7th Six-Monthly Progress Report - BEST Programbestprogram.ph/files/SMPR7-Final.pdf · § Supporting the 2017 National Education Summit held in December 2017 and attended by 1800 participants

7th Six-Monthly Progress Report July–December 2017

Volume 1: Program Narrative Report and Annex 1

Prepared for Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade January 2018

Re-submitted September 2018

ii

Contact Karyn Docking, Project Director Cardno

BEST Program Unit 14D, 14th Floor, Marco Polo Business Office Sapphire Road, Ortigas Complex, Pasig City 1600 Philippines

Ph. +63 999 880 1173

Email: [email protected]

Document History

Version Effective Date Description of Revision Prepared by: Reviewed by:

V1 31 January 2018 Draft for DFAT Review Kaye Cox and BEST Team Michelle Vizzard

V2 24 September 2018 Final David Goodwins Karyn Docking

V3 31 October 2018 Finale Revised after DFAT review

Kristian Torres Karyn Docking

© Cardno. Copyright in the whole and every part of this document belongs to Cardno and may not be used, sold, transferred, copied or reproduced in whole or in part in any manner or form or in or on any media to any person other than by agreement with Cardno.

This document is produced by Cardno solely for the benefit and use by the client in accordance with the terms of the engagement. Cardno does not and shall not assume any responsibility or liability whatsoever to any third party arising out of any use or reliance by any third party on the content of this document.

This publication has been funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The views expressed in this publication are the author’s alone and are not necessarily the views of the Australian Government.

iii

Contents Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... vi 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Alignment with DepEd goals .............................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Program theory of change ................................................................................................................. 1 1.3 Program description ........................................................................................................................... 2 2 Major achievements during the reporting period ......................................................................... 2 3 Progress towards intended outcomes .......................................................................................... 4 3.1 Improved quality of education in the Philippines ............................................................................... 4 3.2 More equitable access of Filipino learners to basic education .......................................................... 8 3.3 Improved service delivery through better governance ..................................................................... 10 4 Program Monitoring and Evaluation ............................................................................................ 12 5 Cross-Cutting Themes .................................................................................................................. 12 5.1 Gender, disability and social inclusion ............................................................................................. 12 5.2 Child protection ................................................................................................................................ 13 6 Sustainability ................................................................................................................................. 13 7 Risk Management and Safeguards .............................................................................................. 14 8 Financial Report: July to December 2017 ................................................................................... 15 8.1 Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 15 8.2 Activity expenditure ......................................................................................................................... 15 8.3 Budget forecast ................................................................................................................................ 16 9 Lessons Learned and Looking Ahead ......................................................................................... 17 9.1 Lessons learned .............................................................................................................................. 17 9.2 Looking ahead – the next six months .............................................................................................. 18 Annex 1 Detailed Activity Achievements ................................................................................................... 20

iv

Acronyms and Abbreviations ACTRC Assessment, Curriculum and Technology Research Centre ALS Alternative Learning System ALS-EST Alternative Learning System – Education and Skills Training AP Annual Plan (also AP2, AP3, AP4, AP5) ARMM Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao BEMEF Basic Education Monitoring and Evaluation Framework BEST Basic Education Sector Transformation BLD Bureau of Learning Delivery BLD-TLD Bureau of Learning Delivery-Teaching and Learning Division BLEPT Board Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers CBLD Competency Based Learning and Development CHED Commission on Higher Education CQA Curriculum Quality Audit DepEd Department of Education DFAT Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade DRRM Disaster Risk Reduction and Management EBEIS Enhanced Basic Education Information System EST Education and Skills Training GEDSI Gender, Disability and Social Inclusion ICT Information and Communication Technology ICTS Information and Communication Technology Service INSET In-Service Education and Training LAC Learning Action Cell LIS Learner Information System LR Learning Resources M&E Monitoring and Evaluation NAT National Achievement Test NCR National Capital Region NEAP National Educators Academy of the Philippines NRATE National Research Agenda for Teacher Education OIC Officer in Charge OSEC Office of the Secretary PBEd Philippine Business for Education PBSP Philippine Business for Social Progress PLC Professional Learning Community PNU Philippine Normal University PPST Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers PRD Policy Research and Development Division PRIMALS Pedagogical Retooling in Mathematics Languages and Science PRIME Philippines' Response to Indigenous and Muslim Education PSCO Program Support and Coordinating Office RCTQ Philippine National Research Centre for Teacher Quality RTOT Regional Training of Trainers

v

SBM School Based Management SEAMEO Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization SGOD School Governance and Operations Division SHS Senior High School STEM Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics STEP UP Scholarships for Teacher Education Programs to Upgrade Teacher Quality in the Philippines TEC Teacher Education Council TEI Teacher Education Institution TESDA Technical Education and Skills Development Authority UIS Unified Information System UNE University of New England UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund

vi

Executive Summary

Overview

The Basic Education Sector Transformation (BEST) program is a partnership between the Government of the Philippines and the Government of Australia. The program commenced officially in August 2014 and will continue until 30 June 2019. It was originally designed as a 12 year program that would make significant contributions towards three end of program outcomes:

§ More children are able to demonstrate improved mastery of curriculum competencies in English, Mathematics and Sciences and the difference in learning outcomes for boys and girls are reduced in target areas.

§ More boys and girls participate and complete a basic education in target areas. § The Department of Education is better able to deliver basic education services that are more gender

responsive and inclusive and with greater decentralisation of management and accountability to the field offices and schools.

The implementation of BEST is organised around two components: (1) Improving teaching and learning; and (2) System strengthening.

BEST involves seven key partner organisations: (1) Department of Education (DepEd) as the main beneficiary and strategic lead agency; (2) Commission on Higher Education (CHED); (3) Cardno Emerging Markets Australia Pty Ltd (Cardno) as the Facilitating Contractor; (4) Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) implementing student teacher scholarships; (5) Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) undertaking classroom construction; (6) Philippine National Research Center for Teacher Quality (RCTQ), a research partnership between the Philippine Normal University (PNU) and the University of New England (UNE); and (7) Assessment, Curriculum, Technology Research Centre (ACTRC), a research partnership between the University of the Philippines and University of Melbourne.

This Six-Monthly Progress Report covers July–December 2017. It summarises major achievements, progress made towards intended outcomes, lessons learned, and emerging issues and risks. The report is presented in two volumes. The main narrative and a summary of activities and outputs completed (Annex 1) is included in Volume 1. Volume 2 includes supporting data tables, the results framework, risk matrix, and statistical analysis of education data against baselines.

An Independent Progress Review was conducted during August-November 2017. The publication of the final report and DFAT’s management response was pending at the time of preparing this report. The initial findings supported a number of improvements, some of which were being progressed during the reporting period, specifically:

§ Improving formal program governance and management structures to improve accountability and ensure greater coherence and alignment of activities

§ Improving the way in which education research is planned, evaluated and adopted to influence policy § Strengthening the program’s monitoring and evaluation (M&E) to better understand the contribution BEST

is making towards achieving intended outcomes § Renewing the focus on teaching, learning, participation, gender equality and inclusion through the whole

school approach, as originally intended in the BEST design.

Major achievements

Through its collaborative effort, BEST made significant contributions towards Improving Teaching and Learning (Component 1) during the reporting period. These contributions included:

§ Creating the Teacher Induction Program through a series of workshops with DepEd to develop the outline, content scope, and lesson guides aligned to the Philippines Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST).

§ Improving the Learning Action Cells (LAC) approach through consultations with DepEd bureaus. New LAC program initiatives emerged to be included within BEST’s Annual Plan (AP) 4.

vii

§ Supporting a strategic partnership1 with Microsoft Philippines to develop school-based Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capacity building for teachers, including support for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), inclusive education and office productivity.

§ Delivering two of five proposed capability workshops in pre-service teacher training, which addressed inclusive education, and enhanced the Philippines Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST).

§ Increasing the supply of quality teachers. The Scholarships for Teacher Education Programs to Upgrade Teacher Education in the Philippines (STEP UP) program achieved significant milestones in the past six months – 308 undergraduates and 653 Certificate of Teaching Profession scholars were recruited.

§ Supporting the completion of a large-scale student learning outcomes assessment to inform the review of K–12 implementation through the science and mathematics readiness studies.

§ Training of 816 educators in capacity building programs that include core English, Maths and Science competencies; and 73 different sets of teaching and learning materials were finalised consistent with the Kindergarten-Year 12 (K–12) curriculum.

§ Funding classroom construction through the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP). During this period the total number of classrooms completed totalled 206 with 82 under construction.

BEST’s contributions to System Strengthening (Component 2) during the reporting period included:

§ Supporting the 2017 National Education Summit held in December 2017 and attended by 1800 participants. This Summit brings together DepEd, CHED and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to develop joint strategic priorities for improving education quality and access.

§ Supporting the establishment of a National Research Agenda for Teacher Education (NRATE). § Designing the Innovation Fund grant mechanism to encourage new approaches and strategies or build on

existing proven ideas identified through DepEd’s Basic Education Research Fund; or project schemes that are demand driven to improve student learning in schools in the BEST regions.

§ Transitioning the Learner Information system (LIS), Enhanced Basic Education Information System (EBEIS) and Learning Resources (LR) portal to government ownership and management, and intensifying technology transfer through jointly (with DepEd) undertaking system enhancements, policy development support, and process management.

Progress towards intended outcomes

This section discusses how the program’s achievements have contributed to intended outcomes.

End of program outcome 1: Improved quality of education in the Philippines

Progress towards end of program outcome 1: More children are able to demonstrate improved mastery of curriculum competencies in English, Mathematics and Science, and difference in learning outcomes for boys and girls are reduced in target areas.

End of program outcome 1 is measured by National Achievement Test (NAT) mean percentage score for English, Mathematics and Science for grade 6 and grade 10 in BEST regions.

As the program only commenced in late 2014, it is not feasible to demonstrate any impact on learning outcomes by School Year 2015, when latest data is available. Accordingly, the data shows no significant improvement between BEST and non-BEST regions in the specified subject areas and grades; and performance in BEST regions tends to be lower than the trend forecast. There is also no apparent reduction in disparities between girls' and boys' learning outcomes in the target regions and subject areas.

BEST is now using school-level NAT data to target school selection consistent with the intent of the program design targets. BEST hoped to stimulate learning outcomes improvements in selected schools through specific targeting using a whole-school approach and will work with relevant DepEd offices to confirm the best avenue to undertake this.

1 A workshop was held in July 2017 with Microsoft Philippines, co-facilitated by BEST and involving the Bureau of Learning Delivery (BLD), Bureau of Curriculum Development, Bureau of Learning Resources and the ICT services.

viii

Progress towards intermediate outcome 1: Teachers, education leaders and managers applying gender responsive evidence-based, contextualised approaches, methods and materials for student learning

The most significant outcome from BEST for the reporting period, that will directly affect the quality of education in the Philippines and ultimately improved learning outcomes, is the national adoption and implementation of the PPST2 issued by DepEd through the Teacher Education Council. This issuance ensures that all teachers will be supported in attaining proficiency to effectively implement the K-12 program. The policy also supports decentralisation of training and development to support the PPST with divisions responsible for M&E.

Capacity, knowledge and awareness of educators has increased. Capacity building programs have trained 816 educators. The programs include core English, Maths and Science. To date 73 different sets of teaching and learning materials have been finalised consistent with the K–12 curriculum. These are either already accessible via the LR portal or awaiting final approval by the Bureau of Learning Resources. Additionally, the curriculum contextualisation policy was drafted with BEST support and contextualisation guidelines made available. Data indicates that LR portal download rates have increased by 65 per cent in BEST regions since 2015, indicating increased capacity and awareness.

There is emerging evidence that the activities supported by BEST are beginning to achieve short-term outcomes. Although these may appear fragmented, there are emerging indications that teachers, education leaders and institutions are beginning to embrace the changes, policies and guidelines of BEST supported interventions. Examples include:

§ Two State Universities, Bukidnon State University and Western Mindanao State University, used the results of their Curriculum Quality Audit (CQA) to refine their teacher education program and are now applying the new CHED policies, standards and guidelines. This led to revised course descriptions and semester sequencing of the elementary and secondary teacher education programs and course syllabi for the professional education courses.

§ Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) are now focused on a highly practical review of their courses that has led to the revision of course syllabi and improved curriculum development. This includes enhanced course syllabi on special education and inclusive education.

§ Faculty members at 19 TEIs3 are now implementing the audit process for their teacher education curriculum program and from June 2017, 22 additional centres undertook the CQA process, starting with training a core group of 95 specialists (57 men, 38 women) from 31 identified TEIs.

§ CHED’s required course in professional education is now aligned to the beginning teacher indicators of the PPST.

In terms of directly improving the pool of quality teachers, out of 58 scholars sponsored through STEP UP and now eligible for the registry of qualified applicants, 31 are currently serving in private schools4, four in state colleges and universities, and nine are employed in DepEd public schools. From the nine currently serving in DepEd schools, six have already secured permanent positions.

End of program outcome 2: More equitable access of Filipino learners to basic education

Progress towards end of program outcome 2: More boys and girls participate and complete a basic education in target areas

End of program outcome 2 is measured by gross and net enrolment rates, graduation and transition rates in BEST regions. Progress is summarised in Volume 2, Annex 4, which presents a detailed analysis comparing BEST and non-BEST performance indicators (School Year 2015).

Enrolment rates nationally and in BEST regions have improved steadily. Two of six BEST regions are above the national average in elementary net enrolment. In 2015, the National Capital Region (NCR) had the lowest net enrolment rate (88 per cent), and Region VII (96 per cent) the highest. It is notable that Region VII

2 Departmental Order 42, 11 August 2017 3 Refer to Annex 1 for a list of participating TEIs 4 31 working in private schools gainfully employed while waiting for an opportunity in a public school.

ix

reached universal enrolment of school-aged children in two consecutive school years, 2013–2014 and 2014–2015, although this cannot be attributed to BEST.

As with end of program outcome 1, it is not possible to discern a statistically significant improvement attributable to the BEST contribution at this stage of implementation. However, it is clear that targeted interventions are having an impact. For instance the 206 classrooms constructed (with another 82 under construction) have improved access to education in targeted locations by providing safe, gender sensitive and inclusive facilities.

BEST has been able to enhance existing processes in terms of identifying those learners that have been traditionally marginalised and isolated. During this reporting period BEST has supported community mapping, strengthening programs for indigenous peoples, Muslim learners and those with special needs, and encouraged the return of drop-outs through Alternative Learning Systems (ALS) support. For example, BEST supported students with disability through Inclusive Education pilot in Regions 5 and 8 and the development of the Inclusive Education policy framework. Feedback from schools and local governments suggest that these strategies are increasing overall participation rates.

Progress towards intermediate outcome 2: Education leaders and managers applying innovative school based management (SBM), GEDSI and Inclusive Education approaches to school planning, student enrolment and retention

The DepEd Learning, Equity, Accountability Program Support Project (2017) indicates increasing institutionalisation of the SBM and School Improvement Planning frameworks at the school level. BEST has contributed to this outcome from policy formulation through to implementation, notably through its support in BEST regions to the DepEd divisions. The capacity to undertake SBM has also been increased through the roll out of key SBM policies during the reporting period. The SBM framework has been enhanced to improve its implementation and the School Governance Council policy has been finalised to facilitate community participation in school decision making.

Knowledge and awareness amongst education leaders and managers has been raised on contextualisation, GEDSI and inclusive education through a range of initiatives. Workshops on Inclusive Education: Responding to Diverse Learners, held in September, led to 71 TEI officials gaining enhanced pedagogical knowledge on inclusive education. In addition, BEST held regional trainings for over 500 Learning Resource Evaluators covering social content, contextualisation and GEDSI sensitive issues. This type of training had not been held previously.

Planning processes for inclusive education have also been improved through DepEd’s Student Inclusion Division. Staff covering Madrasah/Muslim Education, Special Education and ALS were trained by BEST staff in data analysis to strengthen planning processes.

In December a Gender Mainstreaming Evaluation Framework Assessment was undertaken to determine the level of gender mainstreaming within DepEd Central Office. This assessment indicated that there is now increased support for gender sensitive education with the development of the Gender-responsive Basic Education Policy.

End of program outcome 3: Improved service delivery through better governance

Progress towards end of program outcome 3: DepEd is better able to deliver basic education services that are more gender responsive and inclusive and with greater decentralisation of management and accountability to the field offices and schools.

The end of program outcome for BEST governance interventions will be measured by the level and appropriateness of new policy issuances, gender budget allocations, maintenance and other operating expenses disbursement rates, and SBM implementation. The data on participation in BEST activities (gender disaggregated) are summarised in Volume 2, Annex 1.

As discussed the most significant policy to be adopted and implemented during the reporting period is the PPST. This will lead to a wide-range of reforms, guidelines, monitoring and assessment tools and revised standards. Policies implemented through department order (DO) during the reporting period include:

x

§ Gender Responsive Basic Education Policy (DO 32, 2017) § Policy Guidelines on Madrasah Education in the K to 12 Basic Education Program (DO 41, 2017) § National Adoption and Implementation of the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (DO 42,

2017) § Teacher Induction Program Policy (DO 43, 2017)

Overall BEST has supported DepEd to achieve extensive policy review and new policy issuances across a range of teaching and learning and governance areas. To date 34 policies have been developed with BEST support, the majority already having been officially issued or currently in the validation process and a further eight are currently under development. Three of these policies were promulgated in this reporting period: Policy Guidelines on Madrasah Education in the K to 12 Basic Education Program, Teacher Induction Program Policy, and the National Adoption and Implementation of the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers. Guidelines and manuals to facilitate implementation at regional level have accompanied developed policies. These policies and guidelines provide the framework for DepEd to deliver decentralised education services. Key among the policy issuances and some under development are those relating to gender responsive education, indigenous peoples’ education, madrasah education, curriculum contextualisation, SBM policy and framework, school improvement planning policy, and continuous improvement policy.

The results achieved in this component are instrumental in articulating to respective governance levels aspects of responsive and inclusive education service delivery. Regions are now conducting their strategic, operational and annual planning and monitoring and evaluation adjustment processes towards increasing inclusivity based on support from BEST.

Progress towards intermediate outcome 3: DepEd policies, plans and practices are gender responsive, linked across governance levels and are being informed by effective organisational development, human resources, information systems and M&E systems.

DepEd has agreed that GEDSI responsive policy and planning is to be central in its planning and the budgeting strategy. BEST has been instrumental in supporting Organisational Development, Human Resources, and unified information systems (UIS) that inform DepEd’s policy and planning work. Previously BEST assisted DepEd to finalise the Basic Education Research Agenda; and during July–December 2017, has extended that work to assist DepEd to develop the Basic Education Monitoring and Evaluation Framework.

The UIS is a major achievement of the program and is now the primary source for DepEd planning and performance reporting and is used at all governance levels to support decision making. During this reporting period a number of BEST initiatives indicate how the system is supporting decision making to achieve better education outcomes:

§ The enrolment quick count was opened to all schools on 14 July and within 10 days, 99.5 per cent of public schools (46,654 of 46,775 schools) entered their enrolment data. This display of high efficiency and effectiveness of DepEd in generating enrolment data in a timely manner through the enrolment quick count enabled DepEd to understand the level of enrolment and take action if needed.

§ A learner tracking facility was implemented that enables the identification of learners affected by conflict and disasters, and assists the transfer of students to other schools ensuring that their schooling is not interrupted for too long. As an example it was used to track students displaced by the Marawi conflict. This enables DepEd to allocate resources and implement necessary interventions to serve displaced and affected learners.

§ An enhanced LIS-ALS enrolment reporting facility was implemented to effectively support the intensified and expanded implementation of ALS. For the first time, completion status for ALS learners enrolled in calendar years 2016 and 2017 was reported and used as basis for evaluating effectiveness of program interventions.

The Independent Progress Review noted that BEST’s progress on disability-inclusion has added value to DepEd’s policy development. BEST strengthened this focus to target gender equality and women’s empowerment. Advisers assisted the local team to develop and commence work on the Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) Strategy 2017–2019.

xi

Performance Assessment Summary Relevance

During the reporting period, BEST continued to respond to the new and emerging priorities of DepEd while remaining aligned with the Australian Government’s development policy Australian aid: promoting prosperity, reducing poverty, enhancing stability. BEST also maintained a strategic focus with supporting the government’s education agenda, particularly with the review and conceptualisation of the K–12 curricula. This targeted support adds to the success of Australia’s partnership with the Philippines.

Stakeholders also agree that BEST is still relevant, as provisionally reported by the Independent Progress Review. As DepEd increases its budget resources and management capacity to implement and sustain its reform agenda there is new scope for BEST to look to new opportunities and areas to provide Australia’s unique perspectives for DepEd to draw on.

BEST has also maintained policy dialogue with DepEd and DFAT to ensure alignment and relevance (as discussed above) of support to DepEd’s reform agenda. In previous years the BEST program took a lead role in guiding DepEd in the annual planning process and content. In early 2017, BEST encouraged DepEd to lead the development of the Annual Plan 4, to enable greater DepEd ownership, and to support partnership commitment.

