採用秋田教學法、沖縄脱離全國學力測驗最差位置

A few weeks ago the Yomiuri News on-line reported the following:

秋田流で成績アップ、沖縄が学テ最下位脱出

2014年08月25日 20時53分

　文部科学省は２５日、４月２２日に実施した「全国学力・学習状況調査」（全国学力テスト、学テ）の結果を発表した。

　昨年度に続いて全員参加方式で行われた今回は、これまで低迷していた沖縄県の小学校の成績が全４教科とも大きく改善し、昨年度全国４７都道府県で最下位だった算数Ａが６位になった。下位の自治体も昨年度と比べて全国平均との差が縮小傾向で、全体的に学力が向上していた。

　学テは国語、算数・数学の基礎力を測るＡ問題と、応用・思考力をみるＢ問題があり、国公私立約３万校の小学６年生、中学３年生の計約２１５万人が受けた。文科省は都道府県別について、各教委が管轄する公立校のみの平均正答率を発表した。

　これまでの学テでは、成績上位、下位の自治体が固定化する傾向があったが、全員参加方式で行われた過去４回のテストで毎回、全国最下位の科目があった沖縄県が、小学校の全教科で最下位から脱した。同県では、成績が全国トップクラスの秋田県と教員の交流を行い、板書方法など秋田流の指導を導入。県教委は「努力が実り、児童の自信につながる」とした。

　昨年度、小学校国語Ａで全国最下位だった静岡県も、正答率が全国平均とほぼ同じにまで改善した。

　小学校では、全国平均と最下位の正答率の格差が、全教科で初めて３・５ポイント内に収まった。文科省が全国平均と下位の３自治体の平均正答率を昨年度と比べた結果、小中すべての教科で同じか、格差が縮小。無回答率が２０％以上だった問題数も過去最少になった。

(試譯文)

On 25^th (August) the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced the result of the "National learning ability and learning situation investigation" (the National achievement test, or the Gaku Te) that was carried out on April 22.

This time the method of participation, following that of last year, was by all members. Okinawa all along had poor performance now showed great improvement in all four subjects. In Arithmetic A which last year had the lowest performance in primary schools among the 47 country-wide metropolis and districts now was at the sixth place. Compared with last year, the difference between local governments that had poor performance and the national average was reduced; there was a general improvement tendency in learning ability.

Questions in A part aimed at measuring National Language, Arithmetic, and basic skills in mathematics while B part looked into the application and intellectual power. Sixth graders from approximately 30,000 national public and private institutions, together with approximately 2,150,000 ninth graders received the Gaku Te. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology only announced the mean correct-answer-rate for public schools in prefectures, metropolis and districts where individual Board of Education had jurisdiction.

Up to now in the Gaku Te the test results showed a fix tendency among local governments to achieve high ranking or low ranking. Regarding the nationwide elementary school test under the all-members participation method, Okinawa always had one subject at the lowest in the past four years, yet this time it escaped from the last place in the all-subjects test. This prefecture performed teachers interchange with Akita, which was at the top-class of the whole country, and introduced the Akita style instruction that included the blackboard demonstration method. The prefecture Board of Education said "The effort is fruitful, leading to the self-confidence of children".

In last year, Shizuoka prefecture was at the lowest of the whole country in National Language A, now it showed improvements in the rate of correct answer, almost reaching the national average in elementary schools.

In elementary schools, the difference in correct-answer-rate between the lowest schools and the national average for the first time stayed within 3.5 points in all subjects. When the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology compared last year’s national average with the mean correct-answer-rate of the 3 lowest local governments, it found that the inequality was reduced in all subjects for both the elementary and the middle. On the problem that the rate of No-Answer was over 20%, this number became the smallest ever, too.

It is nice to note that Japan is making improvements in its education.