Why are Filipino kids not learning

Why are Filipino kids not learning?by Juan Miguel Luz

Filipino elementary and high school students are not dumb, but they have consistently obtained scores below the international average in Math and Science. They have also fared poorly in the National Achievement Test (NAT, which is given to fourth year high school students), in the High School Readiness Test (HSRT, given to first year students) and in other evaluation tests.Students around the country have flunked the tests in Math, Science and English.

Most high school seniors can neither understand what they are reading nor do the necessary calculations to solve scientific problems. Their ability to think conceptually and spatially is also weak.

This dismal performance has been attributed to problems such as overcrowded classrooms, poorly trained teachers and lack of textbooks.

Because of the shortage of public school teachers, physical and health education instructors are forced to teach core subjects such as English, Math and Science. Education Secretary Florencio Abad says most of the educators teaching English, Math and Science in public schools do not have skills to handle these subjects.

The problems plaguing the public school system are largely due to the decrease in real terms of the budget for education. Government spends only about P10 per elementary pupil and P35 per secondary student a month. This amount may further decline because of inflation and the increase in student population because of the transfer of students from private to public schools.

Unless more funds are funneled into education, public school students will continue to fare poorly in Math, Science and English subjects that Filipinos must excel in to survive and thrive in the highly competitive global market.

What needs to be done

Despite the constitutional mandate to spend the largest share of the national budget on education, the achievement test results reflect, in general, the low level of learning on the part of most Filipino public school children.

Why are our students doing so badly in national achievements tests and in international comparative survey tests?In March 2004, all fourth year high school students were given a National Achievement Test (NAT) in English, Science and Math as a way of determining their levels of preparation for university or the world of work.

Only 6.8 percent of the seniors tested passed the English test with a score of at least 75 percent. It was higher for Math with 12.9 percent passing, but was terrible for Science with less than 1 in 100 (0.7 percent) students scoring 75 percent or better.Overall, only 2.1 percent of all high school seniors made the passing grade of 75 percent (one-third of all seniors would have passed if 50 percent was the passing grade). The average score for English was 50.1 percent, for Science 36.8 percent and for Math 46.2 percent, versus the benchmark passing grade of 75 percent.

Readiness testSimilarly, in July 2002 and 2003 and again in May 2004, the Department of Education (DepEd) tested all high school (HS I) freshmen in the same three subjects. The High School Readiness Test (HSRT), called the National Diagnostic Test or NDT in 2002 and 2003, tested more than 1.3 million students aged 12 and 13.

The three years of testing revealed similar results. In the 2004 HSRT, less than one percent (0.52 percent) managed a score 75 percent or better in all three subject areas. If 50 percent (percent answered correctly) were the passing mark, only 7.4 percent of the incoming freshmen passed. An in all three test years, the median score was a low 30 percent (answered correctly). In the English test, only 18 out of every 100 examinees passed; in Science (10 out of 100); and, in Math (8 out of 100).

What was the passing grade for at least half of the students entering HS I? It was about 34 percent in English, 25 to 29 percent in Math and 30 to 34 percent in Science. It was 30 percent for the entire test.

International testsIn the one international comparative survey test the Philippines participates in (Trends in International Math and Science Survey), Filipino school children fared poorly in the 1998 and 2003 tests. Widely quoted, the Philippines was 36 out of 39 countries with an average significantly lower than the international average in Math in the 1998 test. In Science, the results were similar.

In 2003, out of 45 countries that participated in TIMSS+, the Philippines ranked 41 based on the average scores of HS II that were tested in Math. Again, the Science scores were similar. And again, the country average was significantly lower than the international average in both tests.Clearly, these scores are not levels of learning that will help our children become productive adults. We, as a country, cannot allow this to continue if we are to build a foundation for development, growth and equity to deal with our many problems that range from eradicating poverty to being internationally competitive.What has happened over the years? Comparing the old NSAT (National Secondary Achievement Test) tests for high school seniors in the 1990s with the last NAT in 2004, proficiency in English has improved marginally though Science and Math worsened.