Effectiveness

Effectiveness is judged by how inputs, activities and outputs lead to the program’s intended outcomes. The measure of effectiveness for BEST has been hampered by (i) the inability of the M&E system to monitor progress towards emergent outcomes, and (ii) due to the way in which the program has been implemented to accommodate emerging responses to the needs of DepEd. Being responsive to DepEd’s needs (instead of adopting a rigid programmatic approach) has resulted in a dispersion of BEST activities and outputs making it difficult to assess changes directly attributable to BEST investments.

The program is now starting to demonstrate tangible outcomes, as discussed in the previous section, albeit in a fragmented way. The M&E system will be enhanced to ensure future reporting will directly monitor emerging outcomes in accordance with the program’s theory of change.

Overall the effectiveness of the program can be said to be improving as a result of recent changes:

§ There has been a significant shift from capacity substitution to capacity building, particularly during this reporting period. The reduction in the number of BEST-funded advisers and staff within DepEd, and a greater focus on capacity building of existing staff, has led to this change. This process will continue with the transition of the information systems (developed and managed under BEST) to DepEd management.

§ There is now a greater focus on coordination amongst implementing partners to achieve more effective results, with impetus to adopt more formal governance structures for the program.

§ DepEd is more involved in driving the agenda through the development of BEST’s Annual Plan 4. This planning approach will continue, with refinements, into Annual Plan 5 and ensure synergies between DepEd’s programs and BEST interventions.

Delivering value for money

In June 2017 Cardno managed a transition from the former organisational structure with the change of Team Leader and appointment of two component leaders. The new team managed a period of significant change in the program, with minimal disruption. The BEST organisation review was the result of the managing contractor’s commitment to reduce the number of technical advisers and provide better value for money.

An audit during the period identified BEST as having strong financial management systems. Procedures, designed earlier in the year, to better cost activities, monitor and track and compare expenses / gains to inform approaches, came into operation. BEST continues to review the tools to find ways to improve the accuracy of program forecasting, which remains a challenge. There has been consistent effort to keeping the balance between being responsive and maintaining a programmatic approach when considering support to DepEd priorities.

xii

Program finances and expenditure

Expenditure for the first half of the financial year was 34 per cent overall against projected expenditure. This includes management and administration costs. BEST’s programmed activity investment for 2017-2018 was about A$6.8 million to implement activities aimed to improve quality of education (52 per cent), achieve more equitable access to basic education (3 per cent) and improve service delivery through better governance (45 per cent).

About 19 per cent (A$1,265,112) of the activity budget has been disbursed in the first half of the year. The remaining balance of about 80 per cent (A$5.5 million) will be expended in the second half of the financial year.

Lessons learned and priorities for the next period

Planning criteria need to provide strategic direction aligned with the end of program outcomes: The Annual Plan 5 planning guide needs to support the planning process with consideration to: (i) end of program outcomes (ii) Independent Progress Review recommendations (iii) consolidation and sustainability of significant BEST interventions supporting program objectives; and (iv) exit strategy and handover plan implementation requirements.

Transformative capacity development processes require continuing intermittent follow-up beyond the initial training or activity: Focus on consolidation and follow-up strategies in the design of Annual Plan 5 activities, especially within Component 1 In-Service Education and Training (INSET) and GEDSI subcomponents and Component 2 Policy, Planning and M&E subcomponents.

Funding eligibility criteria need to be clear to avoid funding requests that have not been approved by the Program Steering Committee: Revise the funding eligibility criteria for Annual Plan 5 activity design.

Activities were commenced without documenting baselines due to time pressures and inadequate design procedures, making performance reporting difficult to validate: Revise procedures to require activity designs to include baseline data as part of the design / planning process.

The Decision Support System lacks details in activity and output reporting: Complete the review and update of the Decision Support System to align with the current Results Framework. Establish compliance procedures.

BEST does not have procedures jointly designed with DepEd to monitor cascade training initiated through the program resulting in limited data to monitor and measure the impact of training: Work with DepEd Program Support and Coordination Office (PSCO), National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP) and the Bureau of Human Resource and Organisational Development to ensure that data on cascade training initiated with BEST inputs is being tagged in DepEd systems and that this data is readily available for program M&E or an ex-poste evaluation.

DepEd participants, writers and contributors are involved in numerous activities, but some struggle with quality in written reporting and analysis of participation and outputs produced: Provide capability-building opportunities (i.e., participation in fora) to ensure the quality of the content of outputs can improve.

In early 2018 BEST was planning a pilot of a whole school development approach. It was expected that the pilot would offer a range of initiatives across each of 30 schools in two regions to trial effective practices delivered as a holistic package involving all the school community to improve learning outcomes: INSET, LAC, education leadership and GEDSI investments will be incorporated. The SBM model will also be integrated and will involve the School Effectiveness Division and the Bureau of Learning Delivery. At the time of this report the whole school development trial was being re-assessed.

xiii

Program highlights as of December 2017

7th Six-Monthly Progress Report

Cardno > Australian owned and operated 1

1 Introduction The Basic Education Sector Transformation (BEST) program aims to assist an eventual ‘transformation’ of the education system so that it consistently provides students with quality learning outcomes, more equitable access for learners at all levels, and effective service delivery through better governance. It is funded and managed in a partnership between the Governments of the Philippines and Australia, with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) as the core government implementing agencies.

BEST involves seven key partner organisations (1) Department of Education (DepEd) as the main beneficiary and strategic lead agency; (2) Commission on Higher Education (CHED); (3) Cardno Emerging Markets as the Facilitating Contractor; (4) Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) implementing student teacher scholarships; (5) Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) undertaking classroom construction; (6) Philippine National Research Center for Teacher Quality (RCTQ) a research partnership between the Philippine Normal University (PNU) and the University of New England (UNE); and (7) Assessment, Curriculum, Technology Research Centre (ACTRC), a research partnership between the University of the Philippines and University of Melbourne.

This Six-Monthly Progress Report covers July–December 2017. It summarises major achievements, progress made towards intended outcomes, lessons learned, and emerging issues and risks. The report is presented in two volumes. The main narrative and a summary of activities and outputs completed (Annex 1) is included in Volume 1. Volume 2 includes supporting data tables, the results framework, risk matrix, and statistical analysis of education data against baselines.

An Independent Progress Review was conducted during August-November 2017. The publication of the final report and DFAT’s management response was pending at the time of preparing this report. The initial findings supported a number of improvements, some of which were being progressed during the reporting period, specifically:

§ Improving formal program governance and management structures to improve accountability and ensure greater coherence and alignment of activities.

§ Improving the way in which education research is planned, evaluated and adopted to influence policy. § Strengthening the program’s monitoring and evaluation (M&E) to better understand the contribution BEST

is making towards achieving intended outcomes. § Renewing the focus on teaching, learning, participation, gender equality and inclusion through the whole

school approach, as originally intended in the BEST design.

1.1 Alignment with DepEd goals BEST is working with DepEd and other partners to contribute to DepEd’s goals of:

§ improved quality of education outcomes in the Philippines; § more equitable access of Filipino learners to basic education; § improved (education) service delivery through better governance.

The end of program outcomes of BEST align to the DepEd goals:

§ More children can demonstrate improved mastery of curriculum competencies in English, mathematics and science and differences in learning outcomes for boys and girls are reduced in target areas.

§ More boys and girls participate and complete basic education in target areas. § DepEd is better able to deliver basic education services that are more gender responsive and inclusive,

with greater decentralisation of management and accountability to the field offices and schools.

1.2 Program theory of change The theory of change underpinning BEST was set out in the 2012 program design document. Implementation commenced in mid–2014. Towards the end of Annual Plan 2016–2017 (AP3) the theory of change was updated to reflect changes to the program at output level as well as to consolidate the original



11 intermediate outcomes into a practical framework for performance-based monitoring and evaluation. The updated theory of change is shown in Volume 2, Annex 2.

1.3 Program description BEST has two main components (Figure 1) supported by sub-components that represent key reform areas in DepEd. Each component has an assigned Component Lead who oversees implementation to ensure that interventions are relevant and instrumental to the attainment of desired outcomes.

Figure 1 Sub-components in each of the BEST components

2 Major achievements during the reporting period This section details the program’s major achievements for the reporting period, including milestones reached as a result of previous activities and investment.

Through its collaborative effort, BEST made significant contributions towards Improving Teaching and Learning (Component 1) during the reporting period. These contributions included:

§ Creating the Teacher Induction Program through a series of workshops with DepEd to develop the outline, content scope, and lesson guides aligned to the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST).

§ Improving the Learning Action Cells (LAC) approach through consultations with DepEd bureaus. New LAC program initiatives emerged to be included within BEST’s AP4. These included strengthening of documentation and learning as part of an M&E strategy and strengthening of LAC processes and mechanisms at the school base. BEST also successfully supported LAC programs in classroom assessment, PRIMALS 4-6, Positive Discipline, Inclusive Education and LAC Starter Kits.

§ Supporting a strategic partnership5 with Microsoft Philippines to develop school-based ICT capacity building for teachers, including support for STEM, inclusive education and office productivity.

§ Delivering two of five proposed capability workshops in pre-service teacher training, which addressed inclusive education, and enhanced the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers, developed by Philippine National Research Centre for Teacher Quality (RCTQ). Three further workshops are planned for quarter four 2018.

§ Increasing the supply of quality teachers. The STEP UP Program achieved significant milestones in the past six months – 308 undergraduates and 653 Certificate of Teaching Profession scholars were recruited, which constitutes a 100 per cent achievement against the target for this period. STEP UP currently has 91 graduates from the 308 undergraduate scholars and 162 course completers from the 653 Certificate of Teaching Profession scholars.

5 A workshop was held in July 2017 with Microsoft Philippines, co-facilitated by BEST and involving the Bureau of Learning Delivery (BLD), Bureau of Curriculum Development, Bureau of Learning Resources and the ICT services.

Component 1: Improving Teaching and Learning

Pre-Service Teacher Education

In-Service Teacher Education & Teaching & Learning Materials

Education Leadership and Management

Curriculum and Assessment

Gender & Social Inclusion

Educational Facilities

Component 2: Strengthening Systems

Evidence-Based Policy, Planning and Management

Unified Information System

Organisational Development

Program Planning, M&E and Reporting



§ Supporting the completion of a large-scale student learning outcomes assessment to inform review of K–12 implementation through the Science and Mathematics readiness studies; and the inception of the LearnBEST project being implemented by Assessment, Curriculum and Technology Research Centre (ACTRC). This included support to engage in international large-scale assessment surveys, and in the development of technical expertise.

§ Training of 816 educators in capacity building programs that include core English, Maths and Science competencies; and 73 different sets of teaching and learning materials have been finalised consistent with the K–12 curriculum. These resources are either already accessible on the Learning Resources (LR) portal or awaiting final approval by the Bureau of Learning Resources to be uploaded.

§ Supporting the Provincial Inclusive Education Summit in Camarines Norte attended by 150 people from local government, private and public schools, teachers and disabled peoples organisations. BEST also supported the International Inclusive Education Summit in November raising awareness of inclusive education and the tools available. BEST presented the LAC on sign language.

§ Funding classroom construction through the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP). During this period the total number of classrooms completed is 206 with 82 under construction. The design and construction set new standards for the Philippines. These are disaster proof and are gender sensitive and accessible for people living with disabilities.

BEST’s contributions to System Strengthening (Component 2) during the reporting period included:

§ Supporting the 2017 National Education Summit held in December 2017 and attended by 1800 participants. This Summit brings together DepEd, CHED and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to develop joint strategic priorities for improving education quality and access. BEST facilitated nine pre-summit events on education and economic development, social inclusion, education finance, and the National Teacher Education and Skills Development Plan. BEST supported the development of the pre-summit publication, which outlined the gains from the 2016 Education Summit. BEST will also support the development of a post-summit publication, which is planned to be issued in December 2018 that documents the joint commitments made by the tri-focal agencies. These publications will enable the agencies to better track progress towards these commitments.

§ Accelerating establishing the Government-Industry-Education Council to strengthen collaboration among government schools and industry to promote alignment of education and industry requirements; enhance responsiveness to local national and global opportunities and realities, and address the problem of employment and national development.

§ Supporting the establishment of a National Research Agenda for Teacher Education (NRATE). The NRATE, with final approval from CHED, will set directions for research initiatives of Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) for the next five years (2018–2022). The NRATE will guide TEIs in studying the implementation of the K–12 Basic Education Program and pre-service education reforms, implementation of new policies, standards and guidelines for teacher education, and all other areas relevant to improving the quality of teachers and raising the quality of learning outcomes.

§ Establishing linkages between planning, budgeting and expenditure management, and monitoring and evaluation. BEST assisted in linking the proposed DepEd strategic planning framework and the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, while also clarifying links between the DepEd strategic planning framework and the Basic Education M&E Framework (which is also being prepared with BEST support).

§ Developing a plan for the Centre for Competency Based Learning and Development (CBLD) that features a curriculum framework including course content, preferred modality, and proposed professional development programs that addresses the competency gaps of members on research management.

§ Designing the Innovation Fund grant mechanism to encourage new approaches and strategies or build on existing proven ideas identified through DepEd’s Basic Education Research Fund; or project schemes that are demand driven to improve student learning in schools in the BEST regions.

§ Transitioning the LIS, EBEIS and LR portal to government ownership and management, and intensifying technology transfer through jointly (with DepEd) undertaking system enhancements, policy development support, and process management.

§ Operationalising (i) the work and financial planning module of the program management information system in preparation of DepEd’s 2018 budget, and (ii) the system for tracking and reporting activities and budget utilisation by office, program and object of expenditure at the central, region and division offices.



§ Providing ongoing training and support to Regional and Division offices on M&E, school based management and school improvement plans encompassing GEDSI and inclusive education.

3 Progress towards intended outcomes This section discusses how the program’s achievements have contributed to intended outcomes. Background information is provided to contextualise the results for the current period, building on past achievements and analysis.

3.1 Improved quality of education in the Philippines

End of program outcome 1: More children are able to demonstrate improved mastery of curriculum competencies in English, Mathematics and Science and differences in learning outcomes for boys and girls are reduced in target areas

End of program outcome 1 is measured by National Achievement Test (NAT) mean percentage score for English, Mathematics and Science for grade 6 and grade 10 in BEST regions. The NAT baseline and progress are summarised in Volume 2. Detailed charts comparing BEST and non-BEST regions’ NAT mean percentage score (School Year 2015) performance are also presented. More current NAT data is not yet available.

The World Bank Third Elementary Education Project Completion and Results Report found that program contribution to improved scores took six years to manifest significantly and required intensive targeting of selected schools over an extended period (World Bank, 2007). As the BEST program only commenced in late 2014, it is not feasible to demonstrate any impact on learning outcomes by the School Year 2015. This was acknowledged by the Independent Progress Review which was conducted during the reporting period (although the final report and management response have not been released at the time of this report). Accordingly, the data shows no significant improvement between BEST and non-BEST regions in the specified subject areas and grades; and performance in BEST regions tends to be lower than the trend forecast. There is also no apparent reduction in disparities between girls' and boys' learning outcomes in the target regions and subject areas.

The BEST performance measurement framework set out in the program design document assumed that stratified sampling of a minimum of 2,319 elementary and 439 secondary schools would be undertaken within the inception period of the program and that these schools would be targeted during BEST implementation. The BEST Baseline Study (2016) identified schools by performance grouping to enable targeting consistent with the performance measurement framework.

To October 2017, staff from 2,635 schools in 122 Schools Division Offices had been involved with BEST interventions across the teaching and learning sub-components. Interventions specific to mastery of the curriculum only commenced in 2016 (late in AP2). They have been limited in duration and coverage with ‘school’ involvement limited to a head or master teacher having participated, for example in training of trainers or orientation workshops; with limited systematic follow-up support by BEST or DepEd. Of 2,635 schools involved, 2,350 (89 per cent) had only one engagement with BEST, with just 29 (one per cent) having four to ten engagements (BEST Decision Support System Report, 2017).

BEST is now using school level NAT data to target school selection consistent with the intent of the program design document targets. The proposed Whole School Development approach hoped to stimulate learning outcomes improvements in selected schools (as also recommended by the Independent Progress Review). Significant changes in NAT scores are unlikely be evident until well after the conclusion of the program, and they will be contingent on the sustainability of capacity within the whole of the DepEd, both central and Regional Offices.



Intermediate Outcome 1: Teachers, education leaders and managers applying GEDSI responsive, evidence-based, contextualised approaches, methods and materials for student learning

Intermediate Outcome 1 is defined by changed behaviour in the teaching and learning system. Four immediate outcomes related to changed capacity and capabilities are supported by activities and outputs under four sub-components: pre-service development; in-service development; education leadership; and curriculum and assessment. Program statistics in this Section are drawn from the BEST Decision Support System Report in Volume 2, Annex 5 (plus data provided by implementing partners).

The most significant outcome from BEST for the reporting period, that will directly affect the quality of education in the Philippines and ultimately improved learning outcomes, is the national adoption and implementation of the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST) 6 issued by DepEd through the Teacher Education Council. This issuance ensures that all teachers will be supported in attaining proficiency to effectively implement the K-12 program. The policy also supports decentralisation of training and development to support the PPST with divisions responsible for monitoring and evaluation.

One of the main challenges for BEST in all intermediate outcome areas, as noted by the initial findings of the Independent Progress Review, is that a previous emphasis on responsiveness has resulted in fragmented implementation across sub-components and regions, diminishing likely impact. Although intangible by quantitative measures at this stage, indications are that BEST Intermediate Outcome 1 is being partially realised.

During this reporting period there is emerging evidence that the activities supported by BEST are beginning to achieve immediate outcomes through increased capacity and knowledge and awareness raising. There are emerging indications that teachers, education leaders and institutions are beginning to embrace the changes, policies and guidelines of BEST supported interventions. Examples include:

§ Two State Universities, Bukidnon State University and Western Mindanao State University, used the results of their Curriculum Quality Audit (CQA) to refine their Teacher Education Program and are now applying the new CHED policies, standards and guidelines. This led to revised course descriptions and semester sequencing of the elementary and secondary teacher education programs and course syllabi for the professional education courses.

§ TEIs are now focused on a highly practical review of their courses that has led to the revision of course syllabi and improved curriculum development. This includes enhanced course syllabi on special education and inclusive education.

§ Faculty members at 19 TEIs7 are now implementing the audit process for their teacher education curriculum program and from June 2017, 22 additional centres undertook the CQA process, starting with training a core group of 95 specialists (57 men, 38 women) from 31 identified TEIs.

§ Participants sponsored by BEST who attended the Ako Para Sa Bata’ International Conference gained ideas about dealing with student behaviours as a result of empirical studies on violence against children at home and at school. This renewed their commitment to pilot test guides in schools.

§ CHED’s required course in professional education is now aligned to the beginning teacher indicators of the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST).

Pre-service development: As measured by Board Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers (BLEPT) 2016 first time taker pass rates, progress towards Intermediate Outcome 1 is not yet evident. Some positive indications are however discernible. Two completed and 30 ongoing TEI curricula are being audited and updated; and 188 TEI teacher educators have been trained in capacity building programs including core English, Maths and Science. The selection and mentoring pilot continues with 264 graduates to date from a total of 961 scholars. These interventions are intended to improve BLEPT pass rates and teacher supply in the medium to long term.

Box 1 Illustrates results from research on the outcomes of teacher training.

6 Departmental Order 42 August 11 2017 7 Refer to Annex 1 for a list of participating TEIs



In-service professional development and curriculum and assessment: Capacity, knowledge and awareness of educators has increased. Capacity building programs have trained 816 educators. The programs include core English, Maths and Science. To date 73 different sets of teaching and learning materials have been finalised consistent with the K–12 curriculum. These are either already accessible via the LR portal or awaiting final approval by the Bureau of Learning Resources. Additionally, the curriculum contextualisation policy was drafted with BEST support and contextualisation guidelines made available. Unified Information System (UIS) data indicates that LR portal download rates have increased by 65 per cent in BEST regions since 2015 demonstrating increased capacity and awareness. These positive changes are consistent with intended intermediate outcomes.

Box 2: Illustrates preliminary analysis from an In-Service Education and Training (INSET) case study.

Box 1 Case Study: Preliminary results of STEP UP Survey

In late 2017, BEST conducted a survey of STEP UP graduates. 83 out of 264 graduates (31 per cent) completed the survey, the intent of which was to gather information about the profile, employment and deployment status, and expressed teaching intentions of graduates.

Most respondents (75 per cent) completed a Certificate in Teaching, meaning that they already held an undergraduate qualification before joining the program. The most common undergraduate majors of respondents were English (18 per cent), Maths (12 per cent), Social Science (16 per cent), and Social Studies (14 per cent), demonstrating a reasonable alignment between graduate specialisation and BEST End of Program Outcomes. Of the respondents 92 per cent are qualified to teach secondary school and the majority have already passed the BLEPT. Of those who passed BLEPT, 53 percent pursued teaching positions with 42 per cent gaining a teaching post (83 per cent in private schools and 17 per cent in public schools). Of these, 74 per cent are teaching in Secondary School, a strong indication of alignment of STEP UP outcomes and intended BEST program outcomes. Given that, secondary student achievement is reported as being the poorest area across K to 12 and therefore there is a greater need to ensure that secondary teachers are highly qualified if improvement are to be realised. The survey forms part of an ongoing Case Study on the STEP-UP Selection and Mentoring Program due for completion in March 2018.



