Local literature

From the interview of Bulatlat Magazine dated June2006 to the Chairman of Alliance
of Concerned Teachers(ACT), Mr. Jerry Tinio said that public school students dopoorly
in diagnostic and achievement tests. Last June 2002,the overall performance score
of Grade IV pupils who tookthe national diagnostic test (NDT) was 39.99%, while
thefirst year high school students had a lower 28.04 percent.The national
achievement test (NAT) given last March2010 delivered slightly better results, with
the fourthgraders garnering a 43.55%, while the first year highschool students
earned a 36.13%. Despite the slightimprovement, the scores are still way below the
75% passingrate, Tinio said.From the article of of Dr. LeopoldoSichon (2006)
in his article entitled Our Schools, Our Teachers, our Studentsvs. the National
Achievement Test concluded that theplight of the school and students is somewhat
murky; thegoal of having 75 percent and above mastery levels inacademic
performance in the National Achievement Test doesnot seem to be in cognizant of
the teaching and learningenvironment that we have. Of course, we do not discount
thefact that DepEd is doing what it perceives to be the best-programs and initiatives
had been conceptualized and
implemented to answer the pressing need for qualityeducation. Somehow we are
doing the best we can to bridgethe gap between what we have and what we want
for ourstudents. Yet, the effort seems futile due to the fact thatwe still have to
reckon with real problems that confront usthe system. These problems are more
dominant than achievinghigher academic performance alone and we could not
justblind ourselves from the fact that when basic needs are notmet, all other needs
will be just be meaningless.He said that the teachers need greater
empowerment.More than just salary increases, educators need the moraleboost by
knowing that they belong to a truthfully dignifiedorganization whose philosophical
foundation, visions andmission statement are in congruence with its builtinprocesses and mechanisms. We need local leaders who cancharter our
educational direction through open channels ofcommunication and can guide us
through well-planned, needs-based and competency-based programs that will
honeteachers managerial skills. These teachers will in returnbecome self-managing,
self-governing and self-sustainingand without further ado, can mutually exchange
expertisewith peers both conceptual and technical.He also said that we need to
realize also thedisparities between our schools, their locations as well as
the diverse clienteles that we serve. Students from ruralareas are different from
those in the urban areas.Demographic characteristics such as family
background,economic status, school distance, family background, etc.should be
considered in formulating the testing materialsintended to measure students
academic performance. Thereand then in his perspective, that we can truly measure

thequality of teaching instruction done in our schools.Lastly, he added that

everything will ever be a never-ending cycle, unless the government can come up
with a planthat will finally address these problems especially graftand
corruption.From the issue of De Guzman (2002) entitledRestructured Basic
Education Curriculum stated thatwhether in high school or in the elementary
level,curriculum must be balanced, articulate, sequential,integrative and
continuous. The issue of too overcrowdedcurriculum was answered by the
implementation of the 2002Restructured Basic Education Curriculum which offshoot
torestructuring the learning areas, integration of valueseducation and related skills
within the learning areas,greater emphasis on the learning areas and
integrativestrategies in teaching, increased time task allocation in
major learning areas such as English, Math, Science,Filipino and Makabayan.Experts
agree that there is no perfect formula for thesolution of problems especially when
they involve humanfeats. Learners are diverse and the tendency of educatorsto
adopt a one-size-fits-all type of teaching is said to becontributory to low
performance of students. Curriculummust be flexible and must allow teachers to
freely innovateas necessity and propriety dictate.From the manual, School Based
Teachers Program (2002)in the article Woes of a Teacher declared that
theeffectiveness of teachers in delivering the right andproper instruction is another
question that must beconsidered if we are to delve seriously into the rootcauses of
our students academic performance. Salary issueshad been answered by the
government although some of therecommendations regarding teachers benefits
was shelveddue to lack of government funds. Strategies for reforms inreference to
teachers pay were implemented as well asreforms in the processes of promotion.
Teachers wereencouraged to sustain professional upgrading anddevelopment.
Principals were tasked to revitalize theschool-based instruction program where
teachers were taught
effective managerial and instructional skills through theSBTP (School Based
Teachers Program).He added that if salary issues were somehow met, lookthen at
the actual classroom teaching scenario. Imagine thenightmarish teaching condition
where a teacher has to teach60 to 70 students in a class with only a piece of
Manilapaper as her instructional material. This is happening anda clear
manifestation that the problem of teacherseffectiveness is also surrounded by so
many intertwiningfactors aside from salary. Salary alone cannot guaranteeeffective
teaching when the daily travails of teachers showwork overload beyond human
capacity.From the DepEd report (2010) declared that technologyhas brought us
sophisticated learning tools but textbooksremain to be the most valuable learning
reference ofteachers and students in the classrooms. However, despitegovernment
initiatives to solve the yearly textbookproblems, observation shows that textbooks
are alwayslacking and some of them are found to be erroneous. Inanswer to this,
DepEd reported a more stringent evaluationprocess it did since 2005 in textbook
procurement project.Their evaluation on the textbooks focuses on determiningthe

completeness and sufficiency of development of thelearning competencies,

accuracy and up-to-datedness of
contents, determining the appropriateness of the materialsto society, to target
users and to culture and on thelanguage used to ensure that these are
grammaticallycorrect and appropriate to the level of the students.Improvement on
this aspect is still not fully realized forwe know that students still do not have
enough textbooks tomeet the demands of their studies. The Internet has becomean
effective substitute to information getting, however,since access to Internet is still
limited in many areas ofthe country, this does not solve the problem yet.As
mentioned by Meinardus (2003) entitled OurStudents: the Family Level Factors
mentioned that onlysome of the internal and external environments affectingthe
quality of education we deliver. He also said that donot forget the economic
situation in our country, theincome that sustains the family, the family structure in
itself and many others. Experts agree that the educational condition attributed to
the family is beyond all doubt or discussion, as there is an ever-increasing
awareness of the importance of the parents role in the progress and educational
development of their children. Researchers consider family background the most
important factor in determining the academic performance attained by the student;
among these factors of greatest influence are
socio economic status and the educational environment in the family. With regard to
social class, relevant research tells us that ones results and expectations for the
future are better when one belongs to the social ladder. A student who expects to
become a doctor like his parents some day shall perform most likely well than a
student who has no clear vision of the future because he/she knows very well that
his or her parents could not afford to send him/her to school. Also, influence of the
family educational climate is defined by the amount and the style of help that
children receive from the family; this is determined by elements of the family
context, like the dynamics of communication and affective relationships, values,
expectations, etc. Along these same lines, t is also reported that parental
expectations have a notable influence on academic results. It is also noted that
there are indirect relationships between performance and the students perception
of how much importance his or her parents assign to study at home. What do we
expect about NAT results then after considering all these factors? As mentioned by
Meinardus(2003), 95 per cent of all elementary students attend public schools,
therefore the educational crisis in the Philippines is basically a crisis of public
education. The wealthy can easily send their offspring to private schools, many of
which offer first-class education to the privileged class of pupils.