What were high school seniors particularly weak at?

Weakest areasIn English, there is real difficulty in inference, interpretation of information, deduction of meaning, drawing conclusions and summarizing ideas. This is a problem of comprehension.

High school graduates are not understanding what they are reading. Neither are they developing proficiency in the language. So, they cannot put together coherent ideas to explain themselves or articulate what they want to say whether verbally or in writing. In short, they are grossly deficient in basic and higher order thinking.In Science, all areas are not being mastered. This ranges from understanding or internalizing scientific data and information, to explaining specific scientific theory or laws, to being able to do the necessary calculations to solve scientific problems or to substantiate theory. Physics, in particular, is weakest among the sciences. This is not surprising since the number of physics majors is the smallest among public high school science teachers.

In Mathematics, high school seniors have the most difficulty in using formulae to solve specific problems or to calculate certain results. The ability to manipulate numbers and equations (e.g. algebra) is weak. The ability to think conceptually and spatially (i.e. geometry and trigonometry) is even weaker. Problem solving using mathematical concepts and established logic and equations is poor.CausesFor the incoming high school freshmen, the results are even more glaring reflecting their poor level of preparation for high school. All competencies in English, Science or Math are not being mastered by the vast majority of our elementary school graduates.

Why is there so little learning? What explains the low level of achievement?A number of reasons may explain such poor performance. Among the underlying causes are poorly trained teachers, inadequate funding, overcrowded classrooms and the lack of textbooks and other instructional materials. In short, the usual suspects. But if this were always the case, why do some schools and students do well even if they face the same constraints?

In looking at low levels of learning, DepEd began to look at the areas of weakness of students. The most glaring is the low levels of reading.

In the city schools division of Manila, the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory test was given to students at all elementary grade levels. At the Grade 6 level, less than 3 out of every 10 students (28.83) percent) were independent readers, with over one-third (36.50 percent) being frustrated readers or readers with serious reading difficulties. The remainder were slightly below the Grade 6 level of competency in reading.To discover the reasons of poor achievement among incoming freshmen, a survey of their reading levels was likewise done following the 2002 NDT test. The initial conclusions: incoming HS students in Metro Manila were reading at the late Grade 4 and early Grade 5 levels or about two years behind in terms of their age and grade levels. Little wonder then that our public secondary students fared poorly in the readiness and achievement tests.

Top 20 public high schools by test scores (SY 2003-2004)

School nameEnglishScienceMath

1.Lope de Vega National High School

(Northern Samar)87.38%81.00%91.62%

2. Tumauini NHS (Isabela)80.3881.7795.96

3. Rustico Capahi Sr. MNHS (Ormoc City)83.6277.3394.25

4. Alabel NHS (Sarangani)80.6473.0994.46

5. Hipona NHS (Capiz)79.9176.9089.66

6. Quinapundan NHS (Eastern Samar)88.2970.6386.14

7. Narciso Ramos NHS (Binalonan, Pangasinan)81.0567.9295.45

8. Lipa City NHS (Lipa City)81.6269.4392.06

9. Tandoc NHS (San Carlos City)86.7359.2894.02

10. Regional Science HS (La Union)82.0065.7991.61

11. Magsikap NHS (Occidental Mindoro)73.3080.8085.22

12. Victoria NHS (Northern Samar)77.4471.5790.27

13. San Juan NHS Alaminos (Laguna)83.8365.7588.74

14. Alegria NHS (Northern Samar)82.6658.5497.04

15. Canipaan NHS (Southern Leyte)80.4562.6795.09

16. Divisoria NHS (Southern Leyte)79.1770.0988.48

17. Pangalagan NHS (San Carlos City)85.6155.5395.60

18. Malimono HS (Surigao del Norte)78.6662.9293.38

19. Medellin NSTS (Cebu)78.6662.9293.38

20. Lapinigan NHS (Agusan del Sur)

67.4978.6888.09

Source: Department of EducationFixing the problemTo address this problem, DepEd set a number policy directions, including: (a) a new grading system to reflect true performance of students (with no transmutation of grades), (b) a High School Bridge program to help those that need help the most, and (c) Every Child a Reader (by Grade 3) program.

