In January 2020, the Department of Health (DOH) recorded the first case of COVID-19 in the Philippines. Later on, the country was locked down to prevent the spread of the virus, the same with other countries. However, it forced many businesses and educational institutions to halt their operations, shut down, or permanently close. That’s why the Department of Education (DepEd) provided guidelines for schools and teachers through the DepEd Order 31.
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This policy contains interim guidelines for assessment and grading to ensure learning continuity throughout the country. By implementing this order, schools shall apply distance/blended learning modalities for Filipino students to continue their studies despite the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, teachers will implement creative and innovative ways to assess learners’ progress, including technology to observe and record students’ learning and development.
What is DepEd Order 31
On October 2, 2020, the Department of Education (DepEd) issued the DepEd Order (DO) 31, series (s.) 2020 to boost the DO 12, s. 2020 or the “Adoption of the Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan (BE-LCP)” for the school year 2020-2021 because of the COVID-19 Pandemic to ensure continuous teaching and learning while attending to the health, safety, and well-being of teachers, school personnel, and learners. The DepEd Order 31, or the Interim Policy Guidelines for Assessment and Grading in Light of the Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan, provides direction for assessing student learning and grading schemes for the 2020-2021 school year.
Interim Policy Guidelines for Assessment and Grading in Light of the Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan
Rationale
Due to the continuous peril caused by Covid-19, the world faces unusual difficulties in basic education. That’s why parents and teachers must adapt to alternative learning modes, ensuring the achievement of necessary curricular goals for learners in preparation for the school year 2020-2021. It requires innovative and creative methods to craft optimal learning experiences and effectively assess learners’ progress under unfavorable situations.
Under this policy, the assessment is applied in distance/blended learning environments to use alternative strategies and tools to support learning while preventing too much pressure on teachers, learners, and their families.
Scope
With its goal to pursue learning continuity, DepEd urges schools to apply relevant assessment and grading practices to assist in learners’ development. That’s why all public elementary and secondary schools throughout the Philippines should implement the policy guidelines for the school year 2020-2021. DepEd also postpones any provision that contradicts this new policy and its guidelines for the said school year regardless of the effect of DO 8 s. 2015.
Furthermore, DepEd encourages the implementation of these interim policy guidelines in private schools, technical and vocational institutions, and higher education organizations, from state and local universities to colleges with K to 12 Basic Education Programs. Private schools and institutions can also reform the guidelines based on their vision, mission, and philosophy by seeking approval from the concerned DepEd Regional Office (RO).
Policy Statement & Principles
To ensure learning continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic, DepEd supervised the health, safety, and well-being of all its teachers, personnel, and learners. Schools should also adopt assessment and grading practices. Since DepEd aims to achieve learning continuity, this order is established based on the following principles:
- Assessment should be authentic and holistic in recording the achievement of necessary learning competencies
- Assessment is a fundament for comprehending the development and learning of students
- Various assessment strategies are essential with formative analysis, prioritizing informed teaching, and promoting growth and mastery.
- Assessment and feedback are shared responsibility among teachers, learners, and their families.
- Assessment and grading should positively impact learning
Objectives
Teachers, school leaders, learners, and their parents should uphold the integrity of learning and instruction concerning distance education. Thus, DepEd implemented this policy to achieve the following:
- Guarantee that all learners are justly assessed and graded in learning continuity despite the health crisis.
- Highlight the accomplishment of learning standards by providing reasonable leniency and consideration to learners because of possible challenges they may encounter
Procedures
Roles & Responsibilities
Since distance/blended learning comes with many difficulties for learners and teachers, conducting assessments, limitations, and feedback are essential for different contexts in creating, administering, and grading assessment duties. That’s why DepEd emphasizes the following roles and responsibilities of learners, teachers, and their families to deal with these challenges:
For Teachers
- Design the assessment to ensure flexibility in multiple modalities
- Communicate with learners, parents, and guardians regarding the standards and design for assessment grading
- Set up mechanisms to keep track of and remotely document progress
- Give timely, constructive, and relevant feedback
- Facilitate remediation for learners requiring further advice and direction
For Learners
- Be proactive in informing their teachers about the situation, progress, and difficulties they may encounter
- Learners may accomplish a non-mandatory Self-Monitoring Tool independently or with the help of a parent/guardian to monitor their academic progress.
For Parents and Guardians
If necessary, parents or guardians must help with the assessment procedure by:
- Connect with the teacher to provide updates about their child’s situation, progress, and difficulties they encounter
- Guide their child in fulfilling the assessment tasks and monitoring tools provided by their teacher
A. Planning the Assessment
Teachers must be flexible and creative but still abide by the principles of quality assessment practice. Also, teachers should make their assessment decisions based on the best of all learners with concern for their safety, health, and well-being. Thus, schools must guarantee that all conducted assessment activities are:
- In line with necessary learning competencies
- Valid, reliable, and transparent
- Fair, equitable, and inclusive
- Manageable and practical for learners and teachers
- Provide learners with various ways to display their learning
- Provide prompt and precise information for feedback
While implementing distance/blended learning modes, teachers must create assessments with the expectation that learners will chronologically accept them and openly access different sources. Before choosing and applying assessment methods, teachers must also consider the following questions:
- What is the purpose of the assessment?
