DepEd to administer nat'l achievement test in March

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Education will administer in March the National Achievement Test to selected levels of elementary and high school students in public and private schools in the country.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said the NAT for fourth year students of public and private schools is set on Mar. 6 while the examination will be on Mar. 12 for Grade 3 pupils and Madrasah schools.

On Mar. 13, Grade 4 pupils of public and private schools will take the NAT, Luistro said.

DepEd annually administers NAT to students to gauge the academic performance in key subjects of elementary and secondary students in both public and private schools.

Luistro said that only DepEd-recognized and accredited private elementary and secondary are schools are included in the conduct of the test. 

Each examinee in Grade 4 NAT shall be issued with a Certificate of Rating per subject area which will reflect the examinee’s readiness for secondary education.

As this developed, DepEd's National Education and Testing Research Center will conduct the national conference on the standardized administration of the NAT, the Test of English Proficiency for Teachers and the Process Skills Test.

"Our goal here is to update information and resolve issues and concerns in the conduct of tests," Luistro said.

Among to be discussed in the conference are the proper conduct of tests, standard procedure in test administration, security of test materials, allocation, delivery and retrieval, information derived from the individual, utilization, dissemination of findings and implication of test results as well as financial matters related to test administration.