«We have hopeful news for the system,» highlighted the Minister of Education, Nicolás Cataldowhen reporting this Wednesday the results of the Simce 2023 testwhich recorded levels similar to those before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The presentation of the scores, which was generally done in the middle of the year, was brought forward to this date, at the beginning of the school year, so that schools can «have and use this data in a timely manner to improve pedagogical management and learning.» «, as well as for the generation of public policies, explained the executive secretary of the Education Quality Agency, Gino Cortez.

The Simce of Mathwhich has had the biggest recent challenges, had a increase of 9 points nationwide in 4th grade, the largest increase in the last 10 years. Between the last two measurements, the average score went from 250 points to 259 points.

However, there remains a gender gapbecause although women and men increased their results, in 4th grade the former reached an average score of 253 points and the latter, 265 points: a significant growth of 8 and 10 points, respectively.

In general, at that level the low and lower-middle socioeconomic strata were the ones that increased their numbers the most, 9 points in both groups.

As to II medium, there was an increase of 5 points in Mathematics, reaching 257 national average. But the gender gap also increases at this educational level, since men presented an average score of 262 pointswhile the women reached 251 points.

«After three years of pandemic, the educational system is showing symptoms of learning recovery, reaching scores similar to those we had before the pandemic. This reaffirms the work of teachers in the classroom, who, together with directors and their school communities, are putting educational improvement at the center of the country’s efforts,» Cataldo said.

In any case, the minister stressed that «there are challenges that remain, particularly in terms of gender gaps in Mathematics, which implies placing even more urgency on initiatives that reduce gender gaps in learning.»

GAP IN FAVOR OF WOMEN IN READING

In ReadingIn both 4th grade and middle II, an average increase of 5 points was recorded, «although not statistically significant,» the Agency stated.

Likewise, at both levels the gender gaps in favor of women, who obtained an average score of 275 points in 4th grade and 255 points in middle II, while men were located in 269 and 242 points, respectively.

On the other hand, Local Public Education Services, on average, saw increases in their results in all subjects and levels; and in three of the four measurements, the SLEPs that were transferred during the years 2018, 2019 and 2020 exceeded the growth of the municipal sector.

The minister urged «to appreciate that here there are State policies that have managed to be consistent over time and that have effects over time.»

«And the invitation is that hopefully we can assume all discussions from the same perspective, when the news is good and also when the news is bad. That contributes a lot to achieving something that everyone says, but that is difficult to do, what is Do not turn education into a trench of political dispute. I hope that everyone who is watching this draws their conclusions, that we let the academy also do its thing. We as a Ministry have to do the same too, we have to take these results and understand them and get the most out of them to make the best decisions,» said Cataldo.

🔵 Summary of Results: Join the broadcast here https://t.co/BzmlXuAVCi pic.twitter.com/bRNpkhUjxB

— Education Quality Agency (@agenciaeduca) March 6, 2024

MAGISTERIO VALUES IMPROVEMENTS, BUT URGES SOLUTIONS FOR ATACAMA

The national president of the College of Teachers, Mario Aguilararrived this day at the Palacio de La Moneda to leave a letter demanding solutions for the persistent educational crisis of the SLEP of Atacama.

In the instance, he took advantage of highlighting the results of the Simce test, a measurement that the Magisterium generally does not support.

«We know that there is improvement. We have always been critical of the Simce test as a quality measurement factor, but obviously, With all our reservations, it cannot but give us a level of satisfaction that there has been an improvement«he highlighted.

However, he pointed out, «the improvement is still not enough; We all hope that it will be much more, but when there are problems like those in Atacama, when you have schools with unsanitary bathrooms, when you have schools where the pedagogical material is not available, when you have everything that we are demanding, which is also a problem that is in Atacama in a very extreme way, but that does not escape the reality of other schools in the rest of the country, both public and subsidized private ones, it is difficult for education to take off.»

Simce also measured Personal and Social Development Indicatorscomposed of four items -academic self-esteem and school motivation, school coexistence climate, citizen participation and training, and healthy living habits-, all of which «they remain stable in the last three measurements» both in 4th grade and middle II.