Lawmakers examined the Department of Education’s K to 12 program at a recent forum amid calls for a national evaluation policy to ensure government programs are backed by evidence-based data.
Education officials and experts discussed during the recent conference at the House of Representatives issues facing basic education in the country, including the poor performance of Filipino students in the last Programme for International Student Assessment or PISA. The forum was the first in a series of such discussions on crafting a national evaluation policy, organized by the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department (CPBRD), Senate Economic Planning Office (SEPO) and UNICEF Philippines.
Quezon City Representative Alfred Vargas said it is crucial in public administration to know if policies and programs are being implemented correctly and achieving their objectives.
Unfortunately, evaluation has not been integrated into government systems, added the sponsor of House Bill No. 3293. The bill proposes a national evaluation policy covering the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.
“There is really a need to review and assess the K to 12 program thus far if only to ensure that its targets are being met and its goals are being achieved.”
Vargas said three fundamental questions need to be asked about the K to 12 program: does it bring about positive change for students, institutions and the country; does it provide development opportunities; does it empower the youth and make the Philippines globally competitive.
“Make no mistake about it, there is really a need to review and assess the K to 12 program thus far if only to ensure that its targets are being met and its goals are being achieved,” the veteran legislator added.
Dr. Aniceto Orbeta of the Philippine Institute of Development Studies said a study evaluating the implementation of the Senior High School program found enrolment exceeded expectations and the modular delivery of the curriculum brought back dropouts and potential dropouts.
But it also saw challenges — lack of learning resources, inadequate preparation for teachers, a “culture shock” for students who mostly do self-study and reporting, the “too ambitious” curricular content and confusion with program guidelines.
The study recommended that teachers be better equipped and supported. It called for a review of curriculum content and boosting of mechanisms ensuring standards in schools. Monitoring and evaluation at all levels of DepEd should also institutionalized and funded, it added.
Director Jocelyn Andaya of DepEd’s Bureau of Curriculum Development said quality is the biggest challenge of basic education in the country today, with low performance of students in the National Achievement Test for Grades 6, 10 and 12 aside from the PISA.
Initial findings of a review of the K to 12 curriculum found problems including congestion, with students needing to master too many competencies and teachers lacking time and materials to teach them, Andaya said. There were also issues on the implementation of the mother tongue as a medium of instruction for early grades, she added.
Ms. Shanti Jagannathan, the Asian Development Bank’s Principal Education Specialist said monitoring and evaluation of the K to 12 program would support evidence-based planning and implementation, track progress towards goals and enable scrutiny of results and impact. She proposed a randomized public expenditure tracking system and an annual education report to monitor progress.
Nasreena Sampaco Baddiri, Country Director for Innovations for Poverty Action, said research shows teaching at the right level – according to students learning capacity — is consistently effective. Randomized control trials are helpful in assessing programs and addressing learning gaps in school, while the the hiring of community teachers to help low-performing students catch up has been proven effective in places like Ghana and India, she added.
During the open forum, Pasig City Representative Roman Romulo proposed a review of the use of the mother tongue as a medium of instruction. He noted a lack of instructional materials in the mother tongue, and that in some regions like Bicol where there are a number of dialects, students and teachers were forced to learn Naga-Bicol that was used as a medium of instruction.
DepEd Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan admitted that is a big challenge, with 19 mother tongue languages designated as mediums of instruction.
Deputy Speaker and SAGIP Representative Rodante Marcoleta, on the other, critiqued Malaluan’s statement which the lawmaker said downplayed the 2018 PISA results. The test results showed the Philippines ranked last in reading and second to the last in math and science among 79 economies that participated.
In his presentation, Malaluan called for caution on the PISA results, saying the ranking system could give the impression countries are equally comparable when there are factors to consider like household income and national income disparity. He also noted that PISA was conducted in different languages in different countries but in the Philippines, it was administered in English.
Cavite Representative Dahlia Loyola, meanwhile, called for a grassroots assessment on the effectiveness of the K to 12 program given the poor performance of graduates from far-flung areas with schools that lack facilities. She also said the results of the PISA should be seriously considered.
Meanwhile, ACT Teachers Party-List Representative France Castro said the spiral progression approach was ineffective, especially as teachers lack training but are asked to teach subjects other than their discipline. The approach calls for introduction of basic concepts at an early stage which is then tackled with increasing complexity in the succeeding levels.
“K to 12 students scored lower in the UPCAT than students who did not go through the program.”
Marikina City Representative Stella Luz Quimbo inquired if there is an available impact evaluation study on the K to 12 program. She noted that K to 12 students scored lower in the University of the Philippines College Admission Test or UPCAT than students who did not go through the program.
Sharing the perspectives of the private sector in evaluating the K-12 program, Dr. Edilberto de Jesus, professor emeritus of the Asian Institute of Management cited the need for the DepEd and Congress to look into the mastery of Senior High School graduates of the core competencies, they need to join the workforce.
Dr. Milwida Guevara of Synergeia Foundation said that the length of schooling is not the same as learning. Longer years of schooling under the K-12 program, she stressed, have not led to students’ mastery of core knowledge and competencies. She explained that students have to master too many subjects and competencies within a limited time while a number of teachers also have to teach subjects not within their field of specialization.
Dr. Romulo Miral Jr., director-general of the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department of the House of Representatives, underscored the need for evaluation to provide policymakers and implementers evidence to make correct and timely decisions. Evaluation also promotes accountability, he added.
Martin Porter, chief of UNICEF Philippines’ Program Monitoring and Evaluation, said the child rights organization is committed to working with the government in strengthening its evaluation culture which has a direct impact on the lives of Filipinos, especially of children.
“Evidence-based decisions have their own logic and when they are based on evaluations, studies from research, they have a greater chance of leading to the desired outcomes,” Porter said. “On the flipside, decisions that lack a clear evidence base, they can be easily challenged. They risk being wrong or they risk having unanticipated consequences.”