Govt to poll student affluence / Authorities aiming to shrink disparities in academic performance

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The government plans to survey students about their families' economic situation in tandem with the annual national achievement test given to all sixth-year primary school students and third-year middle school students.

The questionnaire survey is meant to help resolve disparities in academic ability stemming from differences in the affluence of students' families, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry said.

The survey will be conducted from the 2013 school year.

A ministry survey has already established that schools with a high percentage of students who receive economic assistance for things such as school lunches and trips also tend to have high percentages of incorrect answers on the national achievement test.

Observers have pointed out the disparities in academic ability, which are becoming entrenched--children in less affluent families tend to progress more slowly in their academic growth. This in turn will lead to disparities in their future academic ability and earning power.

The ministry plans to select and closely examine schools whose academic performance is high despite a large number of students in less affluent circumstances, through a 2013 school year survey in which all primary and middle schools in Japan will participate.

The ministry aims to use the teaching methods at the chosen schools as a reference for tackling the academic divide.

The new survey will be conducted by adding a questionnaire about students' economic situation to the conventional questionnaire about their study habits and living environment that has been carried out at the time of the achievement test.

As it is difficult to ask students specific questions about their parents' income and jobs, the new questionnaire will include such indirect queries as, "Do you take piano or other private lessons outside school?" according to the ministry.

The Questionnaire of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development includes such questions as, "Do you have literary works, paintings and reference works at home?" to probe the relation between the cultural and economic situation at students' homes and their academic performance.

The ministry also plans to use the PISA questionnaire as a reference.