Education leadership: A DepEd study by the School Effectiveness Division for the World Bank Learning, Equity, Accountability Program Support Project in 2017 shows that overall 91 per cent of school heads surveyed have been trained on school improvement planning; 31 per cent of schools covered have completed one cycle of ‘prepare-plan-act-assess’ and are repeating the cycle commencing from ‘back to assess’; while another 31 per cent are in the ‘act’ phase. Over 90 per cent of school head respondents identify monitoring as important for identifying ways to improve; and School Improvement Programs include remedial programs and guidance counselling projects to address school-level learning outcome challenges. BEST’s investment in Learning Action Cells (LACs), Gender Equality Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI), School Improvement Planning, School Heads Development Program and continuous improvement interventions will be the focus of case studies in the next reporting period.

The approach BEST has adopted for its workshops ensures involvement and critical thinking so that participants can apply what they have learnt directly when implementing new policies. For instance, the development of the Senior High School (SHS) Learning Delivery Roadmap was a collaborative exercise with participants reviewing policies, curriculum and instructions, assessments, learning resources and teachers

Box 2 Case study: Preliminary analysis of In-service Education and Training (INSET) week

The case study focuses on implementation of the cascade training model (in three divisions in Region VII) from the Regional Office to the target Schools Division Offices and to schools for grades 4-6 science, Mathematics, English and Filipino subjects, as well as collaborative lesson planning. The study included a mini-survey, key informant interviews and focus group discussions with 69 participants distributed evenly across the three divisions.

BEST conducted the ‘master’ training of regional trainers who were responsible for training division trainers, with these then responsible for conducting training for district teams, school heads and teachers in their respective divisions and district schools.

Respondents reported that the cascade was conducted during INSET week 2016, one week after the regional training conducted by BEST, with 43 per cent of the BEST-trained trainers and 61 per cent of the Schools Division Offices -trained trainers participating in the next level of the cascade. Two of the divisions reported cascading the training to all schools through large block training involving approximately 180 teacher participants per group. The third division did not complete the cascade for all schools due to funding constraints.

Respondents reported that the cascade was conducted during INSET week 2016, one week after the regional training conducted by BEST, with 43 per cent of the BEST-trained trainers and 61 per cent of the Schools Division Offices-trained trainers participating in the next level of the cascade. Two of the divisions reported cascading the training to all schools through large block training involving approximately 180 teacher participants per group. The third division did not complete the cascade for all schools due to funding constraints.

Respondents in the two divisions that completed the cascade reported that the mass block training groups of 180 persons were too large, affecting the attention span and focus of participants and making delivery difficult for the trainers. Also, the choice of venue while low cost, being a central school gymnasium, was not an environment conducive to learning. Unintended consequences noted by respondents related to increased demands on teachers’ time reducing class contact hours; and lengthy discussions among teachers about group lesson plans and teaching methods.

Despite the challenges, respondents cited benefits and outcomes from applying the teaching and learning methods and materials obtained in the training. These included: § changes in the ways teachers teach: getting involved in critiquing group lesson plans, sharing

lesson plans with other teachers and implementing the lesson plans in the classroom; differentiating teaching methods according to the diverse types of children / learners in the classroom

§ classroom learning environments created were fun, children becoming motivated to attend class, learners were gaining self-confidence and developing a sense of responsibility

§ improved student attendance and grades: examples given for specific learning areas like English (learners speaking ability improved) and Mathematics (learners previously exhibiting low mastery levels improved their abilities).

The INSET case study report will be finalised in February 2018.



capacity building. Participants then presented initiatives and strategies for implementing SHS using innovative approaches and monitoring strategies.

Bureaus within DepEd are becoming increasingly engaged and adopting responsibilities for initiatives started by the program. The Bureau of Learning Delivery (BLD) is taking sole responsibility for the video production of National Training of Trainers Level One. The Bureau of Learning Resources Quality Assurance Division, after being involved in a review of Technical and Vocational Learning for grades 11 and 12, noted that lessons are not aligned with curriculum guides and learning competencies are too advanced, and prerequisite skills were not included. This process has raised awareness of critical issues that will now need to be addressed by the Bureau of Learning Resources.

In terms of directly improving the pool of quality teachers, out of 58 scholars sponsored through STEP UP and now eligible for the registry of qualified applicants, 31 are currently serving in private schools9, four in state colleges and universities, and nine are employed in DepEd public schools. From the nine currently serving in DepEd schools, six have already secured permanent positions.

3.2 More equitable access of Filipino learners to basic education

End of program outcome 2: More boys and girls participate and complete basic education in target areas

End of program outcome 2 is measured by gross and net enrolment rates, graduation and transition rates in BEST regions. Progress is summarised in Annex 4, which presents a detailed analysis comparing BEST and non-BEST performance indicators (School Year 2015).

Enrolment rates nationally and in BEST regions have improved steadily. Two of six BEST regions are above the national average in elementary net enrolment. In 2015, the National Capital Region (NCR) had the lowest net enrolment rate (88 per cent), and Region VII (96 per cent) the highest. It is notable that Region VII reached universal enrolment of school-aged children in two consecutive school years, 2013–2014 and 2014–2015, although this cannot be attributed to BEST. All BEST regions experience challenges with overage enrolments in elementary school, although BEST regions are below the national average. Overage enrollees indicate that children are not starting school at the right age.

Secondary school enrolment rates remain low in BEST regions and the challenge of overage enrollees continues in secondary schools. Four of six BEST regions are above the national average in secondary net enrolments but there is still a large proportion of secondary age learners with unmet needs. Since 2013, four of 10 school-aged learners are not in school. Region X (60 per cent) has the lowest net enrolment rate and NCR (75 per cent) has the highest.

Average graduation rates remained constant during the first three years of BEST and are consistent with the baseline. Transition rate data is only available for 2014–2015 and is consistent with the 2013– 2014 baseline. Almost universal graduation rates in all BEST regions are recorded. This means that almost all enrolled learners on their last grade level in both elementary and secondary schools could complete.

As with End of program outcome 1, it is not possible to discern a statistically significant improvement attributable to the BEST contribution at this stage of implementation. However, there are indications that targeted interventions are having a result. For instance, the 206 classrooms constructed (with another 82 under construction) have improved access to education in targeted locations by providing safe, gender sensitive and inclusive facilities.

BEST has been able to enhance existing DepEd processes in terms of identifying those learners that have been traditionally marginalised and isolated. BEST has supported community mapping, strengthening programs for indigenous peoples, Muslim learners and those with special needs, and encouraged the return of drop-outs through Alternative Learning Systems (ALS) support. Examples are included under Output 1.5.1 in Annex 1. Feedback from schools and local governments suggest that these strategies are increasing overall participation rates.

9 31 working in private schools gainfully employed while waiting for an opportunity in a public school.



Intermediate Outcome 2: Education leaders and managers applying innovative SBM, GEDSI approaches to school planning, student enrolment and retention

There are two contributing immediate outcomes and two subcomponents of implementation. Measurement is by dropout rates, enrolments of Indigenous Peoples, Muslim learners and children with disabilities; and classroom ratios. Baseline and progress are summarised in Volume 2, Annex 4. Analysis comparing BEST and non-BEST regions for relevant access performance indicators is presented in Section 4 of Annex 4.

The elementary dropout rate is low, and the secondary dropout rate is decreasing nationally, although for both the absolute dropout numbers are substantial. NCR has the highest dropout rate among BEST regions—understandable given the size of the NCR Schools Division Office. Dropout rates peaked in 2014 with a rate of 2.3 per cent and 1,974 dropouts. On average, Region V has the lowest dropout rate of 0.63 per cent with 452 dropouts in 2015.

For secondary school, Region VII has the highest average dropout rate (3.63 per cent in 2014) and NCR has the highest number of dropouts (1,582 in 2014) among BEST regions. For both elementary and secondary, boys have a higher dropout rate than girls.

BEST regions have an estimated 45 per cent of learners with disabilities, more than 40 per cent of whom are estimated not in school. Likewise, estimates indicate that 28 percent of Indigenous Peoples learners and 6.9 percent of Muslim learners are not in school (see Volume 2, Annex 4, Section 7). BEST has contributed to an increased awareness of the need for gender equality, disability and social inclusion nationally and regionally. For example extensive support was provided by BEST to DepEd initiatives to promote inclusive education in AP3 and AP4, and the 2017 Inclusive Education Summit and the 2017 National Education Summit. The commitments generated by both summits demonstrate that DepEd is capable of articulating strategies to improve access for students from different contexts. This is expected to help increase participation and completion rates among marginalised learners beyond the life of BEST.

BEST assistance to DepEd to develop the School Improvement Planning Manual and video is expected to contribute to improved application of School Based Management (SBM) principles and practices. The DepEd study under the World Bank’s, Learning, Equity, Accountability, Program Support Project in 2017 found that most school improvement plans include interventions to address access issues. The three main challenges to addressing social exclusion and access are: convincing children; convincing parents and families or guardians of the importance of education; and lack of school financial resources. BEST will work with regional Schools Division Offices to develop capacity to design local solutions to these challenges.

The DepEd Learning, Equity, Accountability Program Support Project also indicates increasing institutionalisation of the SBM and School Improvement Planning frameworks at the school level. BEST has contributed to this outcome from policy formulation through to implementation, notably through its support in BEST regions to the DepEd divisions. The capacity to undertake SBM has also been increased through the roll out of key SBM policies during the reporting period. The SBM framework has been enhanced to improve its implementation and the School Governance Council policy has been finalised to facilitate community participation in school decision making.

Knowledge and awareness amongst education leaders and managers has been raised on contextualisation, GEDSI and inclusive education through a range of initiatives. Workshops on Inclusive Education: Responding to Diverse Learners, held in September, led to 71 TEI officials gaining enhanced pedagogical knowledge on inclusive education. In addition BEST held regional trainings for over 500 Learning Resource Evaluators covering social content, contextualisation and GEDSI sensitive issues. This type of training had not been held previously. Planning processes for inclusive education have also been improved through DepEd’s Student Inclusion Division.

During this reporting period, knowledge and awareness of inclusive education has also been raised at the regional, division and school level through targeted information sessions led by BEST staff. In Region V BEST held information sessions on inclusive education, disability and gender, using speakers from Region VIII cluster schools to share initiatives and current practices. Based on BEST monitoring reports, schools trained demonstrated some of the good practices in making schools more inclusive, such as engaging the local government to fund volunteer teachers and engaging students as peer leaders in sign language.



In December a Gender Mainstreaming Evaluation Framework Assessment was undertaken to determine the level of gender mainstreaming within DepEd Central Office. This assessment indicated that there is now increased support for gender sensitive education with the development of the Gender-responsive Basic Education Policy.

Classroom quality and size: In BEST regions the average elementary student classroom ratio is 36.72, with the lowest ratio being 26.7 in Region VIII and the highest 64.95 in NCR. Secondary level averages are higher with an average of 50.2, the highest being NCR with 72.15 and the lowest Region VI with 40.56. The PBSP classroom construction program has reduced classroom congestion in selected localities, particularly areas that lost classrooms due to typhoon damage. However, due to the shortage of available space and high construction costs the NCR has received minimal support to reduce classroom congestion.

Box 3: Illustrates preliminary analysis of a case study on the construction of new classrooms.

3.3 Improved service delivery through better governance

End of program outcome 3: DepEd is better able to deliver basic education services that are more gender responsive and inclusive and with greater decentralisation of management and accountability to the field offices and schools.

The end of program outcome for BEST governance interventions will be measured by the level and appropriateness of new policy issuances, gender budget allocations, maintenance and other operating expenses disbursement rates9, and SBM implementation. The baseline and progress are summarised in Volume 2, Annex 4.

As discussed, the most significant outcome from BEST for the reporting period, that will directly affect the quality of education in the Philippines, is the national adoption and implementation of the PPST. This policy was issued through the Teacher Education Council and is now having flow on effects across the education

Box 3 Case study: Preliminary analysis classroom construction under PBSP

The case study focuses on the construction of classrooms in three Schools Division Offices in the National Capital Region, Region VI & VIII. Construction was managed by the BEST Implementing Partner, the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP). A total of 288 classrooms is targeted to be built by the program in places where they are most needed to address the congestion and lack of facilities for learning.

The study included key informant interviews and focus group discussions with 122 participants distributed evenly across the three divisions. The respondents shared common concerns about the quality of materials: broken door locks, toilets, windows and armchairs. Respondents from one Division expressed concern over leaking classroom ceilings. When it rains, the roof deck floods and water leaks into the classrooms. This causes frequent disruption to classes as students must stay clear of leaks to protect their school materials.

Despite challenges, respondents claimed significant improvement in the quality of classrooms built by PBSP compared with existing classrooms. Prior to the new construction respondents complained that their classrooms were unsafe and unsuited for teaching and learning. In one Division, old classrooms are still being used that are considered ‘demolished’ in the EBEIS.

Respondents cite various improvements because of the PBSP classrooms: § increased community participation: parents are more involved in the school’s activities § improvements in classroom ergonomics: classrooms are thermally comfortable and well-lighted § improvements in student hygiene: students learned to wash their hands and maintain classroom

cleanliness § classrooms are less congested, and students are able fit in the classrooms comfortably § students look forward to going to class and have increased confidence to participate in classes.

The Education Facilities Case Study report will be finalised in February 2018.



sector. The policy also supports decentralisation of training and development, with divisions responsible for monitoring and evaluation.

Overall there has been extensive policy review and new policy issuances by DepEd as a result of BEST support. These cover a range of teaching, learning and governance areas. To date 34 policies have been developed with BEST support, the majority already having been officially issued or currently in the validation process and a further eight are currently under development. Guidelines and manuals facilitating implementation at the regional and division level have accompanied many of these indicating progressive decentralisation of responsibilities and decision making. These provide the framework for DepEd to deliver decentralised education. Key among the policy issuances and some under development are those relating to:

§ gender responsive education (approved July 2017) § indigenous peoples’ education § madrasah education § curriculum contextualisation § SBM policy and framework § school improvement planning policy, and § continuous improvement policy.

All of these are instrumental in articulating to respective governance levels aspects of responsive and inclusive education service delivery. They also support DepEd regions throughout the country to conduct their strategic, operational and annual planning and monitoring and evaluation adjustment processes towards increasing inclusivity. BEST has supported this work at the regional level.

The government mandates five per cent of departmental budget to gender plans. DepEd complies with this allocation although better targeting of this expenditure is needed. This will be one of the foci of the BEST GEDSI strategy in the remainder of AP4 and AP5.

Intermediate Outcome 3: DepEd policies, plans and practices are GEDSI responsive, linked across governance levels and are being informed by effective Organisational Development, Human Resource, UIS, Research and M&E systems

This outcome is measured by indicators for responsiveness to GEDSI, governance coherence and evidence-based decision making. The baseline and progress are summarised in Volume 2, Annex 4.

BEST has worked closely with the DepEd Policy Research Division that has responsibility for reviewing and recommending DepEd policies; and with the Planning and Programming Division that has responsibility for DepEd planning.

DepEd has agreed that GEDSI responsive policy and planning is to be central in its planning and the budgeting strategy. BEST has been instrumental in supporting the development of Organisational Development, Human Resources, and UIS systems that inform DepEd’s policy and planning work. Previously during 2016 BEST assisted DepEd to finalise the Basic Education Research Agenda; and during July–December 2017, has extended that work to assist DepEd to develop the Basic Education Monitoring and Evaluation Framework.

The UIS is a major achievement of the program and is now the primary source for DepEd planning and performance reporting and is used at all governance levels to support decision making. During this reporting period a number of BEST initiatives indicate how the system is supporting decision making to achieve better education outcomes:

§ The enrolment quick count was opened to all schools on 14 July and within 10 days, 99.5 per cent of public schools (46,654 of 46,775 schools) entered their enrolment data. This display of high efficiency and effectiveness of DepEd in generating enrolment data in a timely manner through the enrolment quick count enabled DepEd to understand the level of enrolment and take action if needed.

§ A learner tracking facility was implemented that enables the identification of learners affected by conflict and disasters, and assists the transfer of students to other schools, ensuring that their schooling is not interrupted for too long. As an example it was used use for students displaced by the Marawi conflict. This



enables DepEd to allocate resources and implement necessary interventions to serve displaced and affected learners.

§ An enhanced LIS-ALS enrolment reporting facility was implemented to effectively support the intensified and expanded implementation of ALS. For the first time, completion status for ALS learners enrolled in Calendar Year 2016 and Calendar Year 2017 was reported and used as basis for evaluating effectiveness of program interventions.

4 Program Monitoring and Evaluation In the previous six-month reporting period, BEST updated the theory of change and the corresponding M&E Framework and Plan. These have been approved by DepEd and DFAT. The M&E Framework sets out the strategies and mechanisms to be employed in managing M&E in the program, with DepEd and Implementing Partner engagement. To follow up, during July–December 2017 BEST took additional steps to support more effective implementation of M&E in the program, including:

§ developing an AP4 activity design template and monthly report template § working with the PSCO to draft and issue a DepEd memo defining the planning and revision process for

AP4 activities § commencing work on the revision of the results framework indicators and targets in line with the updated

theory of change § sourcing the most up-to-date data from DepEd and updated comparative gender disaggregated data, for

elementary and secondary schools, for BEST and non-BEST regions for all education key performance indicators for the end of program outcomes

§ conducting a reliability analysis of DepEd EBEIS enrolment data and the preparation of a draft report § designing and conducting a mini-mapping study on M&E tools and practices that had been used by BEST

subcomponent teams § establishing new M&E program organisational structure, work plans and priorities that involve regional

specialists in delivering programmatic M&E § drafting a set of generic monitoring tools, which will be finalised and implemented in the activities of

Component 1 and 2; will be incorporated into the Quality Management Manual § designing and conducting three in-house case studies on benefits and outcomes, two of which involve

implementing partners: (i) PBSP classroom construction case study in regions NCR, 6 and 8; (ii) case study on STEP-UP selection and mentoring program in NCR, Region 6 and 10; and (iii) INSET cascade model case study in Region 7

§ Identifying studies to be undertaken within the next reporting period including: o INSET RTOT on PRIMALS grades 7–10 and LAC baseline study and continuous benefits monitoring

in two schools’ divisions in Region 6 – to commence March 2018 through to the end of the next school year

o impact study on BEST supported interventions: (i) monitoring and evaluation adjustment and (ii) unified information systems

o benefits and contribution analysis study on BEST supported interventions in: (i) school improvement planning (ii) school heads development program and (iii) continuous improvement.

5 Cross-Cutting Themes

5.1 Gender, disability and social inclusion BEST identifies and addresses barriers to inclusion and opportunities for participation for people with disabilities to enable them to benefit equally from the aid investment. BEST integrates Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) in the program by mainstreaming these key issues in policy development, program activities such as capacity diagnostics and capacity building activities, activity proposal developments, research, grants and M&E.

As demonstrated in Section 4, Gender, Disability and Social Inclusion is embedded across all program activities. During this period, BEST has provided support through:



§ Capacity building and development of materials on inclusive education and contextualisation across a wide range of activities at the central, regional, division and school levels, including inclusive education pilot programs, communication materials and instructional videos

§ Partnering with Microsoft on the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to promote inclusive education

§ Increasing the pedagogical knowledge of TEI officials in relation to inclusive education § Supporting DepEd’s Student Inclusion Division to strengthen planning processes § Supporting provincial and national inclusive education summits, and the Philippine Network for Inclusive

Education.

As discussed, an assessment of gender mainstreaming within DepEd Central Office, conducted in December 2017, indicated improvements in support for gender responsive education.

Gender, disability and social inclusion has been integrated in institutional processes such as ensuring sex-disaggregated data within the M&E systems. Significant effort and resources have been used in strengthening the internal governance system through the Gender Focal Persons (from the Central Office down to the school level) through a series of capacity building activities.

5.2 Child protection BEST strictly adheres to Australia’s Child Protection Policy and maintains zero tolerance to child abuse and child pornography. Personnel are mindful of the DFAT Child Protection Policy and the Code of Conduct in the use of images of children. The program ensures that consent is given before images and videos of children are taken during the course of program activities.

BEST has embedded measures ensuring that international declarations, conventions and agreements to which the Philippines is a signatory are upheld and promoted. In addition to its safeguard responsibilities BEST continues to undertake activities to strengthen implementation of the Child Protection Policy in DepEd. BEST has worked with DepEd to create Learning Action Cell materials for teachers to strengthen their capacity in creating a nurturing environment for learning in their classrooms through Positive Discipline. These materials have been reviewed by UNICEF, Child Fund, and Save the Children. The LAC Positive Discipline session guides will be trialled during quarter 3 in NCR and Region V.