- What will be assessed?
- Which method would best allow learners to demonstrate what they have learned, considering their learning modality?
- Which method would make it easy to gather evidence of learners’ progress over time?
- Will the assessment be completed individually or in groups?
- Will the assessment be taken at the same time or submitted within a specific period?
- How will the class size affect the way the assessment will be conducted?
- How can technology help?
Teachers should also apply formative and summative assessment strategies, like quizzes and long tests, that are specific, frequent, and repetitive without grading restrictions to target necessary skills for learning competencies. Teachers should also design performance tasks to allow learners to apply their education to real-life situations. Meanwhile, teachers must have realistic expectations and utilize their professional judgment to accomplish assessments effectively and remotely.
B. Conducting Assessment Remotely
Communicate the assessment task.
Teachers should explain the following details when communicating the assessment task:
- Objectives of the assessment task
- Roles of learners, their parents, or guardians
- Procedure and expected timeline
- Standards and rubrics
Meanwhile, teachers should consult the learners, parents, or guardians when necessary to provide any room for adjustment or flexibility.
Record of Progress.
It’s also fundamental to collect and record learning evidence to monitor the development and learning of students. To record progress, below are the applicable strategies:
- Self-Monitoring Tool
- Assessment period check-ins of teacher with learner
- Evidence in the student’s learning portfolio
C. Feedback and Remediation
Formative and summative assessments should include prompt, constructive, and relevant feedback based on the learner’s record of progress, which is beneficial to student learning. Teachers should use all available communication methods, such as SMS and online channels, in providing feedback. Additionally, teachers should guarantee that learners requiring remediation receive it when they consistently earn low scores in summative assessments to prevent students from failing in any learning area.
D. Grading and Promotion
The difficulties that emerged during the coronavirus pandemic prompted stakeholders in education sectors to reconsider the country’s traditional grading schemes, especially the implementation of various distance/blended learning delivery modalities. Therefore, DepEd issued the interim policy to provide fair leniency to learners. Under this policy, teachers shall administer written works and performance tasks to assess the expected abilities, knowledge, and skills learners should exhibit, which is applicable through the following:
- Student’s Learning Portfolio
- Minimum of four (4) written works and performance tasks within the quarter
- Performance tasks should cover all competencies.
The photos below contain the Summative Assessment Components and Sample Computation of Written Works and Performance Tasks:
Table 1: Weight Distribution of the Summative Assessment Components per Learning Area for Grades 1 to Grade 10
Table 2: Weight Distribution of the Summative Assessment Components for Senior High School
Table 3: Sample Computation of Written Works and Performance Tasks in Languages/AP/EsP for Grade 1 to Grade 10 and SHS Core Subjects
Table 4: Sample Computation of Written Works and Performance Tasks in Math/Science for Grade 1 to Grade 10
Table 5: Sample Computation of Written Works and Performance Tasks in MAPEH/EPP/TLE for Grade 1 to Grade 10
Sample Assessments, Rubrics, & Self-Monitoring Tool
Sample Techniques for Each Formative Assessment Strategy
Sample Summative Assessment Tools that Qualify as Performance Tasks in Various Learning Delivery Modalities
A. Face-to-Face Learning
B. Online Distance Learning
C. Digital/Printed Modular Learning, TV/RBI, and Homeschooling
Sample Holistic Rubric
Sample Analytic Rubric
Sample Integrative Performance Task – Integrated Most Essential Learning Competencies
Rubric for Assessing Online Blogs (For Online Learners)
Rubric for Assessing Offline Interactive Presentation (For Offline Digital Learners)
Rubric for Assessing Informative Write-up Report (For Modular Learners with no gadget and connection)
Sample Self-Monitoring Tool
Three-Level Model of Feedback
Assessments for Remote Learning
DepEd Order 31 Full Memo Download
To access and download the complete PDF of DepEd Order No. 31, series of 2020, a direct link is available on this page. By clicking the download button below, you can easily obtain a copy of DepEd Order 31 in PDF format.
Full PDF DepEd 8 memo file: https://region8.deped.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/DO-s2020-031.pdf
Video: DepEd’s Guidelines for Assessment & Grading System Under the New Normal- DepEd Order 31 s. 2020
Watch the video below to learn more about DepEd Order 31:
As discussed in the video, the guidelines for assessment and grading systems under the new normal are on the DepEd Order 31 s. 2020. This policy provides guidelines to teachers and school principals regarding the implemented assessment for the new normal, including significant changes in the education sector. Moreover, this policy contains the procedures for planning and conducting remote assessments, providing feedback and remediation, and the new grading schemes. The order also tackles the role of technology to ensure learning continuity despite the constraints brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Summary
While the COVID-19 pandemic forced many schools and learning centers to shut down, the Department of Education maximized the use of technology to ensure learning continuity by issuing DepEd Order 31. This policy provides interim guidelines to principals and teachers about the assessment and grading system implemented for the school year 2020-2021 in line with the Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan (BE-LCP). Hence, teachers can effectively and remotely assess the academic progress of learners.