MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education failed to administer most of its large-scale student assessments on time in the last seven years, based on new government data, with procurement hiccups and lack of educational assessment staff as the main reasons for the delay.
Of the 27 major learning assessments scheduled since 2016, DepEd only administered two tests on time. Thirteen tests were conducted late, while 12 were skipped due to procurement challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2)’s report released Monday.
DepEd administers the National Achievement Test (NAT) every school year for students in Grades 6, 10 and 12. It also conducts an annual literacy and numeracy test called the Early Language, Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (ELLNA) for Kinder to Grade 3 students.
EDCOM 2 noted that regular delays in the procurement process for the NAT and ELLNA often push back the timeline for test taking and analysis of results.
As a consequence, most exams tend to be held at the end of the school year, which means that by the time students’ scores are released, these can no longer be used to judge their progress against standards and to improve teaching practices, EDCOM 2 said.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the NAT was not administered at all five times across different grade levels since 2016, while the ELLNA was skipped twice.
No single NAT for Grade 10 has been administered on time since 2016, according to data analyzed by EDCOM 2.
DepEd’s endless procurement woes
DepEd’s procurement delays overall make it difficult to produce timely and useful data for policymakers on whether students know enough for their level, according to EDCOM 2’s Year One report, which summarized the commission’s findings in its first year reviewing the education system.
For instance, DepEd often struggles to find bidders for the administration of national assessments due to the strict requirements for the printing of exams and the low price of the contracts, according to EDCOM 2.
Citing the Bureau of Education Assessment (BEA), the report said that few vendors bid for the printing and packaging of test booklets as staff are not allowed to leave the building upon the printing of the tests to prevent them from leaking the exams.
Additionally, when the BEA calls for bids, few suppliers or vendors will answer, forcing DepEd to use past prices that the BEA says are too low.
Meanwhile, BEA conducts at least 12 assessments a year, and the same bidders might win multiple contracts, which can lead to further delays.
The procurement process slowed even further due to the bureaucratic delays in processing procurement documents internally, EDCOM 2 noted.
These delays include redundant reviews of the same bidding documents among multiple offices, the failure of signatories to comply deadlines, changing members of the Bids and Awards Committee and accomplishing multiple procurement forms and documents that contain duplicate questions, EDCOM 2 added.
Lack of personnel
EDCOM 2 also raised concerns about whether BEA can fulfill its mandate with its existing number of staff.
The bureau — which is in charge of managing and analyzing all of DepEd’s national assessments in public and private schools — is short of around 19 staff members tasked with handling technical tasks, EDCOM 2 said.
Of the 55 regular positions in BEA, around 36 are filled.
There is also a limited talent pool of professionals in the field of educational measurement, according to the EDCOM 2.
Only four schools offer master’s programs linked to educational assessment, which graduate just seven people a year on average.
Need for rationalization
EDCOM 2 said that one of the main challenges of the education sector is its lack of lack of access to timely and complete data on student learning, which “stems from an excess of assessment activities in basic education.”
“However, the lack of access to timely and comprehensive assessment results is not caused by the lack of assessments. One of the key findings of the subcommittee is that there are now too many assessment activities in basic education, and it might be necessary to rationalize them,” EDCOM 2 said.
To address the delays caused by procurement, EDCOM 2 has proposed for DepEd to modernize its test administration and consider the adoption of a computer-based assessment system.
Computerizing large-scale assessments “(hold) the potential to enhance data collection and analysis, ensuring prompt release and analysis of assessment results,” EDCOM 2 said.