全国学力テスト 指導の改善に役立つ全員参加

The Yomiuri Shimbun May 14, 2013
Only full national achievement test will help improve teaching in school
全国学力テスト　指導の改善に役立つ全員参加（5月13日付・読売社説）

The national achievement test was conducted recently with all students in the sixth year of primary school and in the third year of middle school participating, the first in four years to be held with all children in these grades taking part.
　小学６年と中学３年を対象にした全国学力テストが、４年ぶりに全員参加方式で行われた。

About 2.28 million students from about 30,000 primary and middle schools took part in the test, with the sixth graders tested on Japanese and arithmetic and the middle schoolers on Japanese and mathematics.
約３万校の２２８万人が、国語と算数・数学の問題に取り組んだ。

Thanks to the revival of the nationwide achievement test with all primary and middle schools taking part, boards of education and schools will be able to correctly assess students' academic abilities. By finding out what needs to be done to enhance students' abilities, they need to make use of the results to improve teaching methods.
　全員参加方式の復活により、教育委員会や学校は、子供たちの学力状況を正確に把握できる。課題を見つけ、指導の改善に役立てていく必要がある。

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry introduced the national achievement test in fiscal 2007 as part of efforts to enhance children's scholastic abilities. For three years to fiscal 2009, the exam was given to all children in these two grades.
　全国学力テストは、学力向上策の一環として２００７年度から始まり、０９年度までの３年間は、全員参加方式で実施されていた。

Test change had adverse effects

The then Democratic Party of Japan-led administration switched from full-scale exams to sample exams held at about 30 percent of schools from fiscal 2010, justifying this in the name of budget cuts. The DPJ-led administration paid too much attention to criticism from the Japan Teachers' Union, a large supporter of the party, saying that the test could "fan excessive competition."
　ところが、民主党政権は経費削減を理由に、全小中学校から３割を抽出する方式に切り替えた。有力支持団体である日本教職員組合の「競争をあおる」といった批判に配慮し過ぎた結果だ。

The adverse effect of the switch was enormous.

The result was that only the average rate of questions answered correctly by each prefecture was available. Relevant data comparing schools or different municipalities was no longer available.
　その弊害は大きかった。抽出調査では都道府県別の平均正答率しかわからない。市町村別や学校別のデータは途切れてしまった。

Although those schools not designated by the ministry to take part in the sample tests could choose to take part in the exams, they had to score the tests on their own. Despite being the same tests, there were inequalities between the designated schools and the others. This should not be overlooked, either.
　抽出に漏れた学校には希望参加の道が残されたが、採点は独自に行わねばならなかった。同じテストなのに、抽出校との不公平が生じたことも見過ごせない。

Following the change of government late last year, the administration under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appropriately decided to hold the national exam every year, with all children in these classes taking part. It was an appropriate decision.
　政権交代後、安倍政権が再び全員参加方式で毎年実施することにしたのは、適切な判断である。

The important thing from now is analyzing the enormous amount of data obtained from the tests from various angles and utilizing it to enhance children's scholastic abilities.
　今後、大切なのは、テストで得られる膨大なデータを様々な角度から分析し、児童・生徒の学力向上につなげることだ。

The education ministry will compare the results of those schools with reduced class size with those schools with the number of students not reduced and examine the correlation between class size and academic abilities of students.
　文部科学省は、少人数学級を導入している学校と、そうでない学校の成績を比較し、学力との関連性を検証する。

By empirically showing the approximate size of classes, the ministry will need to secure the necessary number of teachers.
クラスの適正な人数は何人程度なのかを実証的に示した上で、必要な教員数を確保していくことが求められよう。

A problem with the implementation of the full participation test is how to make the test results public.
　全員参加で問題となるのが、テスト結果の公表方法だ。

Data should be shared

The education ministry, in its implementation procedure of the tests, forbids prefectural boards of education to publicize the test results between schools and those between different municipalities. It also forbids municipal boards of education to publicize test results comparing schools.
　文科省は実施要領で、都道府県教委には市町村別と学校別、市町村教委には学校別の結果の公表を禁じている。

The bans are to avoid spawning excessive competition and grading among municipalities and among schools.
過度な競争や序列化を防ぐとの理由からだ。

Yet some local governments hope to publicize the test results, as part of their responsibility for explaining the appropriateness of school lessons to students' parents.
　これに対し、保護者などへの説明責任を果たす立場から、一部の自治体は公表を希望している。

There were cases whereby relevant data, including the average rate of correct answers by municipality was made public, in response to freedom-of-information requests made by local citizens.
過去には情報公開請求に応じて、市町村別の平均正答率などが開示されたケースもある。

Implementing the test cost the government 5.5 billion yen. By sharing the valuable data with parents and local citizens, rather than having local boards of education monopolize it, public understanding of--and their cooperation with--school management can be won.
　テストの実施には５５億円の国費が使われている。学力を映し出す貴重な情報を教委で独占するのではなく、保護者や地域住民と共有してこそ、学校運営への理解と協力も得られるのではないか。

The ministry plans to discuss ways to publicize the test results for fiscal 2014 and after, by gathering opinions from local governments. The ministry should review its public-disclosure restriction.
　文科省は来年度以降の公表の仕方について、自治体の意見も聞きながら検討する方針だ。公表規制の見直しを図るべきだろう。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, May 13, 2013)
（2013年5月13日01時09分  読売新聞）