Good afternoon colleagues in the education profession!

Truly, after hearing our resource persons speak in sensible and relevant volume today, I know you
share the same insights with me: the opportunities of doing things better and raising the bar of excellence
in our work to improve the teaching and learning process are wide and limitless. As the global community
marches on the inescapable realm of the new environment, we educators must adapt, transform and
improve ourselves. Again, what an enriching day this has been.
But before we formally close the conference and go our respective ways, allow me to share with you
my learnings on todays presentations.
1. On the research study presented by Ms. Kathy Tan regarding Students Learning Outcomes Under the K
to 12 Program.
The new K-12 curriculum emphasizes the importance of building on prior knowledge and skills and
discussing topics in progressively more complex ways. This indicates the importance of prior learning as a
prerequisite to gaining more advanced understandings and competencies. Preliminary findings do suggest
that prerequisite skills matter. The findings further reveal that students with lower achievement in earlier
grade levels tend to have lower achievement in later grade levels while students with higher achievement
in earlier grade levels tend to perform better in the succeeding grades. From these observations, we can
deduce that student who fail to acquire the competencies required for their grade levels without proper
intervention are in danger of falling behind as they continue to struggle with future lessons that draw on
prior knowledge and skills.
It is therefore imperative that students learning outcomes under the K-12 program are continuously
monitored by using assessment instruments, as part of the schools efforts to learn more about students
academic strengths and weaknesses so that appropriate intervention programs, instruction and program
adjustments can be made. The practice of monitoring student learning is an essential component of highquality education.
2. The Standard Setting Project of CEM presented by Ms. Janet Evasco aims to provide additional
information on students performance levels in the CEM K-12 achievement tests. this empirically-derived
information on performance levels can help or guide students, parents, teachers and school administrators
in making informed decision on the improvement of the teaching and learning processes.
The intention is to give additional test reports that categorize student levels of performance in to 3
namely: Developing Proficiency, Approaching Proficiency and Proficient. These levels of performance
describe in general terms what the student can do or cannot do, depending on where the students test
score lies. As mentioned by Janet in his presentation, the standards-based reports are still a work in
progress, as it shall still go through a series of reviews and evaluations by subject area experts before the
final test report forms will be released in the field.
3. Now the study on School Environment presented by Ms. Jenny Wong is of equal importance. CEM is
studying school environment since it is an integral part of school improvement. If we want to improve

student learning, staff development and school as a whole- schools have to examine their own school
context.
At present the initial finds of the research show that Social Relations is a critical component of
School environment. Social relations is instrumental to learning. If there is a positive or good relationship
between teachers and students- then teaching students, disciplining them and engaging them in different
school activities becomes much easier.
Another important finding is that teachers should make clear that they are the authority figure inside
the classroom, otherwise, they will spend more time disciplining students rather than giving lessons.
4. And finally on the update on the development of the Philippine Career Interest Profiler presented by Ms.
Katz Francisco. It was stressed that in order to have an effective career plan, a well-defined assessment
process at each educational level should be implemented to assist students in making informed choices
and achieving desired post-school employment outcomes. This process should include effective practices
and the gathering of helpful planning information.
A precursor to the development of the PCIP is the new K-12 curriculum espoused by the
government in answer to the 2 perennial challenges faced by the Dept of labor and Employment, namely:
High unemployment rate and job-and-skill mismatch.
In response to this, CEM has embarked on developing the Phil Career Interest Profiler. This test
intends to measure students interests in different work environments by looking into work-related activities
and the distinguishing traits associated with these environments. It also intends to guide high school
students in their career choices and assist guidance counselors in giving plausible advice to their students.
At the moment, the test instrument is already in the tryout stage. The tryout forms are being administered
to public and private grades 7, 9 and 11 students from rural and urban areas across the country.
Another important endeavor that CEM is working on, as far as career guidance testing is concerned, is the
development of the CEM Database of Occupational Information. It is the Cem database which contains
information on different occupations including work description, tasks and activities. Included occupations
are based on the DOLEs Project Jobsfit and Career Guide.
All the 4 presentations show how seriously CEM is taking its tasks of providing valid and defensible
assessment instruments coupled with comprehensive and meaning test reports. In behalf of all of us, may we
please invite the 4 resource persons to please stand up.. lets give them a round of applause. Thank for your
generosity.
Allow me to close the conference by reiterating Dr. Lenore Decenteceos statement in her message this
morning: CEMs mission is not just to improve schools but more so to shape the minds of the Filipino youth. And in
effect, help build the Filipino nation! Let us lead with data and lead change.
To all of you, thank you so much for taking the time since we all know that it is Eid'l Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) and
joining us in celebrating CEMs 37 years of relevant, fruitful and meaningful existence in Phil education. See you
again at CEMs 38th year celebration. God bless us all!!!

Discovering Your Interest in the World of Work

Establishing Performance Standards on the CEM K to 12 Achievement Tests: Procedures and Outputs
Awareness
Appreciation
Excitement