PROJECT FRACTION: A TOOL IN INCREASING THE NUMERACY LEVEL OF

SELECT JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN QUEZON NATIONAL HIGH

SCHOOL

ANABEL S. SOLLANO
Secondary School Teacher II
Quezon National High School

BERNARDITA A. ZOLETA
Secondary School Head Teacher VI
Quezon National High School

REMEDIOS M. CABUNGCAL
Master Teacher II
Quezon National High School

MILDRED R. CUETO
Master Teacher I
Quezon National High School

MARINA V. MENDOZA
Master Teacher I
Quezon National High School

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE. This research evaluate the effectiveness of QNHS Mathematics Departments’ Continuos
Improvement Program named Project FRACTION (Functional Remediation Approaches &
Comprehensive Tutorials to Increase learning and Optimize Numeracy Level) as an educational tool in
increasing the basic computational skill of junior high school students in Quezon National High School.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH. This is a quasi-experimental research using Pretest-Posttest

design. Data gathering was started with the administration of numeracy test provided by the Division of
Quezon, adapted and modified by the Master teachers of QNHS Mathematics Department and
validated through face and content validity by the Mathematics Department Head. The results were
collated and the group handled by the teacher with the highest percentage of Emergent and Non-
Numerates per grade level were chosen to undergo remediation activities. There were 609 select junior
high school students who became the focused group. Remedial sessions were conducted by Lead and
Shadow teachers. Monitoring, coaching, and mentoring were conducted every end of the month. The
pretest and posttest were compared to identify if there is a significant difference between the results.
Percentage, Weighted Mean, and Dependent T-test were used as statistical treatment.

FINDINGS. The study showed a remarkable evidence on the percentage increase in the numeracy
level of the students. The results of the t-test analyses demonstrate a significant difference in the
numeracy level of the students before and after the implementation of Project FRACTION. The data
shows a 7.36% increase in the pretest and posttest mean value among grade 7 students, 66.69%
among grade 8 students, 29.59% among grade 9 students, and 93.41% increase among grade 10
students. The study concluded that the implementation of Project FRACTION resulted to significant
increase in the numeracy level of Junior High School Students in Quezon National High School.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE. This study provided findings which proves that the primary objective of the
QNHS Continuous Improvement Program, which is to improve the basic computational skills of the
students, was achieved. It also led to full implementation of using the remediation material to all students
in Quezon National High School.

Keywords: numeracy program, continuous improvement program, remediation

 The demand of technological progression requires the students today with
stronger mathematical knowledge, skills and values to pursue higher education, to
compete and be a part of the technologically oriented workforce and to be informed
citizens (SEI-DOST & MATHTED, 2011).
However, educational institutions have been facing problems on low level of
numeracy for quite some time. In Quezon National High School, out of the 7125 Junior
High School Students, 168 are non-numerates and 2633 are emergent numerates as
revealed by the numeracy test conducted last June, 2018. The reduction of the number
of students who are classified as emergent and non-numerates has been the focused
of the Mathematics department’s Continuous Improvement Project (CIP) which was
entitled Project FRACTION (Functional Remediation Approaches and Comprehensive
Tutorial to Increase Learning and Optimize Numeracy Level).
Project FRACTION is anchored on one of the DepEd’s core thrusts of making
every individual functionally numerate who can apply concepts of mathematics in real
life situations. This intervention is a compilation of learning and remediation activities
focused on developing the basic mathematical skills of the selected learners during
the independent learning sessions.
Likewise, this embraces the constitutional provision that states “Every learning
institution exists and operates within the framework of developing the youth’s critical
thinking towards becoming a functional and productive citizen. Along with it, goes a
comprehensive scheme in nurturing the culture of academic excellence, skills
development, and leadership potentials of each and every individual.”
In addition to this, Republic Act 10533 which is known as the Enhanced Basic
Education Act of 2013, states that the Department of Education shall formulate, design
and implement the Enhanced Basic Education Curriculum. The DepEd will work with
the CHED and TESDA to craft harmonized basic, tertiary and technical, vocational
education curricula for Filipino graduates to be locally and globally competitive.
Guided by the aforementioned provisions, Project FRACTION aimed to
minimize the number of non-numerates among Quezon High students through a
regular remedial session.
Further, Project FRACTION substantiated the QNHS’ existing Remedial
Program being done every ILA (Independent Learning Activity) or during the M-Day.
With this, Mathematics department puts premium on galvanizing a truly functional
remediation program.
Pilot testing of the Project FRACTION was done last school year 2018 – 2019
and continuous implementation of the program was conducted this year.
The CIP Team conducted a quasi-experimental research using Pretest-Posttest
design to evaluate the effectiveness of Project FRACTION as an educational tool to
increase the basic computational skills of junior high school students in Quezon
National High School.
The respondents of the study during the administration of numeracy pretest
were 7125 junior high school students. Among them, 168 were classified as non-
numerates and 2633 were classified as emergent numerates. The group handled by
teacher per grade level with the highest percentage of emergent and non-numerates
were purposively selected as the focused group with the total of 609 students.
However, there were 598 students who took the numeracy posttest.
The team utilized the numeracy test provided by the Division of Quezon
adapted and modified by the master teachers of QNHS Mathematics department. The
instrument was validated through face and content validity by the Mathematics
department head.
 The team also used the data gathered during the implementation of Project
FRACTION as part of the Mathematics Department’s Continuous Improvement
Program.
Data gathering was started with the administration of numeracy test among
junior high school students in Quezon National High School to determine their
numeracy level. This was conducted during the second week of June, 2018. The
results were collated and the group handled by the teacher with the highest percentage
of Emergent and Non-Numerates per grade level were chosen to undergo remediation
activities. Remedial sessions were conducted by Lead and Shadow teachers.
Monitoring, coaching, and mentoring were conducted every end of the month.
Numeracy Post Test was conducted during the second week of March, 2019. The
pretest and posttest were compared to identify if there is a significant difference
between the results.

