on the curriculum, evaluate reading activities linked to written and essay evaluations, and carry out the educational community reading campaign "The Book in My Hand, The Power in My Life" to improve literacy and reading comprehension, which are the core of basic academic skills and the starting point of customized learning. They will also detect complex student problems early, such as basic academic skill deficiencies and economic, psychological, and emotional difficulties, and will actively support integrated customized student assistance through inter-project linkage and cooperation among professionals.

This year, they will enhance educational equity through AI-based customized learning by introducing AI digital textbooks for the first time and opening the Daegu Artificial Intelligence Education Center. They will also support customized development at the starting line of early childhood by expanding 76 pilot kindergartens for the transition semester between kindergarten and elementary school, providing tailored support for children with developmental delays and borderline intelligence, and operating the nation's largest 43 pilot infant and toddler schools. By expanding the Neulbom School, which provides customized educare, they will offer high-quality customized education and safe care to all children, reducing the burden on parents.

The Daegu Office of Education will create schools where students can focus on learning, parents trust and are satisfied, and teachers concentrate on their educational duties through responsibility, respect, and communication among educational stakeholders.

To this end, they will activate teacher professional learning communities centered on lesson design, execution, and reflection, and establish the Daegu Education Harmony Center for discussion- and practice-oriented education for the educational community, fostering a lesson-centered school culture where teachers research and practice lessons together. They will also fully implement the nation's first elementary and middle school Mind Semester system and distribute programs to cultivate self-regulation and resilience by school level, further enhancing students' psychological and emotional recovery abilities and self-regulation skills to foster the strength to live together.

Furthermore, they will expand the Daegu Parents Declaration Practice Contest, operate parent support groups linked to the curriculum, establish a school complaint response environment, and run an emergency response team to protect educational activities, creating a school culture where the educational community can grow together. They will proactively respond to the declining school-age population and low birthrate issues by fostering hub schools and integrated operation schools, strengthening the exploration of family functions and values through lessons, and expanding family-friendly programs.

Superintendent Kang Eun-hee of Daegu Education said, "Daegu education has focused on the essence of education over the past six years, creating classroom instruction innovation and a culture of responsibility and cooperation within the educational community." He added, "Now, based on the past six years of Education Innovation 1.0, we will lead the era of 'Education Innovation 2.0,' starting with evaluation innovation, establishing a future-oriented school system, and enabling students, parents, and teachers to grow together, thereby achieving the true completion of public education innovation."

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