Young Korean students on average demonstrate a relatively higher level of academic achievement with relatively small socioeconomic achievement gaps compared with many countries. This is remarkable considering that Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world in 1953 when the Korean War ended. A growing concern, however, is that Korea may not be able to sustain these high levels of educational excellence and equality. Byun will address this by identifying the key institutional features of the educational system that have shaped excellence and (in)equality in Korea, focusing on primary and secondary education.

Soo-yong Byun is a core faculty member of Penn State’s Comparative and International Education program. His scholarly interests include sociology of education, international comparative education, rural education, and educational policy analysis and program evaluation. The articles of his research have been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, includingAmerican Educational Research Journal, Comparative Education Review, and Sociology of Education.