The Gender Responsive Basic Education Policy supported by BEST also has, as one its pillars, the obligation to promote the protection of children from all forms of gender-related violence, abuse, exploitation, discrimination and bullying. During the third quarter BEST will support DepEd with the implementation of the policy at the Regional and District levels. The aim during 2018 is to build the capacity of DepEd for the integration of Child Protection as a focus under the Gender Responsive Policy.

Further, BEST will establish connections with the current and planned follow-on of the Australia- Philippines Child Protection against on-line Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Program to support synergies and to learn from experiences. There may result in useful recommendations for DepEd to inform and support its activities for ensuring protection for all children in the nation’s schools.

6 Sustainability BEST has established new strategies in AP4 to ensure sustainability elements such as political support, appropriateness of interventions, and institutional capacity of DepEd. While these elements increase the likelihood of continuity of BEST initiatives once program funding ceases, effective program governance and management is essential to ensure program investments are sustained.

To this end, BEST has continued to work with the DepEd (PSCO) and with relevant DepEd executives, to support and strengthen internal coordination, and to gain a shared commitment to the end of program outcomes and overall goals.

For improved sustainability of Australia’s investment, BEST continues to provide customised and appropriate capability building programs to DepEd process owners who will take the lead in the continuity of BEST’s



initiatives. With the limited implementation lifespan of BEST, priority is given to skills transfer and proper transition and handover of key systems and processes. For example, BEST held further consultations and a workshop (12–15 December 2017) to prepare the DepEd's Information and Communication Technology Service for the eventual handover of the EBEIS, LIS and the LR portal.

In addition, BEST worked with DepEd to assist in the development of policies and guidelines that formalise reforms introduced through the program, particularly in the areas of teacher development, curriculum and assessment, school-based management, gender mainstreaming and inclusive education policy. BEST’s improved approach to programmatic M&E processes will also examine how program initiatives are contributing to long-term sustainability.

7 Risk Management and Safeguards The program recognises that there are development risks that may affect the achievement of program outcomes, and operational risks that may hinder the implementation of activities. Risks more recently identified revolve around operational changes, security and governance.

Operational: a new strategic approach has been implemented which includes applying increased effort to build stronger working relationships with implementing partners and other stakeholders through more open and regular communications.

Security: Personnel are at risk in terms of security, including Region X in Mindanao due to conflict, and natural disasters. To address and manage security risks, new control measures have been established and the risk matrix updated.

Governance: Ongoing discipline is needed to entrench formal decision making (previous informality was a problem identified by the Independent Progress Review); to improve activity coordination and program budget execution; and to maintain stakeholder commitment to the end of program outcomes and overall goal.

While BEST continues to provide support to strengthen the PSCO, delayed appointment of a senior staff Director creates difficulties for coordination of program governance. More formal communication helps to keep activity coordination effective. BEST is consulting with the DFAT and DepEd to advocate for speeding up the appointment of relevant Directors. BEST is working with the PSCO to map out a governance meeting schedule to the end of the program. BEST will work with the PSCO to coordinate with implementing partners including DepEd and CHED as well as the implementing partners to formalise this meeting schedule and to gain commitment to attendance for improved accountability, transparency and better communications. These efforts will better reflect a partnership agreement towards the end of program outcomes.

In terms of program delivery there are some high-risk areas that are continuing to be monitored and mitigated:

§ In-service teacher development is currently not sufficiently effective in improving teachers' pedagogical skills and building their content knowledge for the new curriculum. A range of BEST interventions are targeting improved in-service training. The LAC policy ensures divisions and schools are required to contextualise training based on identified priorities. BEST will continue to support innovative LAC practices. BEST will help authorities provide additional support for teachers at SHS level to be more effective. Support will include using principals and superintendents as 'mentors' and 'critical friends' who can implement and support teacher development at school and divisional level. BEST will also work with authorities to develop a strategic plan for teacher professional development which addresses the competence of all teachers in priority curriculum areas.

§ Structural changes in classroom practice and teacher's roles will require longer term investment to implement the K-12 agenda. The significant shift required for K-12 implementation on the part of teacher educators, teachers and schools is being addressed through teacher training and BEST applied research. BEST is supporting DepEd to monitor the delivery of new training modules and trialing of new LAC materials to identify areas of ineffective practice. The innovation fund will be used to test, refine and promote different approaches and inform potential scale up. It will be important to capture these approaches to understand what works, what doesn’t and in what situations; and to make this information accessible for scaling up across the country.



§ There is a delay in the development of collaborative working practices to enable capacity building to transition CHED and TEIs into an Outcomes- Based Education Quality Assurance System. Some TEIs are not implementing the change required to support K-12 reform, including compliant K-12 Pre-Service Curriculum. Forums and meetings have been undertaken to engage CHED and TEIs in the new curriculum pedagogy and Outcomes-Based Education Quality Assurance System. BEST will allocate funds to allow CHED and TEIs to trial new approaches for collaboration and improved capacity building. The fund will also be used to test new pedagogical teacher practice using action learning principles.

§ DepEd is not providing adequate resources and IT personnel to support transitioning information systems (UIS) to full DepEd ownership and management. Delays in providing adequate support will compromise the delivery of UIS related services and result in BEST maintaining systems longer than anticipated. BEST is currently strengthening technical assistance to ensure systems are stable and can be maintained. The program will continue its handover plan of all major databases and continue to lobby DepEd to appoint key personnel.

A summary of the updated key risks identified by BEST to date is included in Volume 2, Annex 6.

8 Financial Report: July to December 2017

8.1 Overview BEST has a programmed investment of about AU$6.8 million to implement activities for improving quality of education (52 per cent), achieving more equitable access to basic education (3 per cent) and improving service delivery through better governance (45 per cent) for financial year 2017–18. About 19 per cent (AU$1,265,112) has been disbursed in the first half of the financial year, while the balance has been programmed for expenditure in the second half of the financial year, as illustrated in Table 1.

Table 1 Actual and forecast expenditure by outcome

Outcome Budget Allocation

Percent (%) Actual

(Jul–Dec)

Percent (%) Forecast (Jan–Jun)

Total

Quality 3,505,433 51.63 724,830 57 2,455,812 3,180,642

Access 194,742 2.87 57,532 5 186,010 243,542

Governance 3,089,230 45.50 482,750 38 2,814,062 3,296,811

Total 6,789,405 100.00 1,265,112 100 5,455,884 6,720,996

8.2 Activity expenditure Program expenditure for the first half of financial year 2017–18 totalled AU$3,543,423 and represents 34 per cent of the AP4 budget allocation. The unexpended balance remaining for this financial year is A$6,729,577.

Table 2 presents actual and forecast expenditure, by quarter

Table 2 Actual and forecast program expenditure by quarter

Expenditure Type 1st Quarter Actual

2nd Quarter Actual

Sub-Total 3rd Quarter Forecast

4th Quarter Forecast

Sub-Total Total

Program administration 782,909 868,585 1,651,495 815,316 774,061 1,589,377 3,240,872

Program activities 560,539 1,331,389 1,891,928 2,836,395 2,619,489 5,455,884 7,347,812

Total 1,343,448 2,199,975 3,543,423 3,651,711 3,393,550 7,045,261 10,588,684

Percentage (%) 13 21 34 36 33 69 103

During the first quarter, a total of AU$1,343,448 (13 per cent) expenditure was registered. Initially program spending was slower than anticipated. DepEd led the approach to the development of the AP4 activity



prioritisation and accompanying budget development. This enabled positive program ownership, but many activity budgets were later found to be poorly constructed causing implementation delays while activity objectives and budgets were reviewed. This is one of the lessons that will be carried into Annual Plan 5 preparations.

During the second quarter, expenditure gradually increased by 8 per cent recording a total expenditure of AU$2,199,975. Given the slow spending rate of the first half year, the second half forecast allowed for 3% overspending.

In November 2017, DFAT released an additional AU$273,000 to support to medium AP4 priority activities:

§ Competency Based Learning Development for Research Management (Phase 2) – Training Module Development

§ Policy Fora: Policy Research and Development. § Out of the AU$273,000, AU$250,000 was allocated towards the pilot of the ‘Whole School Development’

initiative.

In December 2017, an out of session Program Management Committee meeting was held to review the implementation progress of activities under the BEST AP4. Savings were identified against the program budget and funds were reallocated to medium or low-ranked activities under AP4 that had no budget allocation, resulting in the following activities being approved for implementation:

§ printing, layout and launch of the curriculum assessment resource book § design and development of learning resources in braille using tactile graphics § upgrading / debugging of the Learning Resources Delivery Tracking System § continued development of PPST-ICT competencies and ICT resources § study of promising practices at school level with focus on access and quality § PSCO capacity building (this activity had been approved but budget was not allocated).

Twenty-three percent (AU$1,589,377) of program expenditure for the six-month period was allocated to program administration which includes all program personnel, operational costs, management fees, and milestone payments.

8.3 Budget forecast The program expects accelerated expenditure for the remaining period of the financial year. The finalisation of first batch of grant agreements which included the LEARN-BEST Phase 2, International Large-Scale Assessments for the Philippines (Phase 2) and Technical Assistance for the Bureau of Learning and Development for the Resource Package Development for the National Trainers of Training will support an accelerated spend, as will the launch of the Innovation Fund.

The actual (to date) and forecast expenditure for the remainder of the financial year is provided in Table 3, and further illustrated in Figure 2.

Table 3 Actual and forecast program expenditure, July 2017 – June 2018

Expenditure type Actual

Jul–Dec 2017 Forecast (2018)

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

Program administration 1,651,495 222,008 246,066 347,242 322,853 187,072 264,136

Program activities 1,891,928 521,692 1,104,891 1,209,811 998,590 937,687 683,213

Total 3,543,423 743,700 1,350,957 1,557,053 1,321,443 1,124,759 947,348



Figure 2 BEST program expenditure, financial year 2017–2018

To support timely implementation, procurement for sub-contracts is being accelerated. Resources are being reviewed and augmented as required. As part of continuous improvement initiatives, regular reviews and updates are being undertaken on strengthening processes around budgeting, expenditure tracking, updating and reporting.

Orientation sessions were undertaken to ensure all activity managers were familiar with the updates. With new practices established, the program is in a better position to manage expenditure within DFAT fund allocation, and to provide reliable expenditure forecasts with more actuate variance analysis. Appropriate cash flow for BEST operations and activities is being maintained.

The program is working towards meeting this year’s budget of approximately AU$10,588,684.

9 Lessons Learned and Looking Ahead

9.1 Lessons learned Lessons learned during the reporting period and strategies for positive change and improvement are in Table 4.

Table 4 Lessons learned

Lesson Learned Intended Corrective Strategy

Planning criteria need to provide strategic direction aligned with the end of program outcomes.

AP5 planning guide to support the planning process with consideration to: (i) End of program outcomes (ii) Independent Progress Review recommendations (iii) consolidation and sustainability of significant BEST interventions supporting program objectives; and (iv) exit strategy and handover plan implementation requirements.

-

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,000

1,600,000

1,800,000

Jul-17 Aug-17 Sep-17 Oct-17 Nov-17 Dec-17 Jan-18 Feb-18 Mar-18 Apr-18 May-18 Jun-18Jul-17 Aug-17 Sep-17 Oct-17 Nov-17 Dec-17 Jan-18 Feb-18 Mar-18 Apr-18 May-18 Jun-18

Estimated Budget 392,166 702,639 1,123,49Actual 343,115 398,874 601,459 481,384 708,859 1,009,732 0 0 0 0 0 0Forecast 752,306 831,351 1,086,37 743,700 1,350,95 1,557,05 1,321,44 1,124,75 947,348



Lesson Learned Intended Corrective Strategy

Transformative capacity development processes require continuing intermittent follow-up beyond the initial training or activity.

Focus on consolidation and follow-up strategies in the design of AP5 activities, especially within Component 1 INSET and GEDSI subcomponents and Component 2 Policy, Planning and M&E subcomponents.

Funding eligibility criteria need to be clear to avoid funding requests that have not been approved by the Program Steering Committee.

Revise the funding eligibility criteria for AP5 activity design.

Activities were commenced without documenting baselines due to time pressures and inadequate design procedures, making performance reporting difficult to validate.

Revise procedures to require activity designs to include baseline data as part of the design / planning process.

The Decision Support System lacks details in activity and Output reporting. Initially designed in 2015, universal compliance was not achieved, resulting in significant gaps in performance information and questionable reliability of information.

Complete review and update the Decision Support System to align with the current Results Framework. Establish compliance procedures in. Monitor compliance and address compliance issues.

BEST does not have procedures jointly designed with DepEd to monitor cascade training initiated through the program resulting in limited data to monitor and measure the impact of training.

Work with DepEd PSCO, NEAP and Bureau of Human Resource and Organisational Development to ensure that data on cascade training initiated with BEST inputs is being tagged in DepEd systems and that this data is readily available for Program M&E or an ex-poste evaluation.

DepEd participants, writers and contributors are involved in numerous activities, but some struggle with quality in written reporting and analysis of participation and outputs produced

Provide capability-building opportunities (i.e., participation in fora) to ensure the quality of the content of outputs.

The multi-layered nature of the DepEd structure (from the centre, through regions and down to local levels) and the extended range of its coverage, means that program results are visible only at the output level. Past pressures for the program to respond to emerging issues have taken their toll on a more programmatic approach: so that while roughly 2,635 schools have had head teachers or teachers involved in BEST-funded activities, opportunities have been missed to consolidate efforts. Intensive efforts throughout AP4 have increased inter-activity and cross-team collaboration.

Aid-program wide budget reductions early in the life of BEST mainly affected grants for a targeted,

school-centred approach. In retrospect, this has left the program without the means to easily demonstrate the impact of systemic changes on local results. A whole-school development approach, discussed below, will help to address this and other information gaps identified in the provisional Independent Progress Review.

9.2 Looking ahead – the next six months The changes in program management and reference to lessons learned as outlined in this report, will set the scene for the next six months. The completion date for BEST is 30 June 2019. Over the next 18 months BEST will take measures to focus sharply on the quality and access outcomes it is intended to achieve. The updated M&E plan will provide greater clarity in determining priorities for action between now and program end, and focus on capturing emergent outcomes attributable to BEST.

Strategic considerations will influence a diplomatic approach when working with DepEd to gain a shared appreciation during AP5 planning of what level of program resources can be directed to teaching and learning at the school level.

In early 2018 BEST will begin a pilot of a whole school development approach. The pilot will offer a range of initiatives across each of 30 schools in two regions to trial effective practices delivered as a holistic package involving all the school community to improve learning outcomes: INSET, LAC, education leadership and GEDSI investments will be incorporated. The SBM model will also be integrated and will involve the School Effectiveness Division and the Bureau of Learning Delivery.



New communications products will be delivered, and public diplomacy opportunities for DepEd and for DFAT will be identified which highlight shared DepEd / BEST achievements and to deliver messages about how and why the Australian aid program is supporting basic education reform in the Philippines. A commitment to strengthening application of DFAT branding guidelines is part of the new BEST communication strategy.

BEST communications will be tailored to specific events that provide media opportunities to showcase Australian Aid, examples are two events planned for early 2018:

§ the handover of BEST-supported ICT systems; the EBEIS, the LIS and LR portal § the launch of the Innovation Fund.

In response to the provisional Independent Progress Review, other evaluation activities will begin on priority investments within the next reporting period. Work will also be undertaken to use NAT mean percentage score analysis on sample schools, within one or two divisions within each region, to better assess the impact of interventions on learning outcomes.



Annex 1 Detailed Activity Achievements

Component 1 Achievements: Improving Teaching and Learning

Component 1 responds to the challenges stated in the BEST program design document and addresses education quality issues affecting student learning achievement and barriers to access. It is directed at meeting BEST program outcomes:

§ Teachers, education leaders and managers applying gender responsive evidence-based, contextualised approaches, methods and materials for student learning

§ Education leaders and managers applying innovative SBM, GESI and inclusive education approaches to school planning, student enrolment and retention.

During the reporting period significant outputs were produced across all five sub-component areas: pre-service, in-service, (including Learning Action Cells), leadership and management, curriculum and assessment and gender equality, disability and inclusion. These are summarised below.

Sub-Component 1.1: Pre-Service Teacher Education

During the July to December 2017 period, the BEST Pre-Service Program successfully expanded their Curriculum Quality Audit Program to engage Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) in a focused and highly practical review of their courses that has led to the revision of course syllabi.

BEST Pre-Service has delivered two of five proposed capability workshops, one for TEIs to support inclusive education and another to support them to link teacher education programs with Career Stage 1 of the Philippines Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST) and paved the way for the National Research Agenda for Teacher Education (NRATE).

The support provided through this sub-component is designed to improve the quality of the graduates of the Pre-Service Teacher Training system, and to enable increased capacity to graduate more competent teachers for the new K–12 curriculum reforms.

The primary objective of this sub-component was to increase the quality of the teaching, for the selected TEIs, through the rigorous audit of the pre-service teacher education curriculum, and to further strengthen the capacity of other TEIs in their respective areas of influence.

The following type of activities have supported above listed objectives during the reporting period:

§ National TEI curriculum audit design and implementation § TEI pre-service teacher educators training on competencies aligned to teacher’s professional standards § CHED Research Agenda for Teacher Education § Scholarships in Teacher Education Program to Upgrade Teacher Quality in the Philippines (STEP UP).

OUTPUT 1.1.1: National TEI Curriculum Audit designed and implemented Activity No. 2 BEST Curriculum Quality Audit in conjunction with RCTQ

The goal of this activity is to ensure a quality pre-service teacher education curriculum, as the best strategy for ensuring that teachers are capable of implementing the new K–12 Basic Education program.

This activity objective supports teacher quality through rigorous audit of the curriculum, selecting TEIs in different regions across the country that are part of the National Network of Normal Schools and the Centres of Excellence / Development. These TEIs have a mandate to build the capacity of other centres in their respective areas of influence.

For the regional coverage of the TEI in this sub-component see Table 1.



Table A1 Batch 1: Teacher Education Institutions

Teacher Education Institutions Region Teacher Education Institutions Region

1 Bukidnon State University X 5 Pangasinan State University 1

2 Western Mindanao State University IX 6 Leyte Normal University VIII

3 Bicol University V 7 Cebu Normal University VII

4 Palawan State University IV-B 8 Central Luzon State University III

Total budget planned for this activity is P4,500,000 and total amount spent at the end of this reporting period is P2,232,967.99 (49.6 per cent).

During this reporting period, the following key achievements are reported for the curriculum quality audit:

§ Program expanded to engage TEIs in a review of their courses that has led to the revision of course syllabi.

§ Ten (10) TEIs, considered batch one, were engaged in the curriculum quality audit (CQA); eight of the first batch, expected to complete the full cycle of CQA by June 2018, while the remaining two TEIs have joined batch two under AP4.

§ Eighteen (18) of the TEIs received capacity building via the on-site workshops and a further four will receive their training early in 2018. The total number of staff trained in these TEIs was 406 (153 men and 253 women). External review for the CQA documentation of batch 1 TEIs completed and all data and reports for external audit completed and the results have formed the basis for curriculum development and course syllabi revision.

§ CQA curricular development workshop for Bukidnon State University and Western Mindanao State University conducted (27 November-1 December 2017).

§ Twenty-two (22) more centres undertook the CQA process, starting with training a core group of 95 specialists (57 men, 38 women,) from 31 identified TEIs on 29-31 August 2017, followed by an onsite two-day capability-building workshop for the faculty of each participating TEI.

§ At each TEI between 50 and 120 people have engaged in CQA development work and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities. Each has been given the basics of the auditing process and an indication of the expected work for the entire CQA cycle.

Evidence of immediate outcomes coming from the reported achievements are:

§ Bukidnon State University and Western Mindanao State University used the results of their CQA in a refinement of their Teacher Education Program and are now applying the new CHED Policies, Standards and Guidelines.

§ The CQA Curricular Development Workshop for two universities (27 November-1 December 2017) led to revised course descriptions and semester sequencing of the Elementary and Secondary Teacher Education Programs and course syllabi for the Professional Education Courses. (Additionally, this activity will be undertaken with the other six TEIs of Batch One on 15-17January 2018).

§ Faculty members at the 19 TEIs are now implementing the actual audit process for their teacher education curriculum program. (BEST appointed a resource person as the ‘On-Line CQA Specialist’ to provide online coaching for each TEI after the formal training workshop).

An unexpected positive result for this period was that an additional 22 centres registered their commitment to engage in the CQA process. From June 2017, these 22 centres undertook the CQA process, starting with training a core group of 95 specialists (57 men, 38 women,) from 31 identified TEIs, followed by an onsite two-day capability-building workshop for the faculty of each participating TEI.

In support of the implementation of this activity between 50 and 120 people at each TEI have been engaged by BEST in CQA development work and M&E activities. The Philippines Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST) provides the framework for the audits, guiding audit teams through the Quality Audit procedures; building evidence, inter-coder reliability and basic and differentiated auditing.

The following type of inputs have been provided to date.