The High School Bridge is a one-year remedial program for incoming freshmen designed to correct the low levels of learning early, rather than late, in a childs education career (at age 12 to 13 years). The program focuses on improving three subject areas English, Math and Science and is intended for students who did not meet the cutoff score in the HSRT.

The permanent solution to this learning deficiency is to make Every Child a Reader starting at the elementary level. For this, DepEd has embarked on a program to make every child a reader by Grade 3 and to address the problem of poor learning achievement in the formative years, including preschool. This will take time to bear fruit, however, and it will be a number of years before we see achievement test scores improve dramatically. But it must start with raising the level of independent readers at the end of the elementary cycle from less than 30 percent to 100 percent.

Bright spotsAmid the sad news are bright spots in the system. It is important to highlight these to show that our public education system have good teachers and good schools. That they work under the same resource constraints as all other schools should give us hope that change is possible.In the 2004 NAT for graduating high school seniors, it was a small Northern Samar school Lope de Vega National High School that topped the test with an average test score of 86.67 percent versus the national average of 44.36 percent. Over four hours away from the provincial capital by extremely rough roads, this school of only 474 students and just over 100 seniors proves that lack of resources can be more than made up for by quality teaching and community support.

Size mattersIn the 2004 NAT for high school seniors, eight of the top 25 high schools came from Region VIII (Eastern Visayas) a region known more for its poverty and lack of development. Five schools came from Region I (Ilocos) and three coming from Region XIII (Caraga). None of the top performing high schools came from the larger schools in Metro Manila.

What accounts for the success of these schools? Clearly, size matters. In this case, all were smaller schools with small class sizes allowing for better interaction between students and teachers.

The teacher-student relationship more than made up for the lack of materials. And community support, especially in allowing students to stay in school even for remedial work, was critical, (By the same token, it would be difficult for the over-crowded, multi-shift schools in Metro Manila and Regions IV-A and III to score well when the learning environment is cramped and uncomfortable.)

Mentoring programLope de Vega had an active mentoring program to help poor-performing students catch up with the subjects they would fall behind in. In fact, given the difficult home situation of most of the students, the school scheduled a schoolwork period at the end of each day rather than assign homework, which would probably not be done given the poor home conditions of the children.

In the 2003 NDT for Grade 4 pupils, the highest performing school was Caburacan Elementary School in Sorsogon (Region V) with only 98 pupils. It was one of two schools that scored 100 percent in reading comprehension and science. The other school in Sultan Kudarat (Region XII).

In that same test, special mention has to be given to the schools division of Pangasinan II based in Binalonan. Twenty-one elementary schools from this division were among the top 26 schools in the test, many of which had perfect scores in the reading comprehension sub-test.There are those who will say that Philippine education as a system has failed. And it has.

BasicsWe have analyzed and overanalyzed the problem to death over the past two decades. It is no longer about identifying the problem. It is now about providing system-wide solutions. Clearly, reading is at the core of this learning problem.

The Bridge Program, the Every Child a Reader program, the Schools First Initiative are all about quality and giving a long-term advantage to our Filipino public school children. This can be achieved by keeping short the schooling of children, especially from lower-income families.

This can be attained by giving them more education in the basics and building a foundation of self-learning skills reading, writing and rithmetic to help them become better learners for life. Only then will they have a meaningful life a lifetime of productivity and competitiveness and the quality of life that comes with that.

Luz is an education undersecretary and associate professor at the Asian Institute of Management (on leave).

source:

Philippine Daily Inquirer, May 29, 2005, A16PAGE 7