“Shouldn’t we be taking advantage of the face-to-face classes for teachers to do accurate assessments of what the learners have and have not learned in the past years?”
This was what Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Chairperson Vladimer Quetua said, hitting the Department of Education’s (DepEd) conduct of online Comprehensive Rapid Literacy Assessment (CRLA) and the Amplified Numeracy Assessment (ANA) for elementary students.
These tests simply aim to measure and identify educational gaps in hopes of solving the learning crisis in the Philippines. While the teachers agree that it is best to understand the depth of the country’s learning crisis, they likewise reiterated that doing it virtually has already been proven to be ineffective.
Quetua, in a press statement on Tuesday, Sept. 13, stressed that when the country was implementing full distance learning, the lack of access to stable internet connection already hampered the conduct of assessment tests. Apart from this, he added that many learners are complaining that the systems are “always bogging down” while some find the interface confusing.
These are only some of the reasons why assessment tests done virtually are not the best method to gauge the learning crisis in the country, underscored Quetua.
“Nagkanya-kanya na ng paggawa ang mga guro ng diagnostic tests dahil alam namin na napaka importante nito para magkaroon ng evidence-based learning assessment at makapag plano kami kung paano namin sisimulan ang pagtuturo (Teachers have been doing diagnostic tests because we know it is very important to have an evidence-based learning assessment so we can plan how to start teaching),” he added.
He, however, clarified that DepEd should not put all of the burden on Filipino teachers’ shoulders.
“Kailangan natin ng nationally-directed learning assessment para mabuo ang datos sa buong bansa at maging batayan naman ng pambansang plano sa education recovery (We need a nationally-directed learning assessment to generate data across the country. It will then become the basis of the national education recovery plan),” Quetua furthered.