China Education Reforms to Emulate Advanced Placement System

By Tyler Sheldon. Gaokao reforms aim to diversify university admissions by testing college-level material at key high schools. A cartoon that is well known to test prep-averse educators depicts a group of animals lined up in front of a man sitting behind a desk. Elephant, fish, seal, dog, monkey and penguin accounted for, the man proclaims: “For a fair selection everybody has to take the same exam: Please climb that tree.” As the sole bridge to university admissions, China’s gaokao exam in its current form mirrors that approach. Criticism has been ubiquitous, and change is on its way. The central government has signaled reforms that include a multi-evaluation system and a test program that could even lead to a Chinese version of the U.S. College Board’s Advanced Placement college credit approach. More...