To determine if they are meeting the learning standards of the Junior High School (JHS) curriculum, the Department of Education (DepEd) will administer the National Achievement Test for Grade 10 learners (NATG10) before this month ends. (Manila Bulletin file photo)

The administration of the NATG10 for School Year (SY) 2022-2023 was announced in DepEd Memorandum No. 34 series of 2023 signed by Undersecretary for Curriculum and Teaching Gina Gonong. DepEd is scheduled to administer the NATG10 for the current school year on June 27. This, DepEd said, is under DO No. 55 s. of 2026 titled Policy Guidelines on the National Assessment of Student Learning for the K to 12 Basic Education Program and DO 34 s. of 2022 titled School Calendar and Activities for the SY 2022-2023. “The NATG10 is one exit assessments under the national assessment framework of the K to 12 Basic Education Program,” DepEd said. “It is designed to determine if Grade 10 learners are meeting the learning standards of the JHS curriculum,” it added. DepEd said the NATG10 will be administered to sample Grade 10 learners in all regional offices (ROs), schools division offices (SDOs), and schools offering the Grade 10 curriculum in public and private schools through a paper-based modality. As per DO 29 s. 2022 titled Adoption of the Basic Education Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, DepEd has to “identify and articulate performance indicators and outcomes for measuring performance in the development of plans and policies.” “These indicators and outcomes will be used for the assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of the delivery of education services,” DepEd said. “The results of system assessments will serve evidence for the improvement of the curriculum implementation,” it added. The NATG10, DepEd said, will cover 21st-century skills (problem-solving, information literacy, and critical thinking) using learning areas in English, Mathematics, Science, Filipino, and Araling Panlipunan (Social Science) as content. “The test design is progressive in nature wherein test items measure varying levels of skills in a multiple-choice format using English and Filipino language,” DepEd explained. DepEd said the Bureau of Education Assessment (BEA) will be managing the national implementation of the NATG10 with the assistance of the ROs and SDOs. BEA, DepEd added, will also coordinate with the identified field-testing personnel for the conduct of the national conference and administration of the NATG10. The guidelines on the test administration, including the roles and responsibilities of the field-testing personnel and the downloading of the Program Support Funds (PSF) to SDOs, were discussed in a virtual orientation held on June 7. Since the NATG10 will be administered through a paper-based modality, DepEd reminded schools that “health and safety protocols must be followed in all activities to be done in relation to the national test administration.”