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Abstract
This study evaluated the effects of Free Semester Program (FSP) implementation on South Korean middle school students demands for private tutoring. Two archival data sets were linked and analyzed: the national-level administrative data set created by the South Korean Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Private Education Expenditures Survey (PEES). Three models were designed and tested to examine: (a) differences in students private tutoring demands between high and low FSP implementation regions, (b) differences in the demands between the two regions before FSP implementation, (c) differences in the demands between two regions with the same implementation rate, and (d) the effects of the FSP on the demands across different levels of academic achievement. The first model analysis showed that middle school students in the high FSP implementation region had lower annual expenditures and fewer hours spent on private tutoring than students in the low FSP implementation region, demonstrating that the FSP had positive impacts on reducing private tutoring demands. Results of the second model analysis showed no significant difference in the private tutoring demands between regions with low- or high-FSP implementation rates before FSP implementation. This indicated that the two regions were initially equivalent in terms of demands for private tutoring. The third model analysis revealed that a significant difference did not exist in students private tutoring demands between two regions with the same FSP implementation rate. Through the results of the third model analysis, the impacts of FSP implementation were confirmed. Lastly, effects of the FSP on private tutoring demands were not the same across different levels of students academic achievement. Impacts of the FSP were more powerful for students with middle- and low-academic achievement than for students with high-academic achievement. Consequently, despite the necessity for further research on the sustainability of policy effects, this study provides a foundation for South Korean policy-makers to maintain or expand the FSP.