The data collected were computed electronically through Microsoft excel and
Simplified Statistics for Beginners (SSB) and treated statistically using standard
statistical tools such as Percentage (in determining the numeracy level of the students
per grade level), Weighted Mean (in measuring the average of the pre-and post-test
results), and Dependent T-test (in determining the significant difference between the
pre- and post-test results).
The result shows that the numeracy level of junior high students in Quezon
National High School was improved after the implementation of Project FRACTION.
In grade 7, the non-numerates decreased from 5% to 2.98%, while the emergent
numerates decreased from 82% to 79.17%. On the other hand, the average
numerates increased from 13% to 17.86%. There was also an evident increase in the
numeracy level of grade 8 students, from 0% to 61.90% for Above Average
Numerates, and from 12.15% to 38.10% for the Average numerates. Above average
grade 9 students increased from 0% to 1.19%, and average numerates students
increased from 16.93% to 36.90%. However, the students classified as emergent
numerates decreased from 78.31% to 61.31% and the non-numerates decreased from
4.76% to 0.60%. In grade 10, there was a marked percentage of increase from 0.88%
to 22.06% for the above average numerates. Conversely, there was a remarkable
increase for the average numerates from 23.89% to 70.59%. There is a decrease on
the number emergent numerates from 70.80% to 0%, and 4.42% to 0% for the non-
numerates.
There is a significant difference between the numeracy level of select junior
high school students in QNHS before and after the implementation of Project
FRACTION. The t-test analyses on the pretest and posttest of all grade levels with
0.05 level of significance rejected the null hypothesis. In grade 7, the computed t-value
is 3.67 which is 0.894 greater than its critical value of 2.776. In grade 8, computed t-
value is 22.97 which is 20.194 greater than its critical value of 2.776. In grade 9,
computed t-value is 5.87 which is 3.094 greater than its critical value of 2.776. In grade
10, computed t-value is 16.03 which is 12.848 greater than its critical value of 3.182.
The implementation of Project FRACTION resulted to significant increase in the
numeracy level of Junior High School students in Quezon National High School and
the primary objective of QNHS Mathematics Department’s Continuous Improvement
Project was achieved.
 This study was presented by Anabel S. Sollano, Bernardita A. Zoleta, Remedios
M. Cabungcal, Mildred R. Cueto, and Marina V. Mendoza during Research Plenum
8.0 with the theme Addressing the Problems on Access, Quality, and School
Governance through Research-Based Intervention conducted by DepEd-Division of
Quezon through the Planning and Research Section on May 15 – 16, 2019 at M.I.
Sevilla’s Farm and Resort, Lucena City.

It was also presented by Anabel S. Sollano during the 2019 Capacity Building
for CIP Master Trainers and Coaches on November 18 – 19, 2019 at Sevilla’s Farm
and Resort, Lucena City.
 Continuous implementation of the program was
initiated by the CIP Team for the school year 2019 –
2020. As part of continuous improvement of the
program, at present, lead teachers are utilizing the
module for remedial activities and updated records of
performance. In addition, master teachers are
conducting regular monitoring, coaching, and
mentoring every end of the month.