§ BEST engaged 10 CQA Specialists as Short-Term Advisers (STAs) who have supported the TEI specialists during the in-situ work

§ Technical and logistical assistance has been provided to 19 of the 22 centres for their CQA in-situ training. The remaining three Centres of Excellence will receive their training in January 2018.

Table A2 below shows Centre of Excellence / Centre of Development coverage and the corresponding number of faculty who were provided with CQA capacity building via the on-site workshops.

Table A2: Attendance at on-site workshops

Centre of Excellence / Centre of Development Regional

Location Male

Participants Female

Participants

Total

University of Asia and the Pacific NCR 10 3 13

Far Eastern University NCR 14 12 26

Adamson University NCR 15 5 20

Centro Escolar University NCR 20 5 25

Benguet State University CAR 24 11 35

St Louis University CAR 13 9 22

University of the Cordilleras CAR 14 9 23

Don Mariano Memorial State U I 104 55 59

Angeles University Foundation III 12 4 16

St. Mary’s University III 13 3 16

De La Salle University-Dasmarinas IV-A 8 7 15

Ateneo de Naga V Input 12/2017 Suspended as a typhoon rescheduled for 01/18

West Visayas State University VI 16 2 18

Negros Oriental State University VI 21 8 29

University of San Recoletos VII 14 6 20

Southern Leyte State University VIII 32 16 48

Ateneo de Zamboanga IX 8 20 28

Xavier University (Ateneo de Cagayan) X 13 1 14

Central Mindanao University X 11 9 20

Mariano Marcos State University I Scheduled January 2018

Tarlac Agricultural University III Scheduled January 2018

Dela Salle University NCR Scheduled January 2018

OUTPUT 1.1.2: Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers Implementing Guidelines developed

This output was completed during AP3.

OUTPUT 1.1.3: TEI pre-service teacher educators trained on competencies aligned to teacher professional standards Activity No. 3 Capability-Building Program Series for Faculty of Centres of Excellence and Centres of Development in Priority Themes

The purpose of this activity is that Centres of Excellence and Centres of Development institutions are better positioned to act in a modelling capacity to support other TEIs in future capacity building in the targeted areas (strategically located across the eighteen regions of the Philippines).



The objective of this activity is to help the TEIs to maintain status as a Centre of Excellence, through the organisation of two two-day programs in a series of five capability building programs. Each of the five capability building programs has a specified focus: Inclusive Education, Teacher Education and the PPST, Action Research and LAC, Content, Pedagogy, and Assessment in English, Science, Math, and Filipino and Curriculum Contextualisation.


For Series One, Inclusive Education: Responding to Diverse Learners (27–29 September 2017), the Lead TEIs were Centro Escolar University and Miriam College. As a result 71 TEI officials (18 men, 53 women) gained enhanced pedagogical knowledge on Inclusive Education.

Capability Building Series Two: Linking the Teacher Education Program with the Career Stage 1 of the PPST (7–8 December 2017), provided an opportunity for TEI faculties to discuss developments in Pre-Service Teacher Education and apply them to improve course syllabi. Three documents crucial to teacher education reforms were presented and discussed, the CHED Proposed Master Plan for Teacher Education, the newly approved Policies, Standards and Guidelines, and the PPST with particular emphasis on the Beginning Teacher Indicators; as well as the implementation of the PPST in the Department of Education and its implications for teacher preparation. The 70 participants (20 men, 50 women ) worked collaboratively to enhance their syllabi in Professional Education courses linking them with the PPST Beginning Teacher Indicators.

Immediate outcome of the capability building programs included:

§ enhanced course syllabi on Special Education and Inclusive Education § required course in Professional Education aligned to the PPST beginning teacher indicators § TEI faculties discussed developments in Pre-Service Teacher Education and applied them to improve

course syllabi.

A planning meeting has been held for Series Three, scheduled 24–26 January 2018 to focus on Action Research and Learning Action Cells (LAC).

OUTPUT 1.1.4: CHED Research Agenda for Teacher Education developed and advocated to TEIs Activity No. 1: Development of National Research Agenda for Teacher Education (NRATE)

The NRATE goal is to set directions for the research initiatives of TEIs for the next 5 years (2018–2022).

The NRATE’s primary objective will be to improve the quality of teachers and raise the quality of learning outcomes by guiding TEIs in studying the implementation of the K–12 Basic Education program and the pre-service education reforms, implementation of the new policies, standards and guidelines for teacher education, and all other priority areas relevant to improving the quality of teachers and raising the quality of learning outcomes.

Total budget planned for this activity is P1,800,000 and total amount spent at the end of this reporting period is P155,870.10 (8.6 per cent).

The final version of the NRATE will be based on inputs from a national stakeholder’s forum, a series of workshops and national validation workshops, and finally approved by the CHED Commission. When this agenda is completed 1000 copies will be printed and distributed to TEIs and offices in the 18 regions.

The activity is being led by the CHED Office of the Programs and Standards Development, the Technical Panel for Teacher Education, in collaboration with the CHED Office of Planning, Research and Knowledge Management, and with the participation of selected TEIs located across the regions.

After a meeting with BEST, the NRATE activity was approved by the CHED Commission, the highest policy-making body of CHED, and a subsequent meeting defined sub-activities with the National Stakeholders Forum scheduled for 23 January 2018. A core team of key actors from CHED, BEST, NEAP was initiated; this team with write the CHED policy on the utilisation of the NRATE in TEIs, with a target for its issuance through a CHED Memorandum Order in June 2018.



OUTPUT 1.1.5: TEI pre-service student selection strategy and mentoring program piloted with 1,000 scholars DFAT Grant: Scholarships in Teacher Education Program to Upgrade Teacher Quality in the Philippines (STEP UP)

The overall goal of the STEP-UP program from 2014 to 2019 is to produce 1,000 high quality teachers ready for public school employment by 2019.

STEP-UP objective is to attract good-performing college graduates and professionals into the teaching profession by offering them competitive scholarship packages.

The program achieved significant milestones in the past six months – 196 scholars graduated and/ or received their Certificate of Teaching Profession. To date, STEP UP currently has 91 graduates from the 308 undergraduate scholars and 162 course completers from the 653 Certificate of Teaching Profession scholars.

82 scholars took the Board Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers (BLEPT) during the reporting period. Of these, 81 successfully passed the BLEPT- achieving a passing rate of 99 percent.

Immediate outcomes of this program are:

§ Out of the total of 58 eligible for the Registry of Qualified Applicants, 31 are currently serving in private schools, four in state colleges and universities, and nine are employed in DepEd public schools. From the nine currently serving in DepEd schools, six have already secured permanent positions.

§ Network/partnerships with TEIs strengthened through STEP UP program. § STEP UP’s inquiry system provides continuous communication with stakeholders and enhances

relationship management with its scholars and DepEd. Local DepEd offices were visited whenever the STEP-UP team were on site. DepEd officials were invited to sit as evaluators during the meet up exercises.

STEP UP has implemented a continuous improvement program. Each year, STEP UP conducts evaluations, making sure that partner TEIs and beneficiaries have an opportunity to contribute to how the project should be carried out. This approach develops a sense of ownership of the policies of the program, which continues to evolve.

STEP UP provides training and seminars to all program scholars to facilitate hiring by DepEd schools. As the BLEPT passers made their way to DepEd, it became apparent that there are mixed interpretations of relevant DepEd hiring guidelines where points are given to applicants with specialised training. This is an issue particularly for Certificate of Teaching Profession scholars with certifications taken while they are still studying. To mitigate this, STEP UP continues to talk with DepEd and provide recommendations on how to address this issue.

Sub-component 1.2: In-Service Teacher Development & Teaching and Learning Materials

BEST supported the Teacher Education Council to implement the Teacher Induction Policy and to develop resource packages for the roll-out of the PPST to teachers.

The following activities have been undertaken during the reporting period:

§ Trial of the Teacher Induction Program packages completed with one division within each of four regions (NCR, Region 10, Region 7 and Region 1) participating, with four schools within each division. (Roll-out will occur in January 2018).

§ Preparatory activities related to the Pedagogical Retooling in Math, Languages, and Science (PRIMALS) for grades 7-10 were completed in December 2017 with an orientation and training design workshop for all resource persons and writers. The training designs of all the subject areas will be delivered in January 2018.

BEST undertook consultations with relevant DepEd bureaus from July to September 2017, to review and revise activities and implementation strategies covering the five priority themes of LAC: English, Science and Maths; classroom assessment; action research; positive discipline; and inclusive education. New LAC program initiatives emerged to be included within BEST’s AP4. These included strengthening of



documentation and learning as part of an M&E strategy and strengthening of LAC processes and mechanisms at the school base. BEST also successfully supported LAC programs in classroom assessment, PRIMALS 4-6, positive discipline, inclusive education and LAC starter kits.

OUTPUT 1.2.1: Teacher professional development program including Learning Action Cells (LAC) on applied PPST designed and delivered Activity No. 4: Implementation of the Teacher Induction Program Policy

The goal of the activity is to support the implementation of the DepEd Policy (Order 43, s. 2017) requiring teachers within their first three years of service to undergo a Teacher Induction Program.

The objective of the activity is to develop 48 lessons and guides for six modules. Topics to include: Department of Education, the Filipino Teacher, the K–12 Curriculum, the Teaching Process, the Learning Process, and School and Community Relationships.

Total budget planned for this activity is P1,800,000 and total amount spent at the end of this reporting period is P658,994.87 (36.6 per cent).

Outputs that can confirm achievement during this reporting period are as follows:

§ The first three workshops (July–September 2017) developed the content outline, scoped the content, articulated the activities in the lesson guides and aligned them to specific PPST indicators and finalised the drafts.

§ A fourth workshop was conducted in September 2017 to allow Superintendents or their representatives to comment on the content of the modules. Selected Central Office, regional and division DepEd personnel and BEST specialists reviewed drafts in December 2017 prior to trial implementation.

§ 216 DepEd personnel (39 from the Central Office and 177 from the regions and divisions) participated in the writing and review of the modules in the writing workshops (81 men, 135 women).

The table below provides Teacher Induction Program activity data by date of activity, location and number of attendees.

Table A3: Teacher Induction Program activity

Activity

Date

Venue

DepEd Central Office Participants

DepEd Region

Participants

Total

Gra

nd

Tota

l

M F M F M F

Teacher Induction Program Modules Development Writeshop

Jul 31 – Aug 4, 2017

Santiago City, Isabela

5 7 15 26 20 33 53

Teacher Induction Program Module Enhancement and Validation Writeshop

Aug 22–25, 2017

Cagayan de Oro City

3 6 14 24 17 30 47

Teacher Induction Program Module Review Workshop

Sep 4-8, 2017

Bacolod City 4 5 12 25 16 30 46

Teacher Induction Program Pre-Finalisation Module Pre-Finalisation Writeshop

Sep 25–28, 2017

Sarrat, Ilocos Norte 4 3 12 21 16 24 40

Orientation on the Teacher Induction Program Field Try-Out

Nov 27–29, 2017

Citadines, Ortigas, Pasig City

2 0 10 18 12 18 30

Total 18 21 63 114 81 135 216



Activity No. 5: Development of Learning Action Cell (LAC) Materials

The goal of the BEST LAC activity is to support DepEd in strengthening In-service Teacher Development focusing on contextualised content and pedagogy.

This goal is supported by several objectives, as follows:

§ decentralising in-service teacher development (regional, division, school) approach § completing regional piloting on the school-based professional programs § developing localised professional groups or associations § establishing partnerships with colleges and universities for continuous professional development of

teachers.


During the reporting period the team successfully implemented programs in classroom assessment, PRIMALS 4-6, positive discipline, inclusive education, action research and LAC starter kits. The number of the components and different tasks within this activity, targeted outputs and the achievements are presented in Table A4:

Table A4: LAC targets and achievements from July to December 2017

Targets Progress Towards Targets Dates

Classroom assessment 8 Facilitators Guides developed on classroom assessment

Completed a trial run of all 5 modules specifically on formative assessments in one elementary school and one secondary school in NCR reaching 33 teachers (5 men, 28 women). Conducted three support visits to each school. Currently revising and reviewing 8 LAC Facilitators’ Guides lifted from the Classroom Assessment Resource Book

25-30/09/2017 12/2017

English, Science, and Maths 46 Facilitators’ Guides developed for DepEd’s Pedagogical Retooling in Mathematics, Languages, and Science (PRIMALS) grades 4 to 6 125 Facilitators Guides and Collaborative Lesson Plans developed on Literacy Strategies and Educational Technologies grades 7-10

Completed the development of 43 Facilitators’ Guides in English, Science, Math, and Filipino for grades 4 to 6 teachers. Engaged 23 writers from DepEd in the development of PRIMALS 4-6 LAC resource package. Rendered 54 instructional videos from PRIMALS 4-6 national training footages.

11-15/09/2017 11-15/09/2017 11-15/09/2017

Action Research One Resource Package developed on Action Research.

Administered training needs assessment survey to 188 teachers from Region X and 282 in Region VIII. Conducted focus group discussions among 24 teachers (18 F/ 6 M) in Region X and with 62 teachers (52 F/10 M) in Region VIII on challenges and practices in Action Research.

13-14/10/2017

Inclusive Education 6 Audio-Video products on teacher, parent and student voices, and trigger videos developed

Developed 4 storyboards and voice over scripts of parent, teacher, and student perspectives on inclusive education. Started procurement of audio-video production service providers.

10/2017- 12/2017 12/2017 12/2017

5 Facilitators’ Guides on Inclusive Education developed

Developed two new guides.

Positive Discipline



Targets Progress Towards Targets Dates

8 Facilitators’ Guides on Positive Discipline developed 6 Audio-Video products on approaches to Positive Discipline.

Engaged DepEd in the review of tenders for audio-video production services. Identified 4 schools participating in the trial run of the materials in Region V and NCR.

11/2017- 12/2017 December 2017

LAC Starter Kit One resource package developed Interviewed 83 teachers, school and district administrators

in Regions VII and X as part of an assessment exercise. Reviewed the content, scope and sequence of the session guide series to make the Resource package more directive to strengthen schools’ PLC practices.

15/11-6/12/2017 12/2017

Classroom assessment: BEST supported BLD-TLD to improve the Facilitator’s Guides on classroom assessment and will pilot these in elementary and secondary schools.

English, Science, and Maths: Each guide developed in this component consists of a 20-minute instructional video containing concepts and pedagogy needed for teaching the four disciplines in the K–12 curriculum, including 21st century skills. BLD-TLD officials reviewed the guides to ensure the quality of content. DepEd regions began regional training in November 2017 and training will continue until the first quarter of 2018.

Action Research: BEST worked with the Planning, Policy, and Research Division in the development of a school-based Professional Development Resource Package in Action Research. BEST and the Planning, Policy, and Research Division administered a Training Needs Assessment Tool to determine teachers’ beliefs and practices in conducting action research. The results will inform the scope and content of materials for teachers. Preliminary results indicated that:

§ Teachers are uncertain about different types of research. Their notions about action research lean towards academic research.

§ Teachers are challenged in finding time for all stages of the research. § Teachers are not confident to prepare an action research and need training in all aspects of preparing,

conducting, and reporting. § Teachers believe that completing an action research is mainly for promotion and is not viewed as an

initiative to improve instruction and student learning. § The results of the survey and the intended implementation plan were presented to the Planning, Policy,

and Research Division for approval. The plan articulates capacity-building activities to develop a cadre of DepEd writer-trainers to provide follow through support to BEST focused regions implementing action research.

Inclusive education: Recommendations from a review of the resource package for LAC facilitators included the development of additional sessions on disability, gender and the index of inclusion for school planning. Session guides have now been designed to incorporate post activity analysis questions, expected or possible answers to questions, and important concepts to impart, as strategies to scaffold teachers’ facilitation. Along with the resource package, advocacy videos will feature stories from teacher, parent, and student perspectives on inclusiveness. Nine parents (all women), 31 teachers (3 men, 28 women), and 16 students (9 men, 7 women) from the divisions of Biliran and Baybay were interviewed using an interview guide. One storyboard for teacher voice and one storyboard for parent voice were developed from the interviews. It was also recommended that sessions be split into shorter segments.

Positive Discipline: Our LAC team re-connected with Save the Children, UNICEF Philippines, and the Office of Undersecretary Muyot in the development of school-based professional development materials on positive discipline. BEST and BLD-TLD strategically partnered with Save the Children to review the technical soundness of nine Facilitators Guides. The guides come with six videos that demonstrate the process of managing children’s behaviour. To access school practices, BEST visited a school in Tanauan City Division in Region IVA that BLD-TLD identified as one of the Division’s best implementers of positive discipline. To develop DepEd’s cadre of writer-trainers, BEST supported eight people, with one woman and one man from



each of BLD-TLD, Regions III, IVA, and NCR to attend Ako Para Sa Bat’ (I for the Child) international conference. Participants said that they gained ideas about dealing with student behaviours based on empirical studies and the conceptual link between violence against children at home and at school. They also reported that their participation has renewed their commitment to complete and pilot test guides.

LAC starter kit: BEST reviewed the content of the LAC starter kit with respect to the relevant DepEd Order 35 S2016.10 A rapid assessment was conducted in Regions VII, X, and NCR. Eighty-three teachers, school and district administrators 16 men, 67 women) from nine elementary schools and eight secondary schools participated in focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Divisions and schools were selected on criteria such as NAT performance, school typology (e.g. multi-grade school, science school, large school, etc.) and accessibility and security considerations. The assessment instruments were piloted in five elementary schools and one secondary school. Twenty-one teachers (3 men, 18 women) from schools in the divisions of Cebu City and Cebu Province participated in the pilot test. Findings will inform improvements to the current version of the LAC starter kit. The kit will provide concrete steps for schools (of varying typology), with no or weak structures, to support PLC practices to start a positive PLC culture; as well as supporting schools with established structures to further strengthen their PLC culture. Preliminary results of the assessments revealed that:

§ PLC practices in schools can be categorised into formal and informal. Activities in most schools visited are still informal as there are no learning goals set.

§ There are different notions about LAC. For many, faculty and administrative meetings are considered LAC.

§ PLC activities range from collaborative lesson planning to LAC to informal mentoring. § Most schools schedule LAC once a week but schedules are postponed because of the numerous

activities in which teachers participate. § Planning, monitoring, assessment and reporting protocols for LAC are not in place in all schools. § Efforts to operationalise LAC in schools where LACs are not fully implemented are underway.

As part of a stocktaking exercise BEST consulted with USAID’s Basa Philippines program, which had invested in school-based professional development activities through LACs. Basa shared materials developed for LACs, their capacity building approach for school heads and facilitators, as well as their lessons learned. This exercise pointed to the need to expand the LAC series to include topics identified in the rapid needs assessment. Topics include: understanding LAC policy; understanding the roles and relationship of LAC leaders, facilitators, and participants; developing shared values; developing school and individual learning goals; modalities of professional learning communities (mentoring and coaching, peer group learning); developing LAC plans; establishing instructional or peer support and assessing school PLC practices.

The LAC team has engaged, after consultation with DepEd, in new initiatives including the strengthening of documentation and learning as part of BEST’s M&E strategy embedded within LAC themes; and the strengthening of LAC processes and mechanisms.

Activity challenges and lessons learned that might inform management on a continuation of the activity implementation in this planning cycle or any other possible extension of this activity are presented in the Table A5.

Table A5: Learning Action Cells - Challenges and lessons learned

Areas Challenges Lessons Learned Program sustainability and ownership / collaboration and partnerships

Engagement of key BLD-TLD officials in their relevant focused sector (i.e., action research) continues to be a challenge because of their commitment to regular DepEd activities.

Involvement of relevant DepEd Bureaus, Regions, and Divisions in the planning stage of program implementation (i.e., selection of pilot schools and focused intervention schools, development of workshop design, involvement in external partner meetings) facilitates ease and ensures participation of relevant participants. Regular update sessions with relevant DepEd officials provide them feedback on implementation issues and concerns (e.g.,

10 Policy for K–12 Basic Education Program School Based Continuing Professional Development Strategy for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning.



Areas Challenges Lessons Learned content of facilitators’ guide and delivery in LACs); however, there is no certainty that DepEd will facilitate proposed solutions to address issues at hand. DepEd’s provision of an alternate focal person facilitates the continuity of planned or scheduled activities.

Quality Assurance DepEd writers are engaged in numerous activities, which take their focus away from developing quality materials. Although DepEd writers are considered specialists in their area of focus, they could largely benefit from training programs to brush up their writing skills.

Setting some criteria for selecting writers and providing capability- building opportunities (i.e., participation in fora) ensures the quality of the content of professional development materials. Incorporating capability-building activity for writers generates commitment to pursue intended program plans.

Activity No. 7: Implementation Activities for the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers

This activity goal is to support a nationwide rollout of the PPST at the school level and to provide technical and strategic assistance in the development of the ‘ICT elaboration’ for ICT-related strands of the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers.

Supporting activities are:

§ regional teams are trained; relevant personnel from the Regional Office, selected divisions, and identified NEAP trainers

§ teams trained to conduct the training of their respective teachers at district and school levels.

