SBM Accreditation Brings Esteem

School Based Management (SBM) as provided in RA 9155 legitimized the empowerment opportunity of the school heads in improving the schools on the different areas such as Performance Indicator (PI) which is 60 %. Under this are indicators on Efficiency which focus on Enrolment & Reducing Drop-Out Rate, Completion and Cohort Survival Rate.  The 40 % is on School Based Management Assessment Score (Data analysis and observations).

The system espoused the Four (4) Principles of the school that guides the SBM processes, namely: Leadership and Governance which guides the education system to achieve its shared vision, mission and goals making them responsive and relevant to the context of diverse environment;   Curriculum and Learning System anchored on community and learner’s context and aspirations that are collaboratively developed ; Principle of Accountability for Performance and Results as system of accountability, transparency developed by the school community which monitors performance gains and gaps; Principle of Resource Management of which resources are collectively organized, judiciously mobilized and managed for the effective and efficient  attainment of  educational outcome.

Regional Memorandum No.103 s. 2012 re: School-Based Management (SBM) Assessment/Evaluation and Accreditation to Philippine Accreditation System to Basic Education (PASBE) was issued to the field for the Assessment/validation of schools applying for Level II of the School Based Management using the Revised SBM Guidelines, Process and Assessment Tools .The schools should conduct the self- survey with the support of the District Office. If the result is level II, the documents are indorse to the Division Office for a consequent indorsement to the Regional Office which is responsible in the validation and declaration of school applicant to be awarded as Level II.

The regional validation Team may change the findings of the school/District. They are authorized to approve the claim of the school and indorse the result to the Regional Director for approval. If the regional validation team finds the score worthy for level III, they will indorse the school to the National SBM Validation Team. Despite of the Orientation and capacity building activities conducted by the Regional and Division SBM Teams, the following were observed; First, Schools differ in the interpretation of the guidelines, processes, and tools. Second, some activities implemented in the school level do not have a direct impact in the improvement of school performance. Third, most of the indicators, the school performance is above the median based on the scoring matrix, but scores are placed just little above the median.

The problem of the schools as indicated in the result is focused on how to improve its efficiency indicator for schools performance below the median scores. Issues were raised on the ACCES indicator. Schools have the difficulty to raise enrollment respectively in secondary level due to the following reasons; they have already large enrolment ranging from 1,000 – 6,000 students. They serve all children of school-age in the community. They even extended their services particularly to all children in the city or community. Due to the big population, they establish annexes which significantly affected their enrolment. The limitations present in terms of classrooms, teachers and facilities were noted.             

With the result of the validation, there is a need to continue conducting advocacy and capacity building activities for the SBM coordinating Team for greater awareness and competency towards SBM/PASBE Guidelines, Processes and Assessment Tools. Considering that some of the applicant schools are accredited to the former (APPES) and yet the average points garnered by the school validated is just above the median. All the performance indicators should be given full attention particularly the result of the National Achievement Test (NAT). Schools acknowledge the deficiency of the performance and have new deeper analysis of the situation in order to craft viable and doable interventions particularly on recurring problems in schools that need attention.  The necessity to capacitate the District and schools SBM Teams is a way of ensuring Quality Assurance and provision of technical assistance to the schools.

The percentage of schools validated as Level II 55 out of 80 or 68.75 % manifests a readiness for SBM Level III. The District and schools team shall make necessary review particularly on the performance indicators that will lead on achieving higher level of practice. Readiness on School Based Management involves support from the stakeholders’ participation and support to respond the challenge.

At present, 55 schools or 68.75 % out of 80 accredited as Level II manifest readiness for SBM Level III validation. Review of documents should be conducted by the validating team in District and schools. Participation and support of stakeholders should be encouraged to readily respond to the challenge.

By: Ralph T. Quirog, EPS