DepEd to use portfolio assessment as basis for issuance of diploma for ALS completers

The Department of Education (DepEd) has allowed the result of the presentation portfolio assessment to be used as basis for the issuance of an elementary diploma or a junior high school level certificate of program completion for learners under the Alternative Learning System (ALS) program.

In a Joint Memorandum DM-OUCI-2021-049 dated Feb. 24 issued by DepEd Undersecretary Curriculum and Instruction Diosdado San Antonio and ALS Assistant Secretary G.H. Ambat, it was announced that the presentation portfolio assessment for ALS elementary and junior high school program will be applicable to completers of School Year (SY) 2019-2020 and previous years in the Learner Information System (LIS).

DepEd made this move in the absence of the Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E) Test. Based of the recommendation of the Bureau of Education Assessment (BEA), the administration of computer-based A&E Test for SY 2019-2020 ALS completers “will not be possible until after April 2021 due to the restrictions imposed by the government in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Despite this issuance, DepEd reminded that “only those who met the minimum required points are eligible to receive such diploma or certificate.”

The issuance of diploma and certificates, DepEd added, shall be until the last week of June 2021.

DepEd explained that ALS Elementary and Junior High School program completers of SY 2019- 2020 and previous years under the old ALS curriculum - who underwent additional learning intervention and wish to seek equivalency certification - need to “update their portfolio” based on the ALS K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum (BEC) with the assistance of their ALS teachers.

“Similar guidelines shall apply in the preparation and assessment of their presentation portfolio,” DepEd added.

DepEd also reminded that said completers “should be enrolled, should have complied with all the requirements needed, and should have mastered” the additional competencies in the ALS K to 12 BEC.

In order to ensure the validity and credibility of the assessment, DepEd said that the ALS Elementary and Junior High School program completers of SY 2019-2020 and previous years are “allowed to submit their presentation portfolio only once.” Meanwhile, the completers who receive below the minimum required points need to “undergo additional learning interventions” in preparation for future A&E Test.

DepEd has also directed Regional and Division ALS Focal Persons to conduct a re-orientation on inter-district validation of portfolio.

“The modality for the conduct of the said activity shall depend on the quarantine protocol level set by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF),” DepEd said. They shall also monitor the actual conduct of final validation and the the conduct of activities shall be charged against the CY 2020 ALS Program Support Funds (PSF).

DepEd said that a revalidation with program completers needs to be conducted to ensure that the presentation portfolios are original outputs of the completers.

“Priority shall be given to ALS Completers who are provisionally enrolled in Grade 7 and Grade 11,” DepEd said.

The presentation portfolio, according to DepEd, contains “evidence of performance and mastery of competencies in each of the six learning strands” in the ALS K to 12 (BEC).

The ALS Assessment tools, on the other hand, contain “evidence of the learner’s prior learning, pre and post-FLT performance, status of accomplishment of individual learning goals, and assessment of individual learning progress.”