Sub-Activity: A resource package will support the training of Regional teams and teachers

§ ICT Elaboration Work plan designed and developed. § Strategic partnership established with Microsoft for the creation of LAC activity cards for priority subject

areas aiming at identifying key topics for STEM, coding, inclusive education and office productivity.

The total budget planned for this activity is P4,500,000 and the total amount spent at the end of this reporting period is P65,560.39 (1.45 per cent). The very low use of the financial resources is a consequence of the delayed implementation of the activity due to the recruitment of a ‘new’ LAC team. Activity planning indicates that P4,258,550 will be spent by June 2018.

This activity involves a nationwide rollout of the PPST at school level. It includes training regional teams (relevant personnel from the Regional Office, selected divisions, and identified NEAP trainers) who will in turn conduct the training of their respective teachers at district and school levels. A resource package will support the training of regional teams and teachers. BEST has collaborated with RCTQ to design the roll-out of this activity. Draft PPST tools such as the self-assessment for teachers, classroom observation tool and the portfolio assessment for teachers (which are part of the results-based performance management system) were ready in December 2017 for Bureau of Human Resource and Organisational Development approval. These will be included in the resource packages. Approval was delayed and the proposed assessment of the trial implementation by RCTQ will occur in early 2018.

Teacher Education Council, RCTQ and BEST met in December 2017 and agreed that RCTQ would not conduct the planned assessment study as there was inadequate time to demonstrate implementation of the policy at the various levels of governance. To ensure the resource package is developed promptly in 2018, it was agreed that the package focus on those indicators decided upon between RCTQ and the Bureau of Human Resource and Organisational Development.

ICT standards in the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST)

Technical and strategic assistance is provided in the development of the ‘ICT elaboration’ for ICT-related strands of the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers. Directors of the Teacher Education Council



and ICT Service, representatives from RCTQ, NEAP and the Teacher Development Component discussed the rationale of the initiative and methodology to be used. The design and development of the ICT Elaboration Work Plan followed (to be approved by the new ICTS Director). Phase 1 is scheduled for February 2018.

The strategic partnership with Microsoft Philippines in the creation of LAC activity cards for priority subject areas was launched in July 2017 at the Microsoft Philippines office in Makati with a one-day workshop, aimed at identifying key topics for STEM, coding, inclusive education and office productivity. Relevant topics were selected, the methodology and working arrangements for the initiative were discussed, finalised and communicated to all parties involved. The workshop was co-facilitated by BEST staff with technical expertise on the UIS and on Inclusive Education and Microsoft partners. It brought together Microsoft education ambassadors in Luzon, education program supervisors and program officers from the DepEd’s Bureau of Learning Delivery, Bureau of Curriculum Development, Bureau of Learning Resources and ICT Service.

It is expected this partnership will result in supporting and accelerating during 2018 a school-based ICT capacity building activity for teachers.

OUTPUT 1.2.2: Teacher Educator Program on English, Maths, Science and Filipino subject specialisation designed and implemented at Region, Division and School level Activity No. 6: Pedagogical Retooling in Maths, Languages, and Science (PRIMALS) grades 7-10

PRIMALS is intended to supplement the training in the K to 12 curricula that teachers receive during the regular summer in-service. The PRIMALS 7-10 training is a sequel to the PRIMALS 4-6 program, which was conducted by the Bureau of Learning Development in March 2017 with technical assistance from BEST.

The objective of the activity is to strengthen the appropriate pedagogies, including literacy and educational technology strategies to assist learners across curriculum areas.

The total budget planned for this activity is P3,876,975.00 and total amount spent at the end of this reporting period is P116,366.50 (3 per cent). It is expected that an additional P3,587,499.98 will be spent by the end of the implementation period (June 2018).

August to December 2017 saw the following outputs:

§ recruitment and selection of 20 (4 men, 16 women) writers and facilitators to develop resource packages (consisting of training design, session guides, PowerPoint presentations and handouts, including readings and activity sheets) for science, mathematics, English and Filipino and literacy and educational technology strategies across the curriculum. These writers and facilitators will work with BLD to ensure alignment of these resource packages with the curriculum.

§ scoping of content; identification of desired learning outcomes; scoping of needs; development of training designs

§ orientation of all trainers / writers to be engaged on the outcomes desired, including session guide templates, general approach to training, orientation on the terms of reference and other contractual arrangements and administrative matters

§ program orientation (21 December 2017).

The Bureau of Learning Development is increasingly engaged, agreeing to take sole responsibility for the video production of the National Training of Trainers Level One. In January 2018 the approval of the training design of the subject areas and the integration of educational strategies in the content areas will be undertaken. Meetings will be held per subject area and draft session guides will be reviewed by BLD / BEST.

The national training of 144 DepEd staff from 18 regions will occur in March 2018 followed by repackaging of resources into LAC material. A further national training of an additional 234 level 2 trainers will occur with the repackaged resources prior to the roll-out of training to divisions and schools in April 2018 to be delivered to school heads and master teachers using LAC materials repackaged from the National Training of Trainers Level One resource packages. It is expected that planned outputs for this period will absorb the entire forecasted amount (P3.5 million) for the activity.



OUTPUT 1.2.3: Contextualised and GEDSI sensitive teaching and learning materials developed and disseminated to teacher educators and teachers

Training for potential Learning Resource Evaluators from the different regions: Technical assistance was provided on topics related to manuscript evaluation and other editorial processes to each of four clusters on 24, 25, 31 July and 1 August 2017. Topics covered included social content, contextualisation, and GEDSI sensitive issues in learning resources that would be developed either by private publishers (through the Textbook Call) or by DepEd.

As evidence of the immediate outcome of the activity we can report that prior to BEST’s engagement with the Bureau of Learning Resources, a similar orientation for potential Learning Resource Evaluators had not been held: the evaluation tool had been explained but the potential Learning Resource Evaluators had not been provided with the foundation for the tasks required. Regional cluster trainings were attended by 500 potential Learning Resource Evaluators from Regions I to XIII and ARMM. See table below for details of clusters and participants.

Table A6: Regional cluster trainings

Participants (Cluster 1: Regions 1-3, CAR) Number

Teachers 147

Principals 90

Education Program Supervisor 11

Total 248

Participants (Cluster 2: Regions 4-5) Teachers No data

Principals No data

Education Program Supervisor No data

Total 108

Participants (Cluster 3: Regions 6-12, NIR) Teachers 16

Principals 17


Total 38

Participants (Cluster 4: Regions11-13, ARMM)

Teachers 73

Principals 8


Total 106

Technical assistance to the Bureau of Curriculum Development on rewriting of the Technical- Vocational-Livelihood manuscripts for grades 11 and 12: On 27 July BEST provided technical training on basic module writing, manuscript evaluation and substantive and mechanical editing for 100 writers, 50 content validators, and 50 language reviewers / editors sourced from the field, who were not practitioners of the different technical-vocational-livelihood learning areas. The BEST presentation incorporated topics on social content, inclusive education, and contextualisation along with the importance of basic writing elements such as writing in context, providing factual and accurate materials and using transitional effects.

Technical assistance to the Bureau of Learning Resources Quality Assurance Division’s Quality Assurance Process: BEST supported review of Technical and Vocational Learning manuscripts for grade 11 and grade 12 (29 September 2017). Topics included content review for 22 reviewers from academe and manuscript revision for 56 responsible writers. Of the 37 manuscripts reviewed, only three passed the initial



quality assurance process. Reviewers noted that lessons are not being aligned with the curriculum guides, learning competencies are too advanced for the grade levels, and prerequisite skills are not included.

Technical assistance to the Bureau of Learning Resources Production Division’s Consultative Conference: Technical assistance was provided on 27 November 2017 to produce text-based learning resources and for a critique of presentations by groups representing the different sections of the handbook (e.g. social content, contextualisation of learning resources, project management, quality assurance on print materials and those for uploading into the LR portal and intellectual property rights).

Curriculum and Assessment Resource Book: From July–December 2017, BEST edited Parts 1 and 2 of the Classroom Assessment Resource Book for language use and grammar and merged redundant portions of Parts 1 and 2 within Volume 1.

Sub-component 1.3: Education Leadership and Management

BEST has worked with Bureaus to support the alignment of planning with new policies. With BEST technical support, the Learning and Development General Framework and Standard is nearing its final draft.

OUTPUT 1.3.1: Education Leadership and Management training program delivered at Regional, Division and School level Activity No. 9: Installation of Learning and Development System

Through this activity, DepEd’s existing Training and Development System will be enhanced into a Learning and Development System which emphasises the alignment of Learnign and Development activities with the strategic directions of the Department.

The Results-based Performance Management System will be integrated and aligned with the PPST; harmonising standards with the PRIME-HRM requirements of the Civil Service Commission. The aim is to ensure continuous professional development of staff and improve programs, processes and practices through quality assurance mechanisms and M&E.

Total budget planned for this activity is P13,500,000.00 and total amount spent at the end of this reporting period is P1,090,525.96 (8.07 per cent).

The Learning and Development General Framework and Standard is in its pre-final form and the four contextualised versions are in a third draft.

These outputs are now subject to style and content editing and packaging in January to February 2018. Seven of the 20 sub-activities identified under this activity have been completed, including:

§ Two workshops to enhance existing drafts of the Learning and Development General Framework and Standards (11–15 September & 16–20 October 2017).

§ Three workshops to contextualise the General Framework and Standards into the experiences, structures of the four governance levels (central, regional, schools division, and schools) and to align the contextualised output (25–29 September, 27–30 November & 12–14 December 2017).

§ One workshop to orientate and consult members of the proposed Personnel Development Committee, consisting of NEAP and BHROD representatives at the Central Office. Personnel Development Committee is organised to support the implementation of the Learning and Development System, among others, and to ensure that concerns of individual employees are properly raised and considered in the development of learning interventions (6–10 November).

§ One workshop where technical assistance from BEST was provided to align the different programs and activities of the curriculum and instruction strand and clarify roles between and among the bureaus and implementing units within the strand (1–2 December 2017).

Activity No. 10: Superintendents Leadership Program

The Superintendents Leadership Program is designed to build superintendents’ competencies, including on Personal Mastery, Leadership, Curriculum Management, and Partnerships & Linkages . Superintendents Leadership Program is the outcome of a consortium agreement between DepEd, the Knowledge Channel, De La Salle University, and Philippines Australia Human Resource and Organisation Development Facility.



Total budget planned for this activity is P1,350,000.00 and total amount spent at the end of this reporting period is P8,763.00 (0.64 per cent).

BEST provided subject matter experts and technical assistance for the module for Batch 5, Spiritual and Ethical Leadership; and is currently enhancing the module design and learning resource packages to be used for batch 6 training (scheduled for July 2018). The recruitment and hiring of a subject matter expert for Module 12 of Batch 5 was completed in November 2017. Training for delivery of batch 6 is scheduled for 5–9 February 2018.

OUTPUT 1.3.2: NEAP Institutional Strengthening Program developed Activity No. 8: Assistance to NEAP as a full-service Professional Development Academy

The design of this activity was prepared by RCTQ and agreed by DepEd and BEST. A Grant contract with RCTQ was signed on 18 December 2017. Activities are to commence in 2018.

Total budget planned for this activity is P6,750,000.00 and total amount spent at the end of this reporting period is P 2,798.034 (41.45 per cent).

Sub-component 1.4: Curriculum and Assessment

BEST has continued to support DepEd in the implementation of the K–12 Basic Education curriculum. Given the new rationalised DepEd structure, there was a need, during the reporting period, to offer capacity building for all staff to meet their respective office mandates. Staff represented Bureau of Curriculum Development, Bureau of Learning Delivery, Bureau of Learning Resources, Bureau of Educational Assessment and Regional Offices.

BEST activities under the supervision of the Office of Curriculum and Instruction during the period included: support for progress of the senior schooling road map and ongoing technical assistance to the Bureau of Learning Resources to expedite resource flow via the resource portal; completed work commenced in the previous six months on contextualisation for multi-grade classes; edited the Curriculum and Assessment Resource Book; planned a Curriculum Research Models Forum; supported an Alternative Learning Systems–Education and Skills Training (ALS-EST) framework; and built capacity of Bureau of Curriculum Development staff. The details of these activities are explored in the following section.

OUTPUT 1.4.1: National Curriculum and Assessment Framework developed and implemented

No approved AP4 activity.

OUTPUT 1.4.2: Curriculum Contextualisation Policy developed, and implementation support provided Activity No. 17: Validation of Curriculum Contextualisation Policy

In early 2017, BEST supported the Bureau of Curriculum Development to draft the Curriculum Contextualisation Policy. To ensure that the policy was relevant to various stakeholders and regions, three validation workshops were held during November–December 2017 in each of the three island clusters: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. During the validation workshops, teachers and supervisors discussed the policy and validated its usefulness and relevance for classroom practice, and its ability to offer a guide on contextualisation. They provided comments on content, identified gaps and provided suggestions.

The workshops were attended by 103 staff from the regions and 15 from DepEd Central Office. Table 7 below details regions, dates and participant numbers. Workshop outputs will be used to finalise the Curriculum Contextualisation Policy scheduled for January 2018.

Table A7: Curriculum Contextualisation Policy validation workshops

Validation Dates Venue Teachers Principals

and Supervisors

DepEd Central Office

Visayas cluster Nov.7-10, 2017 Iloilo City 12 24 6



§ Regions VI (Western Visayas) § Region VII (Central Visayas) § Region VIII (Eastern Visayas)

Mindanao cluster Nov. 12-15, 2017 Davao City 15 17 5

§ Region IX (Zamboanga Peninsula) § Region X (Northern Mindanao) Region XI (Davao Region) § Region XII (Soccsksargen) § Region XIII (Caraga)

Luzon cluster Dec. 5-8, 2017 Quezon City 17 18 4

§ National Capital Region (NCR) § Region I (Ilocos Region) § Region II (Cagayan Valley) § Region III (Central Luzon) § Region IV-A (Calabarzon) § Region IV-B (Mimaropa) § Region V (Bicol Region) § Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR)


OUTPUT 1.4.3: K–12 curriculum implementation research conducted, and findings disseminated Activity No. 11: Research of Curriculum Models or Special Programs (Science-Oriented Schools and Integrated Schools)

In support of the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 (RA 10533), which includes the provision that ‘the curriculum shall be made relevant, responsive and research-based’, the Bureau of Curriculum Development in collaboration with BEST conducted a four-day consultative meeting and writing workshop on the Development of Guidelines for the Bureau of Curriculum Development Research on Curriculum Models (21–24 November 2017). The purpose was to create a research guideline for the First National Research Conference on Curriculum to be finalised by Bureau of Curriculum Development and to be held on 21–25 May 2018. Curriculum-related research journals from the schools, divisions and regions will be published and disseminated at the conference. Forty-seven participants (chiefs, senior education program specialists and research coordinators from Curriculum and Learning Materials Division, PRD, and SGOD) participated from 13 regions.

The workshop developed guidelines for the selection of completed research materials for publication.

Total budget planned for this activity is P4,500,000.00 and total amount spent until the end of this reporting period is P1,012,619.30 (65.37 per cent).

Activity No. 13: BEST Grant to Assessment, Curriculum, Technology Research Centre (ACTRC): International Large-Scale Assessments Support

The ACTRC team continued to provide advice to the Bureau of Educational Assessment (Bureau of Educational Assessment) on International Large-Scale Assessments-related matters and on technical aspects of test and scale development.

This reporting period specifically targeted Program for International Student Assessment through review and confirmation of sampling processes, field trial monitoring and provision of feedback to the Bureau of Educational Assessment, as well as planning for 2018 activities, including Program for International Student Assessment advocacy. ACTRC continued to work with the Bureau of Educational Assessment on development of items for national assessments, with a focus on 21st century skills.



The primary goal of this work is to continue building capacity within the Bureau of Educational Assessment team.

The past 18 months have seen an improvement in long-term planning and scheduling by Bureau of Educational Assessment of ACTRC contributions. Communication strategies have improved with clearer routes for the different areas of inputs. These innovations represent a coherent approach from Bureau of Educational Assessment, which is particularly meritorious given the huge expectations of the Bureau by DepEd.

Total budget planned for this activity is P2,814,201.00 and total amount spent until the end of this reporting period is P3,450,715.19 (122.61 per cent).

Activity No. 14: BEST Grant to ACTRC: LearnBEST

ACTRC designed the LearnBEST project in response to a request from DFAT as part of the Monitoring and Evaluation of the BEST initiative. The sampling for the project was finalised in this reporting period, memo for research obtained from DepEd and schools recruited. Because of delays in the project due to lack of sampling data, the design was amended slightly in order to finalise the identification of possible student cohort gains in learning over the maximum period possible within the BEST program timelines. The first student assessment round of N ~ 16,000 students in NCR and Region 7 was completed in November–December 2017.

Within a span of three weeks the assessment round was completed, a major undertaking which included the training of test administrators and monitors and major logistics planning and implementation for travel, conveying test materials, maintaining confidentiality of materials, coordinating with the participating schools and ensuring safety and wellbeing of personnel. The data collected will serve as a baseline for this monitoring activity. BEST has been provided with details of the participating schools’ identities to enable strategic decision-making concerning how to target schools in order to monitor outcomes of interventions.

Total budget planned for this activity is P5,462,865.00 and total amount spent at the end of this reporting period is P6,438,288.19 (117 per cent).

OUTPUT 1.4.4: Professional development program on curriculum and assessment designed and delivered Activity No. 12: Capacity Building Program for Strengthening Bureau of Curriculum Development (Bureau of Curriculum Development) Officers on Curriculum Development

The Bureau of Curriculum Development, which was established as a result of the Rationalisation Plan, required the strengthening of capacity of all staff and specialists aligned with the mandate of the Bureau. In support, BEST, the Bureau of Curriculum Development director and chiefs identified two essential workshops aimed at creating learning opportunities and providing resources for Bureau of Curriculum Development specialists, through fostering mentorship and continuing education.

The first of these workshops, Capacity Building Workshop on Curriculum Design and Development, was conducted from 17–20 October 2017 and provided technical inputs on curriculum design and development, including: (i) basic elements of a Curriculum Framework, (ii) how to define curriculum outcomes, standards, competencies, objectives and content, and (iii) curriculum design models. The workshop also included a team coaching activity involving the 44 Bureau of Curriculum Development specialists (11 men, 33 women) included the Director, two Chiefs, ten Supervising Education Program Specialists and 31 Senior Education Program Specialists.

As further support for capacity building of Bureau of Curriculum Development staff, planning was undertaken during the period to arrange a Study Tour to Education Queensland to review elements such as K–12 Curriculum and Assessment methods, out of school learning facilities and contextualised courses for indigenous learners. The Study Tour group of 12 (three men, 9 women) will include ithree directors, eight specialists / supervisors and one chief from Bureau of Curriculum Development as well as one each from Bureau of Learning Delivery and NEAP. In December an Agreement was signed with Education Queensland International for this study tour to take place in March 2018.




OUTPUT 1.4.5: DepEd Classroom Assessment Resource Book developed and disseminated

Classroom Assessment Resource Book: In 2015–2016 BEST initiated the development of the Classroom Assessment Resource Book to support implementation of the Policy Guidelines on Classroom Assessment for the K–12 Enhanced Basic Education Curriculum. Working with teachers and supervisors from across the country, the Classroom Assessment Resource Book was largely drafted in 2016.

From July to December 2017 BEST completed the final editing of the Classroom Assessment Resource Book. Additional funds were released in December 2017 to take this forward. In January 2018 BEST will oversee the layout, graphic design and printing. BEST will support a limited print run and a launch of the Classroom Assessment Resource Book by May 2018.

OUTPUT 1.4.6: DepEd roadmap for Senior High School implementation expanded Activity No. 15: Development of Senior High School Learning Delivery Roadmap

The senior high school (SHS) program is a major reform within the basic education program. The full implementation of the SHS program was started in the school year 2015–2016, with 32 early implementers labelled as ‘modelling schools’ across the country. BEST collaborated with the Bureau of Learning Delivery to finalise the roadmap in a consultative workshop (22–26 August 2017).


Seventy-eight participants (36 men, 42 women) from 18 regions attended the workshop, including Curriculum and Learning Materials Division chiefs, SHS focal persons from regional and division offices, school heads and SHS teachers. Participants reviewed policy, curriculum and instruction, assessment, learning resources, teachers’ capacity building, non-teaching personnel, advocacy and partnership, and research. They presented their initiatives and strategies for implementing grade 11, discussed issues and concerns and their proposed solutions, and planned innovative activities and monitoring strategies for 2018 to 2022. The major output, the Draft Roadmap for SHS was presented and commented upon collaboratively through a Gallery Walk.

The workshop revealed that there were valued initiatives from the regions and divisions, despite only one year of SHS implementation. However, many Technical Vocational Livelihood issues were identified (such as the need for a unified curriculum implementation to allow for transferees, incomplete Technical Vocational Livelihood immersion guidelines, inadequate facilities in schools, varying rates of Technical Vocational Livelihood assessment fees, courses offered becoming obsolete based on the TESDA list, and high qualification standards for Technical Vocational Livelihood teachers resulting in no qualified applicants). Other issues included subject offerings of grades 7-10 Science High School in comparison with regular SHS grades 11–12 programs, immersion of Technical Vocational Livelihood marine students outside of the country, and clarification of the guideline which states ‘immersion of all SHS students’. Concerns regarding further training of SHS teachers were voiced by Junior High School representatives and University faculties. The provision of adequate facilities to implement varied tracks was also raised.

