センター試験 大学は当事者意識持って臨め

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Jan. 16, 2013)
No room for glitches in unified college entrance exams
センター試験　大学は当事者意識持って臨め（1月15日付・読売社説）

Officials of the unified college entrance exams and universities that use the test for screening students must not allow a repeat of last year's confusion. They should double-check whether their preparations are foolproof.
　昨年のような混乱は二度と許されない。万全の準備体制が必要だ。

About 570,000 applicants will take the test to be held Saturday and Sunday. A record 840 universities and junior colleges--national, prefectural, municipal and private--will use the test as part of their screening process.
　大学入試センター試験が１９日と２０日に実施される。志願者数は約５７万人。参加大学・短大は国公私立で８４０校に上り、過去最多だ。

We urge the National Center for University Entrance Examinations and the universities to stay vigilant to ensure the test goes off without a hitch.
　大学入試センターと各大学は、緊張感を持って試験の運営にあたってもらいたい。

Last year, about 7,000 students were affected by mistakes during the test, such as errors in distributing test books for geography and history, and civics, which were mainly caused by a change in the test system. The test start time was delayed at a venue in Miyagi Prefecture--one of the prefectures hit hardest by the Great East Japan Earthquake--after devices for a listening test failed to arrive on time.
　昨年の試験では、試験方法の変更に伴い、「地理歴史」と「公民」で問題冊子の配布ミスなどが続出し、計約７０００人の受験生に影響が出た。被災地・宮城の会場では英語のリスニング用機器が届かず、試験開始を遅らせた。

===

Lessons of last year

The national center has reviewed the process of distributing test books this year. Universities that provide venues for the test also have taken steps to prevent mistakes from happening, such as holding more briefing sessions for test supervisors and conducting rehearsals.
　大学入試センターは今回、問題冊子の配布方法を見直した。各大学も試験監督者向けの説明会数を増やしたり、予行練習を重ねたりするなどの対策を講じている。

However, it is still too early for them to let their guard down. After reading a report by an Education, Culture, Sports and Science and Technology Ministry panel tasked with pinpointing why the errors occurred, universities that provided venues for last year's exams can only be described as lacking a sense of awareness as one of the parties involved.
　だが、油断は禁物だ。文部科学省の検証委員会報告書を見ると、大学側の当事者意識が乏しかったと言わざるを得ない。

According to the report, about 30 percent of the universities that bungled the distribution of test books failed to properly instruct test supervisors who did not attend briefing sessions, and instead only provided them with written documents in advance. In one case, a supervisor reportedly noticed a mistake when reading a supervising manual after the exams had started.
　配布ミスをした大学の３割が、説明会を欠席した試験監督者に事前に資料を配布しただけで済ませていた。試験開始後に監督要領を読み直し、初めて配布ミスに気付くお粗末な事例も見られた。

It is astonishing that some universities failed to understand the basic fact that the exams are managed jointly by the National Center for University Entrance Examinations and universities that use the exams.
　センター試験が入試センターと参加大学の共同実施だとの基本認識に欠ける大学すらあったことには驚かされる。

===

Test has become 'too big'

The current exam format was introduced in 1990, remodeling a similar test called the Joint First-Stage Achievement Test. Universities that use the exams have increased each year. It has become a national barometer for assessing the level of scholastic achievements of high school students. The fact it has become widely accepted deserves praise.
　センター試験は、共通一次試験から衣替えして１９９０年に導入された。参加大学数は年々、増えている。高校段階の学習到達度を判定する統一試験として、定着してきたことは評価できる。

This year, more than 100 public universities will use the exams to complement their admission screening based on recommendations from high schools, or interview- and essay-based tests known as "admission office exams," a system that puts more focus on assessing a student's personality.
　面接などで人物重視の選抜を行うＡＯ（アドミッション・オフィス）入試や推薦入試と、センター試験を併用する国公立大学が今回、１００校を超えた。

Japanese students' worsening academic ability has become a serious problem. We believe there is a growing tendency among universities to use the unified exams to accurately gauge whether students have basic academic skills.
　学生の学力不足の深刻化で、基礎学力がついているかどうかを、センター試験によって見極める傾向が強まっているのだろう。

The main role for universities in the test is to provide venues where it can be taken. Because this burden is light, some private universities use the unified entrance exams as a tool to acquire applicants at low cost.
　試験会場などの提供だけで参加できるため、私大の中には、低コストで受験生を獲得する手段として、センター試験を使っているところも少なくない。

Under the current system, universities can freely choose which and how many exam subjects they use. This enables universities and colleges to tailor a wide variety of admission systems. However, at the same time, some students have been baffled by the complexity of the system.
　利用する科目や科目数を大学が自由に決められる現行のアラカルト方式により、大学側は多様な入試方式の設定が可能になった。一方、科目選択が複雑になり、受験する側が戸惑うケースもある。

Critics have long pointed out that the unified exams have become too big to be conducted all at once. It is important to bring problems with the test to light from various perspectives so it can be improved.
　一度に滞りなく実施するには、試験規模が膨らみすぎたとの批判も根強い。様々な角度からセンター試験の課題を洗い出し、改善につなげることが大切だ。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Jan. 15, 2013)
（2013年1月15日00時16分  読売新聞）