ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro blamed the K-12 program of the Department of Education (DepEd) for Filipino students’ poor performance in a recent global assessment for math and science.
According to Castro, the K-12 “congested curriculum” failed and resulted in Filipino Grade 4 Filipino students’ poor performance in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019.
Students from the Philippines only got 297 in mathematics and 249 in science, which are “significantly lower” than any other country that participated in the tests.
“DepEd’s incompetence immensely impacts teachers and students’ performance. The poor performance of Filipino students in [the TIMSS 2019] marks the failure of DepEd’s K-12 program,” Castro said in a statement.
“Among the outputs of DepEd’s incompetence and haphazard implementation of so-called education reform is the curriculum congestion, which compromises adequate teaching time and students’ deeper understanding. This is worsening under the case of the blended learning scheme,” she added.
Castro again called for the abolition of the K-12 program and urged the government to “create a curriculum that will meet the needs of the society, and to invest more in education so we can address the issues of quality education.”
Solon blames K-12 for students’ low math, science scores
TIMSS has 4 International Benchmarks along a scale to determine learners’ competence: Advanced International Benchmark (625), High International Benchmark (550), Intermediate International Benchmark (475), and Low International Benchmark (400).
In mathematics, 81% of the students did not even reach the Low International Benchmark. Meanwhile, the 19% reached the 400 scores meaning they had “some basic mathematical knowledge.”
“They can add, subtract, multiply, and divide one- and two-digit whole numbers. They can solve simple word problems. They have some knowledge of simple fractions and common geometric shapes. Students can read and complete simple bar graphs and tables,” the study said.
For science, only 13% of Filipino students were also on the Low benchmark, which means they had “limited understanding of scientific concepts and limited knowledge of foundational science facts.” The rest of the students did not even reach this benchmark.
TIMSS provides reliable and timely trend data on U.S. students’ mathematics and science achievement compared to that of students in other countries.