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By Jonathan M. Hicap Reporter
Public elementary pupils did
slightly better in math, English, science and two other subjects
this year than last year in the National Achievement Test (NAT).
About 1.6 million Grade 6
students to the NAT last March.
The test showed that the
students’ performance improved by 5.28 percentage points to 59.94
percent. It was however still below the passing mark of 75 percent.
The students got a mean
percentage score of 60.29 in math, higher by 6.63 percentage points
than the 2006 NAT score of 53.66 percent. In English, students
scored 60.78 percent compared to 54.05 percent in 2006.
In science, the average score was
51.58 percent, higher by 4.81 percentage points than the 46.77
percent score in 2006.
The students also scored 66.02
percent in Filipino compared to 60.68 percent in 2006, and 61.05
percent in Hekasi, compared to 58.12 percent in 2006.
Education Secretary Jesli Lapus
hailed the test results as “well above target.”
“It was more than what we
expected from the target of two percent earlier set by our Bureau of
Elementary Education,” he said.
However, only 550 of the 29,962
schools, or 1.83 percent, got scores in the closely approximating
mastery level, higher than the 2006 rate of 0.47 percent.
The number of schools that moved
toward mastery level increased to 35.12 percent, or 10,523, from
22.24 percent in 2006. Schools with average mastery decreased to
59.35 percent, or 17,781) from 69.45 percent.
Schools with a low mastery
improved as the numbers decreased from 7.81 percent in 2006 to just
3.69 percent this year.
“This year’s NAT results have
proved that our efforts to upgrade public education focused on the
performance of public school students are coming to fruition,”
Lapus added.
Lapus attributed the
“impressive performance” of public school students in the NAT to
the educational reforms the department was undertaking.
Among this is
Every-Child-A-Reader Program (ECARP) that focuses on making a Grade
3 pupil read with comprehension.
“If a child understands what he
is reading then learning comes easy,” Lapus said.
Also, the School-Based Management
put particular attention on school needs as stipulated in the School
Improvement Plan.
The Needs-Based In-Service
Training helped teachers from schools which had a low mastery level
in the 2006 NAT. Based on their needs, the teachers went into
in-service training together with their school heads.
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