The National Achievement Test (NAT) is administered yearly at specific grade/year levels by the Department of Education (DepEd) through the National Education and Research Center (NETRC) as part of a system-wide assessment to gauge the caliber of learning results.
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DepEd came up with the Mastery level to show how well a student must know something before being able to use that skill, helping schools to confidently increase student initiative.
What is the DepEd Mastery Level?
A student’s mastery level is determined by the number of successfully answered questions and the difficulty rating of those answers.
To enhance their understanding of the course content, most students will correctly answer many of the initial assessment questions. Each topic for which a student has completed one or more quizzes results in a specific Mastery Level for that topic.
The assessment findings are sent to data users at the school, division, regional, and national levels in the form of Mean Percentage Scores (MPS) and its descriptive equivalent for data use (e.g., intervention, remedial education, etc.).
See mastery/achievement level graph below:
Mastery/Achievement Level |
|
MPS |
Descriptive Equivalent |
96-100% |
Mastered |
86-95% |
Closely Approximating Mastery |
66-85% |
Moving Toward Mastery |
35-65% |
Average |
15-34% |
Low |
5-14% |
Very Low |
0-4% |
Absolutely No mastery |
Guidelines
The primary and secondary school grading system is intended to represent consistency in the actual level and extent of students’ competency mastery in each subject area. Any individuals involved, including students, parents, teachers, and administrators, may accurately evaluate the true efficacy of the teaching-learning process in this way.
Consequently, the following guidelines are mandated below:
- Test results as well as other numerical or descriptive ratings must be translated into percentage grades without the use of a base percentage; that is, perfect scores must equal 100% and zero scores must equal 0%. DepEd make no claims regarding the transmutation table found in commercially released class records, which uses 70% as the baseline. This should not be done. Teachers should discontinue utilizing this formula right away because it has never received official DepEd approval.
- A passing grade of 75% is required, and it should accurately represent how well students have met the subject area competencies.
- Periodic tests must have a consistent weight in each topic area, ranging from 25% to 40%. The remaining portion will be divided among the other elements that need to be graded in each subject area.
- On the individual report card, any grade below 65% will appear as 65%. But the real grade will always be kept on file in the class record and will be used to total group performance.
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What is DepEd NAT?
The yearly National Achievement Test (NAT) is another measure of the nation’s pupils’ academic progress. In the Philippines, the Department of Education (DepEd) administers the Nationwide Achievement Test (NAT), a standardized test, to evaluate students’ academic achievement on a nationwide scale.
Typically, the NAT is a multiple-choice test covering subjects that are in line with the national curriculum. The test is meant to gauge students’ knowledge and critical thinking abilities, and they must complete the questions in the allotted time.
A considerable number of schools were classified as High Performing Schools (HPS) with an MPS of 86% and above, and Low Performing Schools (LPS) with an MPS of 34% and below, based on the 2012 NAT results. The NETRC will supply the list of these schools, arranged according to division level.
The High Performing Schools can give benchmarking on best practices, which might be included in intervention packages designed to help Low Performing Schools (LPS) perform better. The interested parties at the division and school levels must work together to maximize these specified strategies.
Interventional and Remedial Programs for Low-Performing Schools (LPS)
Level |
Activity |
Responsible Staff |
Division |
Design training programs for teacher on: Task analysis on the least learned competencies (deriving pre-requisite skills) Innovative teaching and assessment strategies Undertake more frequent observations particularly in LPS |
Division Supervisors
-do- |
School | Task analysis on the least learned competencies in the tool subjects
Determine the prerequisite abilities required for the least developed competences. As part of the school head’s instructional leadership, include better teaching practices. Provide varied experiential teaching-learning experiences For the least acquired skills, instil mastery learning.
|
Subject Area Coordinator/ Master Teachers
-do- School Heads Subject Area Teachers
-do- |
High Performing Schools (HPS) Benchmarking on the Best Practices
Level |
Activity |
Responsible Staff |
Divisions |
Using an inventory tool, do a spade survey throughout High Performing Schools (HPS).
Documentation of the best practices generated thru the inventory tool Data packaging for use by other educational institutions, such as LPS |
Division Supervisors
-do- -do- |
School |
School visitations in HPS Replication of best practices in particular schools, especially in LPS |
School Heads -do- |
What Is The Purpose Of NAT?
The purpose of NAT is to track academic advancement, pinpoint areas for development, and raise the standard of education in the Philippines as a whole. Stakeholders, teachers, and legislators can promote students’ learning and development by using test data analysis to make well-informed decisions.
Nationwide school administration of the NAT is coordinated by the Department of Education. The testing process is conducted by schools in accordance with the DepEd schedules, which guarantee a fair and uniform assessment of the learning outcomes of students.
Following NAT completion, students’ answers are scored, and the findings are utilized to produce reports at the individual, school, division, and national levels. These reports shed light on students’ performance and help develop policies aimed at raising the standard of education in the Philippines. The lessons taught the students to study before, during, and even after class, which helped them to study not just during but even after classeseduca.
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Video: Automated MPS DepEd Mean percentage score ITEM ANALYSIS 2022 2023
To know more on how to compute the average grade of students. Check out the link from YouTuber SaarTech