FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
First Regular Session 
) 
1 0 
.lUI. 20 
1\1 i :3' 
SEN~T;e 
S. No. 
It>68 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The Constitution, Article XIV, Section 2 (1) mandates that the State shall: 
SEC. 2 (1). Establish, maintain, and support a complete, adequate, and 
integrated system of education relevant to the needs of the people and 
society. 
In order to effectively implement educational reforms, we need to be able to establish a 
system of evaluation that would accurately measure the performance of our students. In such 
program, we need the assistance of the local government units to be able to focus efforts on the 
students as grouped geographically thus removing the possible inefficiencies of coordinating a 
massive scale study and allow the generation of benchmark information from successful 
programs, which can be used by the less successful ones. 
By establishing a system of grant to fund efforts to determine the best performance 
evaluation for students, we would be able to secure the assistance of the academe in preparing 
the groundwork towards the formulation of a continuing national evaluation program that makes 
use of the current measures of perfonnance. 
This bill seeks to mandate the Department of Education to work with the provincial 
government towards the development of evaluation programs for our students. 1 
Lw,-
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,fjUJI' MIRIAM DEF~~SOR SANTIrO 
I This bill was originally filed in the Fourteenth Congress, Second Regular Session 


FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
First Regular Session 
) 
1 (I 
JUt 20 fill :3~ 
SEN~T;;; 
S. No. 
1t.>68 
IU!a:IVfJ) elf 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
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AN ACT 
it 
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TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF CLASSROOM LEARNING BY EMPOWERING 
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PROVINCES TO DEVELOP PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENTS THAT MEASURE 
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HIGHER ORDER THINKING SKILLS 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
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Congress assembled: 
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SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "Improving Classroom 
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Learning and Student Performance Act of2008." 
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SECTION 2. Definition. -In this Act, the term-
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A. PERFORMANCE-BASED 
ASSESSMENT-
means 
assessments 
that 
evaluate 
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applications of knowledge to real-world tasks. Such assessments are designed to measure 
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higher order thinking and performance skills. 
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B. HIGHER ORDER THINKING AND PERFORMANCE SKILLS- means the abilities to--
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1. frame and solve problems; 
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2. find, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize information; 
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3. apply knowledge to new problems or situations; 
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4. develop and test complex ideas; and 
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5. communicate ideas or solutions proficiently in oral or written form. 
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C. MULTIPLE MEASURES- means different sources of evidence of student learning in a 
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subject or across subject areas. Such sources of evidence provide multiple opportunities 
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to demonstrate achievement, are accessible to students at varying levels of proficiency, 
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and. utilize different methods for demonstrating achievement. 
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SECTION 3. Purposes - The purposes of this Act are as follows: 
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A. To empower provincial units to develop assessment systems that-
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1. are aligned with student learning standards; 
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2. provide multiple measures of student learning, including performance 
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assessments that assess higher order thinking and performance skills; 
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3. include local assessments that provide timely, diagnostic information about 
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student learning; 
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4. are consistent with nationally recognized professional standards for test 
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construction and test use, including standards of fairness, reliability, and 
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validity; 
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5. employ principles of universal design and use appropriately designed 
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assessments and accommodations for special populations and English 
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language learners; and 
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6. are used for purposes for which they are valid and reliable. 
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B. To ensure that local assessments include common assessments developed for use at 
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the school or district level, and classroom-based evidence obtained from curriculum-
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embedded assessments. Such assessments may be used in the provincial assessment 
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system when they-
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1. assess student learning in light of content standards, including higher order 
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thinking and performance skills; 
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2. meet technical requirements of validity and reliability; 
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3. are fair and unbiased; 
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4. include multiple sources of evidence about student learning; and 
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5. can be used to demonstrate student progress toward and attaimnent of 
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proficiency. 
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SECTION 4. Program Established. - the Secretary shall award grants to State funded 
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educational agencies that demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Secretary, based on peer review, 
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that the requirements ofthis Act will be met, to--
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A. enable provinces (or consortia of provinces) to collaborate with institutions of higher 
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education, other research institutions, or other organizations to improve the quality, 
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validity, and reliability of provincial and local academic assessments; 
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B. enable provinces to develop the capacity of local education agencies to validly and 
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reliably assess student academic achievement using multiple sources of evidence, 
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including school-based performance assessments; and 
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C. enable provinces and local districts to develop the capacity of teachers and school 
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leaders to develop, use, and reliably evaluate the results of locally-administered 
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performance assessments. 
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SECTION 5. Duration. - Each grant under this section shall be for a period of not more 
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than 5 years. 
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SECTION 6. Technical Assistance. - Each province receiving a grant under this section 
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shall allocate at least 5 percent of the grant for technical assistance. The province shall use that 
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allocation to work with universities or other non-profit research organizations that have expertise 
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in perfonnance assessments for assistance in the development, implementation, evaluation and 
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improvement of province and local performance assessment systems. The universities and non-
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profit research organizations shall use the amounts to develop tools provinces can use, such as 
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various methods for weighting indicators used in the assessment and improvement system or 
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means for evaluating assessments systems and the consequences of their use. 
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SECTION 7. Allowable Uses. - A grant under this Act may be used for: 
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A. developing, piloting, and validating performance assessments that are or will be 
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incorporated into their assessment systems; 
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B. training teachers and school leaders to score such assessments; and 
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C. developing and testing systems for auditing or moderating the scoring process to 
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ensure reliability and validity of such assessments. 
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SECTION 8. Subgrant. - The province may, pursuant to criteria established by the 
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province, make sub grants to local educational agencies or schools to-
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A. develop and implement local performance assessments; and 
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B. train teachers and school leaders to score and use such assessments for tracking 
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student progress and for guiding curriculum and instruction. 
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SECTION 9. Formative Assessments. - A province, local educational agency, or school 
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may use funds under this section to support the development and implementation of formative 
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assessments that are performance-based and that enable schools to provide detailed feedback to 
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students and teachers to enable them to improve their learning and teaching. 
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SECTION 10. Other Uses. - A State may retain a portion of the grant amounts to-
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A. deyelop integrated State assessment systems that incorporate and weight multiple 
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measures, including the results of periodic standardized tests and State or local 
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performance assessments; 
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B. collaborate with other States in sharing knowledge on the development and use of 
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such systems and their assessment components; 
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C. provide assistance to local educational agencIes and schools in developing and 
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implementing their assessments; or 
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D. evaluate the local assessments. 
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SECTION 11. Requirements. - Any province that receives funds under this Act shall 
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meet the following requirements: 
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A. Ensure that high-quality professional development is available for educators to help 
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develop and learn to use and score the assessments. 
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B. Develop means to ensure that provincial and local assessments are aligned to learning 
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standards, meet professional assessment standards, are unbiased, and valid for the 
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purposes for which they will be used, and are scored reliably. These means shall 
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include mechanisms for training scorers and providing a process of expert review, 
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auditing, or moderation to ensure the integrity of the scoring process. 
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SECTION 12. Appropriations. - To carry out the provisions of this Act, such amount as 
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hereby necessary is hereby authorized to be appropriated from the National Treasury. 
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SECTION 13. Separability Clause. - If any provision or part hereof, is held invalid or 
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unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provision not otherwise affected shall remain 
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valid and subsisting. 
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SECTION 14. Repealing Clause. - Any law, presidential decree or issuance, executive 
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order, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule or regulation contrary to or is inconsistent 
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with the provision of this Act is hereby repealed, modified, or amended accordingly. 
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SECTION 15. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
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publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
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Approved, 
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