DepEd to assess SHS graduates

The Department of Education (DepEd) will subject all graduating senior high school (SHS) students to an exit assessment to determine the effectiveness of the new curriculum under the K-12 program.

The Basic Education Exit Assessment will be administered next month to all Grade 12 students in public and private schools nationwide, based on a memorandum signed by Education Secretary Leonor Briones.

The assessment aims to determine the students’ learning progress and their attainment of the learning standards, according to Briones. It is also expected to provide the DepEd information to improve instructional practices, assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the education service delivery, and gain empirical information as basis for the improvement of the curriculum and assessment for policy review and formulation.

Around 1.4 million Grade 12 students are expected to graduate from over 20,000 public and private SHS nationwide. They will be the first batch of students to graduate after the government implemented the SHS program in 2016.

“The first batch of students in the senior high school program is expected to graduate, meeting the content and performance standards of 21st century skills such as problem solving, information literacy and critical thinking,” Briones said.

These skills were embedded in eight core subject areas, which include language and communication, wika at komunikasyon, humanities, media and information literacy, mathematics, science, social science and personal development, and philosophy.

Specific guidelines on the conduct of the exit assessment, including the administration dates, have yet to be released by the DepEd.

Test materials will be delivered to school divisions two weeks before the scheduled assessment.