Now, without massive cheating?
In a turn of events that the Department of Education (DepEd) is reluctant to make public, the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and the National Capital Region (NCR) both of which were buried at the bottom of the heap when it came to National Achievement Test (NAT) performance have seized the top spots in the last two NATs.
CAR which used to be thirteenth of 17 regions in the Grade 6 NAT and No. 10 in the Grade 10 NAT had zoomed to No. 1 in the former and to No. 2 in the latter examinations.
Similarly, the NCR which used to be sixteenth in the Grade 6 NAT and No. 12 in the Grade 10 NAT vaulted to No. 2 in the Grade 6 NAT and to the top place in the Grade 10 NAT.
These movements are part of the shake up in the NAT standings triggered by the rescheduling of the administration of the NAT from the end of the school year to the start of the succeeding school year which took effect in SY 2015-2016.
The overhaul saw erstwhile leaders suffering free falls and formerly lowly regions emerging as new frontrunners in the standardized tests of the DepEd.
In Grade 6 NAT, shining stars CARAGA, Eastern Visayas and MIMAROPA lost their brilliance as the first tumbled to No. 15 from No. 1, the second slid from No. 2 to No. 9 and the last fell from No. 3 to No. 8.
An article in the Mindanews dated May 14, 2007 posted online stated that the three regions had occupied the first three slots in that order in elementary level NAT for SYs 2005-2006 and 2006-2007.
The Zigzag Weekly could not ascertain if the performance of the three are consistent because the Bureau of Education Assessment (BEA) only provided NAT results starting from SY 2012-2013 despite the request being for the data starting when the examinations was first given.
On the other hand, aside from CAR and NCR, other regions whose fortunes were reversed are Central Visayas which jumped to third place from 11th , Region 4 which vaulted from 15th place to 4th place and erstwhile cellar dweller ARMM which climbed to No. 5.
Region 2 which used to be 10th also improved by four ranks, Bicol which used to be in 14th place gained three ranks and Western Visayas which used to be 8th place moved one rank up.
The shake up in the standings was the result of the sharp reduction in mean percentage scores (MPS) brought about by the change in schedule of the examinations whereby the Grade 6 NAT takers were already in Grade 7.
All the regions lost an average 30.04 points with those losing the least advancing to the front and vice versa.
CAR and the NCR incurred 22.15 and 14.49 points losses giving them average scores on 46.64 and 45.32 points, respectively, in the last two years.
On the other hand, CARAGA and Eastern Visayas lost 41.68 points and 37.88 points, respectively, leaving them average scores of 38.15 points and 40 points, respectively, in the last two school years.
The old and new ranks of the other regions along with their average MPS in the last two NATs are as follows: MIMAROPA – from 3rd place to 8th place (40.38); SOCSARGEN – from 4th place to 13th (38.84); Region 3 – from 5th place to 8th place (40.38); Western Mindanao – from 6th place to 16th place (36.77); Southern Mindanao – from 7th place to 10th place (39.7); Western Visayas – from 8th place to 7th place (41.12); Northern Mindanao – 9th place to 14th place (38.81); Region 2 – from 10th place to 6th place (41.47); Central Visayas – from 11th place to 3rd place; Region 1 kept 12th place (39.09); Bicol – from 14th place to 11 place; Region 4 – from 15th to fourth (42.48); and ARMM – from 17th to fifth (41.59).
In Grade 10 NAT where all the regions except for Calabarzon were set back by an average of 8.31 points from their average MPS in SYs 2012-2013 to 2014-2015 against their performance in SY 2016-2017 (only four regions were given the exams in SY 2015-2016), the change in the standings was not as wholesale as in the Grade 6 NAT.
CARAGA suffered a double whammy because with the deduction of 17.79 points from its SY 2014-2015 MPS of 61.40, it slipped from No. 1 to No. 7 while former No. 2 Western Mindanao fell to 15th place after losing 13.6 points for a new MPS of 40.68.
Central Mindanao which lost 10.82 points in the SY 2016-2017 dropped to No. 13 from No. 6 with a new MPS of 41.62.
On the other extreme, aside from the come from behind stories of the NCR and CAR, notable was the feat of Calabarzon which not only eclipsed its 44.45 points performance in SY 2014-2015 by 0.23 but catapulted from 15th place to 4th place.
For 2016-2017, the MPS of NCR was 48.28 while that of CAR was 47.09.
The standing of the other regions along with their MPS for SY 2016-2017 are as follows: Eastern Visayas – maintains third place in tie with Central Visayas (45.44); Western Visayas – from 4th to 5th place (44.51); Central Visayas – from 5th to 3rd place in a share with Eastern Visayas (45.44); MIMAROPA – from 7th to 10th place (43.09); Southern Mindanao – from 8th to 6th place (43.74); Northern Mindanao – from 9th to 8th place (43.21); Region 2 – from 11th place to 9th place (43.11); Region 3 – from 13th to 12th place (42.29); Bicol Region – from 14th to 11th place (42.64); Region 1 – from 16th place to 14th place (41.38); and ARMM – from 17th place to 16th place (37.15).
A high school teacher who spoke on condition of anonymity alleged that the 30.04 points drop in the MPS of Grade 6 NAT following the change in schedule as an solid proof of the massive cheating which attended the examinations.
She said that with the takers already out of the schools whose performance ratings rises and falls with their scores, they no longer received the help previous Grade 6 NAT examinees were accorded.
She alleged that leaking out answers and coaching during the examinations are common practices during the NAT which she said were resorted to due to usage of the NAT as a measure of the performance of teachers and schools, as factor in promotion and likewise as determinant of the amount of performance-based bonus (PBB).
The DepEd has yet to reveal to the public the disastrous results of the last two NATs including the overhaul in the standings in the nationwide tests.
The agency also ignored the request of the Zigzag Weekly for comments on the subject.**Estanislao Albano, Jr.
