Keynote Address

A clear and vital component of the K to 12 curriculum is the framework for classroom
assessment that includes formative assessment (Cagasan, L., Griffin, P., Nava, F. Vista, A. & Care E.,
2016). With the issuance and nationwide implementation of DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2015 entitled “Policy
Guidelines on Classroom Assessment for the K to 12 Basic Education Program, the education paradigm
has shifted from a mere activity of passing knowledge to learners to the more-engaging, student-
centered, and inseparable cycle of instruction and student achievement. Embedded within the teaching
and learning process is formative assessment. The said policy guidelines of DepEd acknowledges that
formative assessment may refer to assessment for learning where teachers can make instructional
adjustments and assessment as learning wherein learners are provided opportunities to make
reflections on their learning progress.

According to Black & Wiliam (2003), formative assessment is an assessment done before,
during, and after the instructional process to improve teaching or learning. It may be given anytime
during the teaching and learning process, a way to check the effectiveness of instruction, and involves
teachers using evidence about what learners know and can do to inform and improve their teaching
(DepEd Order 8 s. 2015). As the classroom assessment policy has been adopted since 2015, the use of
formative assessment in face-to-face classroom instruction has been an essential and imperative
practice for many teachers, with readily available assessment strategies and classroom-based tools that
can be culled from different sources, whether print or digital.

However, with the unprecedented emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, schools’
reality in general and the concept of teaching and learning in particular have changed. Basic education is
among the sectors adversely affected by this pandemic as schools and community learning centers have
undergone temporary closure for the conduct of face-to-face classes. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen
most countries adopt new non-face-to-face learning delivery modalities. Philippines has not been left
out as the Department of Education (DepEd), the Philippine government agency mandated to deliver
basic education services, issued its DepEd Memo (DM-CI-2020-00162) otherwise known as “Suggested
Strategies in Implementing Distance Learning Delivery Modalities (DLDM) for School Year 2020-2021”
anchored on its Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan in the time of COVID-19 (BE-LCP) through the
issuance of DepEd Order 12 s. 2020.

This is the response of DepEd to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 in the field of basic
education. This is anchored on its guiding principle that education must continue amid disruptions and
challenges. With the implementation of various distance learning delivery modalities, teachers are
therefore expected to meet the demands of the non-face-to-face modalities to continuously deliver the
curriculum, and for school year 2020-2021, the Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELCs) to the
learners. Notably, one of the challenges for teachers at present is how to utilize assessment to monitor
student understanding and performance.

As a response to pursue learning continuity amid the challenges and uncertainties brought
about by the COVID-19 pandemic, DepEd has provided guidance to be adopted for school year 2020-
2021 on the assessment of student learning and on the grading scheme that will most meaningfully
support learner development and respond to varied contexts during this time. DepEd Order No. 31, s.
2020 entitled “Interim Guidelines for Assessment and Grading in Light of the Basic Education Learning
Continuity Plan has been implemented since October 2020, as some provisions of the previous
classroom assessment policy are found inconsistent with the contexts and demands of non-face-to-face
learning delivery modalities.

Allow me to discuss the nuggets of these two classroom assessment policies of DepEd and see
how these policies are designed to respond to the need for improving teaching and learning process in
the basic education.