The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of school achievement as well as
student and school characteristics of schools with a principal invitation and public
subscription system(PIPSS). For this purpose, the 2009 National Assessment of Educational
Achievement(NAEA) results were analyzed. In the analysis, a PIPSS school was compared to
a non-PIPSS school in the same region, with a similar number of classes, students,
income-support recipients, and students from multi-cultural backgrounds. The major results
from this analysis are as follows: First, in the case of elementary schools, PIPSS schools tend
to have a higher percentage of average achievers in English, compared to Non-PIPSS
schools. Second, in the case of middle schools, Non-PIPSS schools show a high percentage
of excellent achievers in subjects such as Korean, Mathematics and English. Third, in
academic high schools with PIPSS, there was a relatively high percentage of excellent, as
well as average achievers, and a comparatively low percentage of low-achievers in all five
subjects. Finally, when vocational high schools were compared on the basis of achievement
levels, PIPSS schools showed a lower percentage low-achieving students in all three subjects.
Among the PIPSS schools, the students and parents of elementary and academic high
schools tend to have higher satisfaction levels and more positive attitudes toward learning
and overall school life. In particular, the participation and satisfactions levels in after-school
programs were especially higher in PIPSS schools, compared to their non-PIPSS counterparts.
Although this study has some limitations because several achievement scores and survey
results have not been revealed, the fact that it is the first study to comparatively analyze
the achievement levels of PISS and Non-PISS schools is of great significance.