OUTPUT 1.4.7: Multi-grade teacher development and learning materials designed and delivered

Teaching and learning packages for multi-grade teachers: The DepEd Order, Strengthening the Implementation of the Multigrade Program in Philippine Education described multi-grade education as one of the department’s strategies to provide access to quality education for all school-age children in remote communities where enrolment does not warrant the organisation of monograde classes. Since August 2015 BEST has supported the Bureau of Learning Development in conducting field visits to multi-grade classes and a series of workshops was conducted to develop prototype lesson plans for English, mother tongue, Science, Maths, and Filipino.



Although there was no specific multigrade activity funded under AP4, it was obvious that additional technical support was required to complete work started under AP3. BEST finalised the prototype multi-grade teach-learn package through a writing workshop activity (12–16 September 2017) in Aklan with 59 participants (28 men, 31 women). Multi-grade coordinators, principals and teachers finalised integrated lesson plans. Session guides were developed to complete the teach–learn package.

These outputs are supportive of the intermediate outcome ‘Application of relevant and appropriate learning and teaching materials’. Multi-grade daily lesson plans were printed in December 2017. The materials were developed with BEST technical support and printed and distributed by DepEd, and are a positive partnership outcome. These resources for the 12,000 multi-grade schools in the Philippines are the first K–12 materials that align with the new lesson planning guidelines.

OUTPUT 1.4.8: DepEd Alternative Learning System design and implementation supported Activity No 18. Alternative Learning Systems (ALS)

The regular ALS program provides non-formal education in basic literacy for potential students who are not literate and an accreditation and equivalency program for potential students who have dropped out of the formal system. ALS-EST (also known as ALS OSEC) is a complementary initiative to the regular ALS which integrates a skills-training component for employment and/or entrepreneurship with the existing academic interventions. Various organisations are already implementing ALS with skills training and there are 25 schools piloting the ALS-EST project. However, there are currently no implementing rules to standardise and guide these efforts. The ALS curriculum is expected to be aligned with the K–12 Enhanced Basic Education curriculum; and ALS-EST, as a national program, requires multi-sectoral participation, with government (DepEd, CHED, TESDA and local government units), non-government organisations and industry participation.

BEST has commenced preparatory activities with the Development Academy of the Philippines as lead partner to support development of a scaffold structure for ALS-EST. Two major components were identified: holding a forum to gather insights and best practices of ALS implementers; and the development of resources to support implementation of the ALS-EST program in alignment with the K–12 basic education curricula for mobile teachers.

During the December 2017 education summit, preliminary discussion was undertaken with ALS-EST implementers who attended the ALS workshop. Concerns related to ALS were raised, commitments of stakeholders were presented, and priority actions were identified. These will inform the agenda for the January 2018 ALS meeting.

Total budget planned for this activity is P12,150,000.00 and total amount spent at the end of this reporting period is P78.30.

Sub-component 1.5: Gender and Social Inclusion

The Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) strategy of BEST has been strengthened with the hiring of two international advisers: the Gender and Social Inclusion Adviser and the Disability Inclusion Adviser. BEST will focus on strengthening gender, disability and social inclusion of other marginalised groups through awareness raising, capacity building, and targeted interventions at the school level as well as continuing its work with DepEd Bureau of Human Resource and Organisational Development (BHROD) and the Student Inclusion Division (SID). Gender, disability and social inclusion continue to be mainstreamed in other program sub-components.

OUTPUT 1.5.1: DepEd Inclusive Education Policy Framework developed addressing learners with disabilities, Muslim and Indigenous Peoples learners and ALS Activity No. 16: Support to Inclusive Education and Disability Activity No. 19. Capacity Building and Development of Materials on Inclusive Education and Contextualisation

Work on these two activities was merged and is reported below.



Total budget planned for this activity No. 16 is P5,654,250.00 and total amount spent at the end of this reporting period is P1,405,239.70 (24.85 per cent), while for the activity No. 19 the planned budget is P4,500,000.00, while P1,012,619.30 (22.50 per cent) has been spent to the end of December 2018.

GEDSI/Emerging Microsoft technologies for inclusive education: A workshop on Emerging Microsoft Technologies for Inclusive Education, STEM Coding and Office Productivity was held on 28 July 2017. BEST provided an overview of inclusive education, which enabled the Microsoft Education Ambassadors to explore opportunities to develop technology and accessibility tools to support the learning of children with disabilities.

Through this workshop, the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) Learning Action Cell activity cards, which guide teachers on the use of ICT in teaching practice, were produced.

GEDSI/Pre-service education interface: BEST engaged in the pre-service activity ‘An Inclusive Education: Responding to the needs of diverse learners—Capacity Building for TEI Faculty’ in September 2017. The purpose of the activity was to: increase the pedagogical knowledge of TEI faculties on inclusive education; examine current inclusive and special education initiatives in pre-service training; and discuss new TEI course requirements to develop course segments in inclusive education and special education. BEST staff served as resource speakers who provided contextual, legal, and evidence-based knowledge about inclusive education. GEDSI professional development and capacity building for DepEd Student Inclusion Division: BEST staff with GEDSI and M&E specialisations jointly delivered a Professional Development and Capacity Building workshop (4–8 December 2017) to enhance the skills and knowledge of DepEd’s Student Inclusion Division. Forty-three staff (16 men, 27 women) of the Student Inclusion Division from three components (Madrasah / Muslim education, Special Education, Alternative Learning Systems) of the division attended. This aim was to improve the Division’s data analysis to strengthen planning processes. This will improve program development and the implementation of the inclusive education policy framework.

Support for the provincial inclusive education summit: BEST supported the Provincial Summit on Inclusive Education for the Province of Camarines Norte (6 September 2017). The summit was attended by 150 participants (27 men, 123 women) from Local Government Units, private and public-school teachers and administrators, special education teachers, and disabled people’s organisations. BEST provided a presentation related to BEST-supported inclusive education clusters of schools in Region VIII.

Support for the international inclusive education summit part 2: BEST supported the Second International Inclusive Education Summit Part 2 (27–29 November 2017). The summit focused on the broader understanding of inclusion and included presentations related to religion, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, socio-economic status and disability. BEST presented the ‘LAC on Sign Language’ video developed by our team. BEST sponsored 15 participants (6 men, 9 women) from program focus regions.

BEST supported the Second International Inclusive Education Summit Part 2 (27–29 November 2017). The summit focused on the broader understanding of inclusion and included presentations related to religion, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, socio-economic status and disability. BEST presented the ‘LAC on Sign Language’ video developed by our team. BEST sponsored 15 participants (6 men, 9 women) from program focus regions.

Support for the Philippines Network for Inclusive Education: BEST GEDSI supported the Philippine Network for Inclusive Education by providing technical and logistical support to two of the network’s meetings to ensure the inclusive education bills are aligned to DepEd’s inclusive education policy framework.

OUTPUT 1.5.2: Inclusive education pilots implemented at Region, Division and School level GEDSI Engagement through School Clusters in Region VIII

For the inclusive education pilots BEST staff collected information from schools and selected parents and teachers to participate in the filming of BEST’s inclusive education advocacy video materials. The team conducted a monitoring activity of Region VIII cluster schools to understand their progress in inclusive education and assess the needs of teachers and schools. BEST staff with GEDSI and LAC expertise collaborated to develop student resource packages for Region VIII. The activity developed advocacy and communication materials based on the perspectives of learners.



Capacity building for inclusive education advocates in Region V: The two-day activity in October 2017 was attended by 108 participants (28 men, 80 women) from 13 divisions. The purpose of the training was to raise awareness and understanding about inclusive education at the regional, division and school-level. BEST led sessions on inclusive education, disability and gender. Resource speakers from Region VIII inclusive education cluster schools were invited to share current initiatives and practices with Region V participants. The Region V inclusive education cluster schools will be developed from January 2018. Support for inclusive education videos: BEST staff continued their collaboration between GEDSI and LAC specialists to develop inclusive education advocacy videos. Preparatory fieldwork was undertaken in Region VIII, with validation of video scripts and participant selection finalised in December 2017. Filming will commence in January 2018. OUTPUT 1.5.3: DepEd Gender Responsive Basic Education Policy developed, and mainstreaming support provided Activity No. 33: Support to Gender Equality Mainstreaming in DepEd

BEST facilitated a Capacity Building Workshop on Gender Mainstreaming for the Gender Focal Point System Technical Working Group of the DepEd Central Office in December 2017. The workshop was attended by 10 participants (2 men, 8 women) and focused on Gender and Development, Gender Mainstreaming Evaluation Framework Assessment, and Gender Plans and Budget. The Gender Focal Point System developed a draft Gender Planning Budget for 2019– 2020. The Gender Plans and Budgets will be developed further in workshops to be conducted early 2018.

Also in December 2017, a Gender Mainstreaming Evaluation Framework Assessment was undertaken to determine the level of gender mainstreaming within the DepEd Central Office. The assessment indicated improvements in the support for gender in DepEd with the development of the Gender-responsive Basic Education policy and the reconstitution of the focal point system.

BEST met with the United Nations Population Fund (November 2017) to explore possible collaboration on the implementation of the DepEd’s Comprehensive Sexuality Education. BEST will meet with United Nations Population Fund in January 2018 to continue discussions in this area.


Sub-component 1.6: Education Facilities OUTPUT 1.6.1: School infrastructure built and meets standards for GEDSI, inclusive education and water, sanitation and hygiene

DFAT Grant to PBSP: Classroom Construction: The Classroom Construction Support, under the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), responds to the growing classroom shortage brought about by increasing student population, ageing school buildings, additional needs for SHS and damage from disasters and calamities. The disaster proof classrooms also comply with DFAT’s cross cutting principles of gender sensitivity and disability accessibility.

The target build is a total of 288 classrooms. To date, 206 classrooms are now completed and the construction of 82 classrooms is ongoing. 84 of these classrooms were completed in the reporting period. Table 7, Volume 2, Annex 1 shows the distribution of classroom construction across each region, to end December 2017.

Component 2 Achievements: Strengthening Systems Sub-component 2.1: Evidence-Based Policy, Planning and Management OUTPUT 2.1.1: Basic Education Planning and M&E Framework developed

This output harmonises DepEd’s budgeting, planning, and M&E processes, structures, and systems and aligns them to guidelines of the oversight agencies of the Department of Budget and Management and the National Economic Development Agency. In AP4, BEST worked on:

§ finalisation of the Planning and Budgeting Strategy Paper; and



§ finalisation of the Basic Education Monitoring and Evaluation Framework.

These two key policies, once issued, are expected to bring significant changes to the way DepEd develops and monitors its plans.

Activity No. 29: Education Summit 2017

The objective of this activity was to gather key education stakeholders to discuss urgent concerns of the education sector and track progress of DepEd, Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) against the Philippine Development Plan 2017– 2022, sustainable development goals (SDGs), and other important national and international commitments.

During this reporting period, the following key achievements and significant contributing activities took place:

Stronger coordination and collaboration with the trifocal agencies and key education stakeholders.

§ Conduct of nine pre-summit events and consultation workshops on education and economic development, social inclusion, education finance, and the National Technical Education and Skills Development Plan. These pre-summit events were facilitated in collaboration with various organisations such as Teachers’ Dignity Coalition, Action for Economic Reforms, Philippine Business for Education, Advisory Council on the Education of Children with Disabilities, Philippine Coalition on the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, E-Net Philippines, SEAMEO-INNOTECH, The Teacher’s Gallery, Inclusive Schools Network, and the Asian Development Bank.

§ 1800 participants attended the three-day summit and preceding pre-summit events.

The immediate outcome arising from the summit is a commitment to the Summit Statement which sets the joint strategic priorities for the trifocal agencies for 2018. The trifocal agencies will track this commitment and report on its progress in the succeeding Education Summit planned in 2019. The Education Summit publications developed by BEST will help the trifocal agencies document and track the Summit Statement. With Sustainable Development Goal 4 as its guidepost, the Summit Statement highlights the trifocal agencies’ commitment to ensure quality and inclusive education by:

§ Sustaining increasing levels of education funding while continuing to ensure effective, timely and efficient allocation and utilisation of budgets across the education sector, and making sure that spending counts towards high impact learning outcomes.

§ Developing a shared agenda among the education agencies at all levels, and with local government units, to achieve closer complementation in education-related strategy, programs, and finance.

§ Enhancing teaching and training quality by continuing to invest in pre-service and in-service professional development, and by ensuring the welfare of teachers and trainers.

§ Continuing to update and enhance curriculum relevance and responsiveness to evolving economic and social needs and priorities.

§ Creating an enabling environment to allow education institutions to strategically engage with ASEAN and pursue internationalisation, through the review of regulations and policies related to student and faculty mobility.

§ Providing adequate tools and infrastructure for the effective integration of ICT in teaching, learning and governance.

§ Strengthening the Philippine Qualifications Framework National Coordinating Committee and other mechanisms to implement the Philippine Qualifications Framework, for recognition of prior learning, lifelong learning, equivalency and credit transfers, and qualification standards; and reference the Philippine Qualifications Framework to the ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework and other international mutual recognition arrangements to facilitate greater learner and worker mobility.

§ Establishing a working mechanism for coordination and collaboration among the three education agencies to strengthen planning and implementation of, among others, the Philippine Development Plan, the National Technical Education and Skills Development Plan, the Basic Education Development Plan, and the Medium-Term Higher Education Development Plan.

§ Accelerating the establishment of a Government-Industry-Education Council to strengthen collaboration among government, schools, and industry, to promote alignment of education to industry requirements,



enhance responsiveness to local, national and global opportunities and realities, and address the problem of employment and national development.

§ Formulating a long-term education sector strategy for the successful implementation of Republic Act No. 10931 (Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act) and other financial assistance programs, to ensure regional equity in access to quality education, develop innovative mechanisms to reach the poorest, and recognise the complementary roles of public and private education institutions.

§ Developing, advocating, and adequately funding the implementation of an appropriate inclusive curriculum and programs responsive to the needs of all learners, including marginalised children and youth facing exclusion in view of their ethnicity, religion, gender, and disability; and promote broader collaborations with families, communities, private sector, development partners, people’s organisations, and local government units to create an enabling environment for the practice of inclusive education in all schools and alternative learning modalities.

§ Clarifying the governance of the ALS, with focus on evidence- informed policies on curriculum, delivery, funding, and institutionalised partnerships.


The following type of inputs were provided: technical assistance to the Summit Program Committee and Organising committees; pre-summit events; design and content drafting for the Summit publication; sub-contracted the Development Academy of the Philippines to facilitate consultation meetings and workshops; and provided the GEDSI international speaker at the Summit.

Activity No. 20: Capacity Building on Planning and Budgeting Strategy

The objective of this activity is to ensure that basic education plans and budgets at all governance levels are aligned to the vision and emerging priorities of DepEd. BEST provides support towards the development and rollout of unified guidelines in the conduct of strategic, tactical and operations level planning by all operating units of DepEd, through the finalisation of the Planning and Budgeting Strategy Paper. BEST helped ensure that the Planning and Budgeting Strategy Paper, when issued as a DepEd Order, is structured for ease of understanding and use at all governance levels.

During this reporting period, the following key achievements were accomplished:

§ Establishing linkages between the proposed strategic planning framework and the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework.

§ Clarifying links between the strategic planning framework and the Basic Education M&E Framework (which is also being prepared with BEST support).

§ Conducting a ‘Thematic Workshop’ in August 2017, where 55 DepEd personnel from the Central Office, Regional Offices, and the schools division, identified the issues and needs of their delivery programs. The workshop helped in harmonising the program delivery model of DepEd.


While there have been delays with the finalisation of the policy, the activity is on-track to deliver its intended outputs. The capacity building activities related to the rollout of the Planning and Budgeting Strategy, with the Policy, Planning, and Research Division and the Quality Assurance Division as participants, is scheduled for March 2018. These Planning, Policy, and Research Division and Quality Assurance Division personnel will serve as resource persons for the policy’s rollout at the schools division level. To enable value for money and harmonisation of initiatives, the Basic Education Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (BEMEF) policy will be rolled out in the same exercise.



Activity No. 21 Research on Basic Education Planning Standards

The goal of this activity is to validate the set of planning standards that DepEd presently uses in the preparation of the Department’s budget based on international standards, commitments, and benchmarks of good practice. The new planning standards will be aligned to the Planning and Budgeting Strategy Paper and BEMEF policies to ensure harmonisation of initiatives.


While there have been delays due the finalisation of the research design, the activity is on-track to deliver its intended outputs. The research is expected to commence in February 2018. It shall be completed before June 2018, in time for the preparation of DepEd’s budget for 2019.

Capacity Building on Planning in BEST regions through training, coaching, and mentoring: BEST is designed as a national program with implementation differentiated across the regions. BEST has a designated Field M&E Specialist for five of the regions identified as target areas (with NCR receiving support from BEST Central Office) to receive intensive assistance on basic education planning and M&E. This assistance in the regions aims to strengthen the capacity of DepEd Regional Offices, and the Schools Division Offices in the development of their strategic plans, and M&E. For the reporting period, the following summarises key achievements in education planning, by region:

Region V: Bicol: BEST provided support for the Policy, Planning and Research Division of the Regional Office, and Schools Division Office, of Legazpi City. Technical guidance was provided to the Planning, Policy, and Research Division Chief and the Regional Planning Officer to design the review of the Division Education Development Plan. This was presented to relevant specialists for planning and research of the 13 Schools Division Offices. The output is a draft activity design and a Division Education Development Plan review and adjustment guide. BEST also supported the Schools Division Office in the design and management of their workshop on School and Annual Improvement Plans adjustment. BEST facilitated the workshop and provided recommendations to improve the adjusted plans. This activity was attended by 33 school heads, 55 school-based management coordinators, 10 public schools district coordinators and 32 Schools Division Office staff. As a result, all schools in the division have adjusted their Annual Improvement Plan for the 2nd cycle (School Year 2017–2018) for implementation of the School Improvement Plan.

Region VI: Western Visayas: Region VI, and the Schools Division Offices, were supported to develop basic education plans. In July 2017, BEST facilitated the workshop to present the Division Education Development Plan of the Division of Capiz for validation. This was attended by 31 Schools Division Offices’ staff from a range of sections. DepEd local funds were used to conduct the activity, with BEST providing technical assistance, showing strong partnership and value for money. The Division Education Development Plan of Capiz was finalised with BEST support in August 2017 and distributed to implementing units for reference.

Region VII: Central Visayas: The Quality Assurance Division, Planning, Policy and Research Division and Field Technical Assistance Division, with technical input from BEST, made progress on the division, district and school monitoring and evaluation and adjustment. Especially, they empowered schools and districts to do hands-on data collection, consolidation, analysis and local decision making. During the reporting period four Regional Memorandum were drafted with BEST support and issued by the Regional Director to the Schools Division Offices for providing guidance to complete monitoring and evaluation and adjustment review processes.

The initial gains can be readily seen in the enhanced ‘feed forward’ of real-time information from the field as input to the Division monitoring and evaluation and adjustment. Progress monitoring is gradually being integrated in the school calendar to track sub-key performance indicators such as the pupils and students at risk of dropping out, learners at risk of failure (per subject and grade level), proficiency level, and competency coverage to prevent / minimise dropout, repetition and increase promotion rate, completion, cohort survival rates at the end of the school year.

Region VIII: Eastern Visayas: Basic education plans of the Planning, Policy, and Research Division staff and the division planning teams, were prepared with BEST support and DepEd funds. The preparation of the



plans involved180 DepEd staff, (78 men, 102 women). The pre-appraisal situation analysis improved the content and substance.

BEST provided appraisal tools to support the process. During December 2017, BEST ran a session on crafting more strategic plans. As a result, 13 Schools Division Offices have prepared their draft situational analysis, and strategic directions towards completing their education strategic plans.

Region X: Northern Mindanao: BEST conducted a series of consultations with regional and division staff to firm up the Regional Planning Manual Development Roadmap. When the manual is finalised in March 2018, it will be presented to the regional director for approval.

Region NCR: BEST did not provide any technical assistance to Region NCR on planning and M&E for the reporting period. The engagement of the BEST M&E Specialist assigned to DepEd NCR ended during the reporting period. Recruitment for a replacement M&E Specialist will be put in place. In the interim, various meetings were held with the Policy, Planning, and Research Division (PPRD) of DepEd NCR to plan and identify support needed for suceeding months.

BEST also provided technical assistance to the Regional Office and Schools Division Offices concerning the Annual Implementation and School Improvement Plans. BEST facilitated a workshop on possible criteria to guide Year 3 AIP/School Improvement Planning adjustment and refinement of the plans before they were presented to stakeholders. The guidelines are now being developed in time for the next adjustment.

