This is probably the foremost question that most education stakeholders have in mind as the Philippines once again joins the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) this year.
When the Philippines first joined PISA in 2018, Filipino learners had a dismal performance among the 79 countries in reading comprehension as well as mathematical and scientific literacy.
In a recent press conference, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said that the DepEd is “doing everything to prepare” the students despite the difficult circumstances brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Despite the country’s poor rankings in the 2018 PISA, Briones said that some Philippine schools "did well and even scored equal to or superior" to the scores of the OECD countries.
In the 2022 PISA, Briones expressed hope that despite the pandemic, the schools and regions that did well in the 2018 PISA “will do well as expected.”
After the release of the PISA result in 2019, experts from both public and private sectors collaborated to identify and address the various education challenges, including creating a technology-enabled learning environment for teachers and students similar to other countries.
Meanwhile, Education Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan said that the decision to join the PISA once again is aligned with DepEd’s “Sulong Edukalidad” --- an ongoing program to improve education quality in the country.
Malaluan explained that the PISA “is not a race to the top” but more about “getting feedback” on what needs to be done to improve education quality in the country.
“Consistency in participation in assessment allows for continuity of data for monitoring improvements and identifying gaps and areas of growth for basic education,” DepEd said in a statement issued March 11.
PISA and the PH challenge
Conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), PISA assesses the competencies of students from participating countries in mathematics, science, and reading.
In the 2018 PISA, the Philippines’ scores in mathematics, science, and reading were way below the average of the participating countries.
As the country participates once again in PISA this year, participating Filipino students are expected not only to demonstrate academic competency.
They are also expected to overcome technical challenges associated with computer-based exams such as doing simulations, data generation, and information analysis.
Malaluan said that preparations for PISA 2022 include familiarizing the participating learners with computer-based assessments.
This, he noted, is very crucial since “the way you take the exam in school, class, traditionally, is slightly different from how the PISA is being undertaken.”
To address this challenge, DepEd developed and implemented the Professional Development (PD) Program on Assessment and Emerging Literacies with a focus on PISA in October 2021.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2021/10/27/deped-preparations-for-phs-participation-in-pisa-2022-ongoing/
The program was developed through collaborative efforts of experts from the Bureau of Education Assessment (BEA), the Bureau of Learning Delivery (BLD), assessment experts, and partner National Educators’ Academy of the Philippines (NEAP)-accredited Learning Service Providers (LSPs).
These include the Assessment, Curriculum, and Technology Research Centre (ACTRC), the Center for Educational Measurement (CEM) Inc., and Frontlearners, Inc. --- an interactive e-learning content developer and customized e-school solution provider for K-12 schools and universities.
The need to overcome technical barriers and more
When Filipino students took PISA in 2018, there were “factors that negatively impacted their performance,” according to Dr. Luz Bay, a Senior Psychometrics Director at College Board (USA).
Bay, who also serves as Senior Advisor of Frontlearners, said that these factors include their lack of familiarity with the testing environment as well as their lack of experience with technology-laden assessment questions.
To help remove the technical barriers that students encounter when taking a computer-based exam so that they can focus and spend more time on the academic and conceptual aspects of the assessment, Frontlearners Founder Leo De Velez said that teachers were provided with simulation training activities.
These, he said, allowed them to experience taking a computer-based exam like PISA as if they were students. “This experience will help teachers to effectively familiarize their students with a technology-enabled testing environment,” he said.
De Velez said that teachers were also given simulation tools and resources for their students to use to “gain experience in answering different types of interactive questions.”
Frontlearners also released thousands of curriculum-aligned interactive lessons and exercises focused on mathematics, science, and reading.
Tools for better visualization and understanding of difficult concepts were also provided as well as application exercises for real-life situations to further develop the students’ higher-order thinking skills.
“These are the skills that PISA encourages us to develop and measure in our students. PISA does not require memorization of facts,” Frontlearners CEO Elaine De Velez said.
“Instead, it measures how students can connect the dots, make data-driven conclusions, and solve problems,” she added.
Re-engineering PH education
As the country participates in the PISA for the second time, all eyes are on DepEd once again as the results of the exam will be critical in reviewing the impact of the improvement initiatives that were implemented so far by the agency DepEd and its partners.
The results and recommendations that will come out from the PISA 2022 are also expected to give additional data points and valuable insights needed by the policymakers and educators in re-engineering the Philippine educational landscape to be at par with other countries.
Given this, DepEd called on the public and other stakeholders to allow participating schools and students the “space and time to proceed with the assessment without undue distraction.”
DepEd said that it would provide further details on the conduct of PISA in the country after the completion of the assessment in May 2022.