K-12's New Baby

By Adrian Gebb Bio and Joshua Alex Binza

These days, grades are one basis for an individual to be classified. By earning high marks, you put yourself at the very top of the pack, while having low grades on the other hand, can give you looks of disgust from other students and a look of disappointment from your parents.

May 15, 2013. That very day is burned onto the minds of batch 2013 elementary graduates. That was the day which gave rise to the new educational program here in the Philippines, the K-12 Curriculum. The law was proposed in order to align the Philippines with globally competitive countries. It is also a known fact that Philippines is one of the only three countries in the world along with Djibouti and Angola, and the only one in Southeast Asia which still follows a 10-year pre-university plan.

This program requires all kids to undergo kindergarten before proceeding to the 12 years of basic education which is comprised of six years of elementary education, four years of junior high school and the newly-added two years which is part of senior high school.

This new curriculum also gave rise to a new grading system―Department of Education (DepEd) Order No. 73 s. 2013. The new grading system suggests that students be rated into four areas: Knowledge, Process, Understanding and Performance.

After three years of using such grading system, it has been wiped out of the system, completely changed. Last April 1, 2015, DepEd released DepEd order No. 8 s. 2015 giving birth to a new grading system stating that this grading system will revolve around three main aspects namely Written Works, Quarterly Assessment and Performance Task.

The area which will make up most of the student's grade is the Performance Task field which will cover 50-60% of the students' grades. This field includes class recitations, participating in subject-related events and contests, showing off talents and all other activities which will require you to perform in front of a person or a crowd.

This kind of grading system will flare up the competition amongst the students. This will make sure that all students, with honors or not, will do all necessary outputs and execute all tasks given in class. In order to pass the subject and proceed to the next grade level, they have to boost their self-confidence and shrug off all shyness inside their mind and body, and simply perform. And they have to perform well.

But what about those who truly cannot dance, or sing, or act, or even talk in front of the crowd? What about those who have high test scores but do not have enough confidence to stand out? What about those who cannot impressively perform? Won't they be able to pass the school year?

That is one reason why there is a new grading system. It is for students to be versatile, to be equally focused on their mental, social and physical abilities. It is for students to realize that what the world needs in a decade or so, are those who do not only succeed by having high scores; the world needs students who possess the 21st century skills―skills which involve communication, interaction and performance.

Indeed, grades are only numbers; they do not accurately define people. The marks on each student's report card do not truly describe them as students.  These numeric ratings are only there for us to realize the present and future benefits of performing, of having the 21st century skills; they are not to dictate the future on a sheet of paper.