Support for the development of Monitoring and Evaluation for BEST project implementation, and for DepEd Capacity Development Activity No. 26: Development of the Basic Education Monitoring and Evaluation Framework

The objective of this activity is to strengthen the capacity of DepEd on the use of outcome-based and data-driven planning and evidence-based decision-making process for policy formulation. The BEMEF, which maps out targets, standards, indicators, and data collection methods, supports the Planning and Budgeting Strategy Paper.

During this reporting period, the following key achievements and significant contributing activities were accomplished:

§ In July 2017, DepEd, with support from BEST, conducted a workshop on the alignment of office and program outcome indicators to the BEMEF. This workshop, attended by 76 participants (33 men, 43 women) from various offices and bureaus in Central Office, aimed to align office and program outcome indicators to the BEMEF.

§ In November 2017, BEST facilitated a small workshop to train 15 BEMEF core group members (6 men, 9 women) of the planning service in developing and validating outcome statements and outcome indicators. This exercise supported the core group to systematically review outcome statements and indicators of various offices and bureaus in the Central Office, Regional Office and in the Schools Division Office.

§ BEST provided technical assistance during the BEMEF validation workshop, where the BEMEF outcome statements and indicators were presented to 40 participants for their validation, and refinement.

§ BEST continued its support to BEMEF by supporting the processing of workshop outputs to ensure that they were consistent with the mandates of each governance level and meet criteria of good outcome statements and indicators. These will be linked with the intermediate outcomes of the Basic Education Performance Framework.


There have been delays in the finalisation of the BEMEF policy, however the activity has progressed significantly and is on-track to deliver its intended outputs. The draft policy is expected to be ready for validation of stakeholders and review of DepEd Execom in January 2018 and rollout in March 2018, concurrently with the PBSP roll out.



Activity No. 27: Development of M&E System Manual

The goal of this activity is to supports the institutionalisation of the M&E Framework in DepEd through the development of an M&E System Manual.

Total budget planned for this activity is P5,291,100.00 and total amount spent at the end of this reporting period is P22,754.65 (0.004 per cent). Activities leading to its development will commence once the BEMEF Policy and M&E Framework (above) are finalised. With the BEMEF policy expected to be finalised in March 2018, BEST and DepEd will commence discussions on the outline of the M&E manual in January 2018.

OUTPUT 2.1.2: M&E Training Program and Research Management Program designed and delivered Activity No. 23: Development of Competency-Based Learning and Development (CBLD) Plan on Research Management

The goal of this activity is to strengthen the capacity of DepEd on research management and to use research in the development of policies and decision-making.

Total budget planned for this activity is P900,000.00 and total amount spent until the end of this reporting period is P726,951.00 (80.7 per cent).


§ Development of an organisational assessment tool, called National Standards for Research Management, for research committee members and secretariats and the CBLD plan for research management. The National Standards for Research Management guides members of the research committee and the secretariat’s knowledge acquisition and skills development. It reflects a continuum of practice to provide more meaningful information in relation to the members’ strengths and professional development needs.

§ In August 2017, the organisational assessment report, which contains the organisational strengths and weaknesses of DepEd on research management, was presented to DepEd’s National Research Committee for comments and additional inputs.

§ In October 2017, the revised organisational assessment report and CBLD plan were presented and validated by 50 participants (21 men, 29 women) from policy planning and research divisions across the country. Participants were also trained on the interpretation and analysis of organisational assessment results. This capacity building will enable DepEd to conduct its own midline organisational assessments as indicated in the CBLD plan.

§ Development of the CBLD Plan that features a curriculum framework including course content, preferred modality, and proposed professional development programs that addresses the competency gaps of members on research management.

The organisational assessments, and the CBLD plan, were finalised in December 2017. The activity is on-track to deliver its intended outputs. In the early months of 2018, BEST will continue its support to research management with the development of training modules that are identified in the CBLD plan.

Activity No. 28: Capacity Building for Program Support and Coordination Office (PSCO) on Project Management with Emphasis on Monitoring & Evaluation

BEST has, through July–December 2017, consistently engaged the PSCO in the enhancement and finalisation of the BEST Theory of Change. This exercise helped both BEST and the PSCO to refine the program’s outputs, outcomes, and goals.

Capacity Building on M&E in BEST regions through training, coaching, and mentoring

For the July–December 2017 period, below is a summary of key achievements of support for M&E in BEST regions:

Region V: Bicol Region: Building on previous technical assistance from BEST, the Regional Office has conducted reviews of M&E and adjustments with minimal additional program support, an indicator of growing capacity and confidence. Every quarter, the Quality Assurance Division and BEST review the implementation



of the Work and Financial Plan to make necessary adjustments. BEST provided general oversight from July–December 2017, during which time DepEd conducted two reviews by itself.

Assistance included guidance to the Quality Assurance Division in the consolidation of the reports of the functional divisions, and for analysis of the results of the activity for management action.

At the School Division Office level BEST guided Legazpi City personnel on the preparation and conduct of their Quarterly Division Monitoring and Evaluation Adjustment.

In addition, BEST facilitated capability building for establishment and operationalisation of the School Division Office of Ligao City’s quality assurance technical assistance M&E unit. BEST provided support to this activity. The capacity building event was attended by staff of 32 M&E units, education supervisors, and the public schools district supervisors of the Division Office.

Region VI: Western Visayas: BEST provided technical assistance to the Quality Assurance Division on the design and preparation for the conduct of the regional M&E, and subsequent adjustment activities. In August 2017, BEST facilitated orientation on the Regional Guidelines, where the process involving different governance levels was discussed and M&E specific issues and concerns were clarified for regional agreements. Staff from 16 Schools Division Offices participated in the activity. In December 2017, BEST assisted quality assurance divisions to provide recommendations on the quality and content of presentations in the 2017 Year-End Performance Review. During the same activity, BEST re-oriented the 54 representatives from Schools Division Offices on basic M&E concepts, to provide guidance and clarity vis-à-vis the M&E process. Capacity building support was provided across six cities in the region, which included workshops on M&E planning, implementation, analysis and adjustment. In each city, participants ranged from school level through supervisors and regional technical and administrative staff. School results were presented through the district dashboard depicting the district situation and priorities, which provided the Schools Division Office management information for consideration in local decisions. Table 9, Volume 2, Annex 1 provides additional details.

Region VIII: Eastern Visayas: Eight major activities across July–December 2017 were completed. Seven activities were funded by DepEd (Regional Offices and Schools Division Offices) while only one activity was funded by BEST with DepEd counterparts. Four hundred sixty-nine (469) participants (181 men, 288 women) were engaged in various activities. The participants comprised members of the region Quality Assurance Division and the Division Quality Management Teams. The technical assistance supported learning for the conduct of Regional Offices and Schools Division Offices’ quarterly monitoring evaluation, and techniques for management to address operational issues and concerns that affect the implementation of the plans. In addition, approaches for strengthening the M&E of horizontal and vertical links between schools to divisions; and on sustaining the progress monitoring of performance indicators for access and quality.

Post activity or debriefing session helped the teams realise the difficulties encountered and how to avoid blockages and challenges. Assessments were made of the current processes of the Schools Division Office and areas for improvement were identified for the quality management teams in analysing and validating data from schools. Table 10, Volume 2, Annex 1 has details of the sessions.

Region X: North Mindanao: BEST continues to support the Regional Office and Schools Division Office in Region 10 on the conduct of the Schools M&E and adjustment activities. For July–December 2017, a number of Schools Division Offices in the region were supported on M&E, shown as Table 11, Volume 2, Annex 1.

OUTPUT 2.1.3: Policy Development Training Program designed and delivered

In Annual Plan 4, focus has been placed on the development of the DepEd policy agenda, which identifies priority policies that need to be updated or developed. In line with this, BEST is supporting several policy fora to promote discussions on key policies, together with a series of capacity building activities on policy development and analysis for the Policy Research and Development Division.



Activity No. 22: Support to DepEd Policy Agenda Development

The objective of this activity is to support the development of DepEd’s policy agenda to set its policy development priorities over the next three years. The agenda uses a mapping process conducted by the Policy Research and Development Division.


§ In July 2017 DepEd, with support from BEST, ran a consultation workshop with 50 participants, to identify issues and challenges encountered by external stakeholders in their partnerships with DepEd, and to identify strategies that will support the policy agenda.

§ From October–December 2017, DepEd conducted field consultations to identify issues and concerns in the delivery of basic education services. Schools and learning centres from randomly selected divisions were visited. BEST supported, and participated in field visits conducted in Tacloban, where the school head of Tacloban City Senior High School, as well as eight teachers, eight senior high school students, five parents, four local government unit representatives, and three relevant division coordinators were interviewed.

The completion of the design of the policy agenda process is ongoing, with finalisation expected in March 2018. This will then be validated, and once it is formally approved by DepEd, BEST will support an orientation caravan in BEST regions to disseminate the policy agenda.

OUTPUT 2.1.4: School-based Management (SBM) and Assessment framework developed

BEST strengthens DepEd’s capacity to implement school-based management through the development, enhancement, and rollout of key SBM policies. In Annual Plan 4, this includes:

§ enhancement of the existing SBM framework of DepEd to incorporate new developments in DepEd and to improve its implementation

§ finalisation of the School Governance Council policy to facilitate community participation in school decision-making.

Activity No. 24: Enhancement of School Based Management Framework

The objective of this activity is to support the decentralisation of authority and decision-making from the Central Office to schools. This activity supports the School Effectiveness Division in the review and enhancement of DepEd’s SBM framework, to incorporate a whole school development approach and to integrate concepts of inclusive education to support stronger child-centred learning centres.


There have been delays in the establishment of the SBM Technical Working Committee, however the activity is partially on-track to deliver its intended outputs. When the working committees are established (expected in January 2018) the enhanced framework will be drafted by June 2018. BEST will work closely with School Effectiveness Division to minimise further slippage.

Activity No. 25: Support for the Finalisation and Rollout of the Policy on School Governance Councils

The objective of this activity is to strengthen the engagement of school stakeholders in the governance of schools. This activity will support the School Effectiveness Division to complete and rollout the School Governance Council policy. The School Governance Council policy will enable school communities to participate in school decision-making. This is a proven method to increase the level of SBM practice in schools.



The policy is still being considered by the Bureau of Human Resources and Organisational Development in DepEd. Following policy promulgation and approval, the handbook will be finalised for distribution by June 2018. BEST will work closely with DepEd to ensure completion on time.

OUTPUT 2.1.5: Capacity development program on disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM); and a DRRM Information System

BEST aims to strengthen the capacity of DepEd to respond to and manage natural and man-made disasters that affect learners across the country. The output has two main components:

§ conduct of capacity building activities on basic DRRM in select schools most vulnerable to disasters § development of the DRRM Information System that interfaces with the DepEd UIS and external data

sources, which will enable DepEd to gather information, and manage the immediate, medium and long-term recovery response in the event of natural calamities, conflict and other crises as they emerge.

Activity No. 37 (i): DRRM Capacity Building Program for School Heads and School DRRM Coordinators

The objective of this activity is to support the DRRM Service in training school-community members (of 120 selected schools) that are frequently affected by natural disasters. Members include: School Heads; School DRRM coordinators; school teachers; Parent–Teacher Association officers / members; and Barangay DRRM coordinators. This activity deems the school community as the partner for schools in DRRM. The design of the activity was completed by December 2017 and the capacity building activities are expected to commence in January 2018.

Total budget planned for this activity is P8,211,540.00 and no amount has yet been spent at the end of this reporting period.

Activity No. 37 (ii): Development of DRRM Information Systems

The activity supports the DRRM Service to establish an information system that is integrated with the DepEd UIS. The design was completed during the reporting period. The system will be developed over a period of 18 months. The full user requirements gathering will commence in January 2018, with system design, development, testing and rollout flowing from AP4 into AP5.

OUTPUT 2.1.6 Innovation Fund grant mechanism established with eligibility criteria Activity No. 38: Innovation Fund

The objective of this activity is to encourage new approaches and strategies or existing proven ideas or project schemes that are demand driven to improve student learning in schools in the BEST regions. Following the endorsement of the concept note for the Innovation Fund in June 2017, a detailed design paper was prepared. The design document was approved by DFAT on 16 November 2017. Work on Innovation Fund grant manual, to detail the procedures and promotional materials, commenced in November 2017. BEST conducted a limited scope direct solicitation of grants in selected BEST regions in December 2017, to identify a small number of activities that could be used to test the Innovation Fund procedures. Grant disbursements will commence in January 2018.


Sub-component 2.2: Unified Information System OUTPUT 2.2.1: DepEd ICTS-UIS Architecture designed and approved

This output was completed in Annual Plan 2, when the UIS architecture was designed.



OUTPUT 2.2.2: Core information systems expanded and enhanced Activity No. 30: Enhanced Basic Education Information System (EBEIS), Learner Information System (LIS) and Learning Resources Portal

The objective of this activity is to complete the system implementation, and to hand over the administration of these systems to DepEd. Following handover, the following results are expected:

§ DepEd’s ICTS will be able to maintain and continuously improve the LIS, EBEIS and LR portal § The Planning Division will be able to perform its role as ‘process owners’ of LIS and EBEIS, promoting

and sustaining its use to support planning, policy formulation, program development and decision- making at all levels of governance

§ The Bureau of Learning Resources will be able to perform its role as ‘process owner’ of the LR portal, promoting and sustaining its use to support the efficient and effective provision of learning resources to schools.



§ Through July–December 2017, technical assistance on the LIS, EBEIS and LR portal focused on planning for transition and intensifying the embedding of these systems through capacity development that involves system enhancements, policy development support, and process management.

§ Significant progress had been made in engaging DepEd partners and preparing the organisation for transition, despite the change in ICTS leadership. This progress was facilitated by the engagement of a Transition Management Specialist whose expertise guided the sponsorship and stakeholder engagement, capacity assessment and formulation of a capacity development agenda.

§ A Capacity Development Plan was drafted to align to the ICT Service mission, vision and key result areas. The plan was developed through a workshop involving the chiefs and key representatives from the three ICTS division offices. In the same workshop, the Under-Secretary for Administration expressed strong support to the capacity development interventions that were presented.

§ A System Finalisation Plan for LIS and EBEIS and LR portal, articulating the scope and functionalities consisting the systems to be turned over by BEST to DepEd was completed. This was collaboratively developed with key implementers from relevant divisions. These plans are approved and signed by the Director for Planning Service and the OIC-Director for ICTS and Directors for the Bureau of Learning Resources.

§ BEST assisted seven Program Development Officers from the Bureau of Learning Resources, 34 Education Program Supervisors from the regional and division offices of Regions I through IX and NCR on competency editing, re-tagging and housekeeping of learning resources in the LR portal. Ongoing technical support has been provided to complete system enhancements that were identified and gathered from region, division and school implementers. These enhancements will increase the effectiveness of the system in increasing schools’ access to learning materials for teaching, learning and professional development.


Evidence of the immediate outcomes from the reported achievements are:

§ Enrolment quick count is an online facility integrated in the LIS for reporting real-time enrolment data to the Office of the President. The enrolment quick count was opened to all schools on 14 July 2017 and within 10 days, 99.5 per cent of public schools (46,654 of 46,775 schools) entered their enrolment data. This display of high efficiency and effectiveness by DepEd in generating enrolment data in a timely manner through the enrolment quick count enabled DepEd to come up with timely and relevant decisions.

§ A learner tracking facility received support to finalise enhanced functionality during the reporting period. This facility enables the identification of learners affected by conflict and disasters, and assists the transfer of students to other schools thus ensuring that their schooling is not interrupted for too long; use for



students displaced by Marawi continued. Likewise, data from the LIS enables DepEd to allocate resources and implement necessary interventions to serve displaced and affected learners.

§ An enrolment facility for learners enrolled in schools abroad was finalised. This allows for the profiling of these learners, further enabling informed decisions on resource allocation and other policies and programs. Also finalised was a system for enrolment of grade 12 learners for School Year 2017 that enhances the analysis of access, quality and efficiency in the SHS program.

§ An enhanced LIS-ALS enrolment reporting facility effectively supports the intensified and expanded implementation of ALS. For the first time, completion status for ALS learners enrolled in Calendar Year 2016 and Calendar Year 2017 was reported and used as basis for evaluating effectiveness of program interventions. The Table 12, Volume 2, Annex 1 provides Calendar Year 2017 summary of enrolment from the LIS and is included as an example of the functionality of the system.

§ Use by schools of the LR portal has increased significantly in each region in the six months July– December 2017, in all regions by at least more than 100 per cent, and in some by between 200- 500 per cent. Table 13, Volume 2, Annex 1 shows increased usage of the LR portal, by region.

Activity No. 31: Continuation of Support to the implementation of the Program Management Information System

The objective of this activity is to effectively and efficiently monitor the implementation of DepEd’s programs, projects and activities through the further enhancement and expansion of the Program Management Information System.



§ The Work and Financial Planning Module of the Program Management Information System was made operational for the preparation of DepEd’s 2018 budget, and the facility for tracking and reporting the implementation of activities and budget utilisation by office, program and object of expenditure at the central, region and division offices was made operational.

§ BEST supported the development and implementation of the modules for procurement planning and monitoring of procurement plans, for both the commonly-used supplies and crucial resources i.e. classrooms and school buildings, computers, furniture and learning resources.

§ Technical support was provided to orient regional and division Supply Officers on the use of the Program Management Information System for recording and monitoring procurement.

The immediate outcomes from these improvements is the reduction of the turn-around time for the preparation of procurement reports and increased process efficiency in the Procurement Service and the Asset Management Division.

OUTPUT 2.2.3: Operational information systems expanded

Learning Resources Delivery Tracking System: The Learning Resources Delivery Tracking System was developed by BEST under AP3 in response to an urgent need to implement process reforms in learning resources management. Specifically, this aims to address the issue of delayed delivery of learning resources to schools by deploying Short Messaging Service (SMS) technology to track the delivery of materials. The data can be used to identify blockages and reduces the risk of learning resources ‘disappearing’ during delivery. It will contribute to transparency in the end-to-end procurement process.

During the reporting period, the Bureau of Learning Resources and ICTS prepared for the November 2017 roll-out by conducting a nationwide orientation of the Learning Resources Delivery Tracking System. BEST provided support by training Bureau of Learning Resources trainers and coaching ICTS on troubleshooting. The orientations identified the need for additional system adjustments and ongoing technical support throughout 2018. A new activity that will provide for further development and rollout of the Learning Resources Delivery Tracking System was approved at the 8th BEST Program Management Committee Meeting.



OUTPUT 2.2.4: UIS management and maintenance institutionalised in DepEd ICTS and Planning Service process owners Activity No. 32: Capacity Development on Infrastructure Maintenance

The goal of this activity is to strengthen the capacity of ICTS personnel to manage and maintain the technology infrastructure of DepEd’s UIS as part of the overall transition and sustainability strategies of BEST.


Additional technical coaching sessions and formal technical trainings were also supported by BEST. Details are shown at Table 14, Volume 2, Annex 1. Technical assistance was also provided in the development of the Job-Embedded Learning Work Plan for learners who completed training in systems analysis and design. A change in ICTS leadership during the period affected availability of relevant staff, hindering progress on completion of agreed activities. A capacity assessment and planning session in December 2017 did however provide an opportunity to engage the new chief on issues such as defining capacity needs and system transition and a renewed collaboration is expected for the next quarter.

Sub-component 2.3: Human Resources and Organisational Development OUTPUT 2.3.1: Human Resources, Organisational Development and Continuous Improvement support designed and delivered Activity No. 34: Strategic Human Resource Management and Development: and Integration of DepEd Resource Management Manual

The activity completed a review of all DepEd human resource policy issuances and procedures to identify overlaps, omissions and inconsistencies. The draft final deliverable, a proposed structure and codification of DepEd human resource management policies and procedures, was submitted to DepEd in December 2017.

Activity No. 35: Technical Support Team: Office of the Secretary Program Implementation and Policy Development

A Procurement Process Specialist (Lawyer) was contracted to review the DepEd procurement process for textbook development, printing, and delivery involving the following relevant laws and rules: RA 9184; 2016 IRR of RA 9184; Volume 5 of Procurement Manuals; RA 8047; and relevant jurisprudence.

This same specialist has also reviewed the current ALS-EST Program partnership modalities and procurement processes related to ALS-EST and textbook development. One of the components of the ALS Program is the Abot Alam program. The Abot Alam program is funded through a line item budget appropriated by Congress for the delivery of non-formal or alternative learning education to out-of-school learners, specifically out-of-school youth. The Procurement Specialist prepared a Legal Note on Intensified Abot Alam program which has been adopted by the DepEd.

Activity No. 36: DepEd Procurement Performance Enhancement Program: CANCELLED

This activity planned to support DepEd’s Procurement Service, and to strengthen the capacity of DepEd in conducting procurement activities. Initial discussions took place, however BEST received advice that this activity would not be feasible at this time due to a number of internal factors. It was removed from the AP4 by the 8th Program Management Committee.

Documents

7th Six-Monthly Progress Report - BEST Programbestprogram.ph/files/SMPR7-Final.pdf · § Supporting the 2017 National Education Summit held in December 2017 and attended by 1800 participants