Enrollment Trend of Senior High School of

Andres Soriano Colleges of Bislig

Abstract

The study determined the factors affecting enrollment trend of Senior High School of
Andres Soriano Colleges of Bislig. The researchers used the descriptive survey questionnaire to
identify the most critical factor influencing the enrollment trend of Senior High School. An
analysis revealed that parental influence, quality school experience, school facilities, and socio-
economic status are considered as factors affecting enrollment change.

Keywords and Phrases: school choice, enrollment change, school facilities, quality school
experience, enrollment

Introduction

A Wikipedia-based information posits that Andres Soriano Colleges of Bislig is a

private, non-sectarian, and non-state educational institution established in 1952 located in Andres
Ave., Mangagoy, Bislig City, Surigao del Sur, Philippines.

In 2013, President Benigno Aquino III signed and consolidated the Enhanced Basic
Education Act of 2013 into Law, most commonly known as K-12 program (Burgonio, 2013).
This program covers kindergarten and 12 years of basic education (six years of primary
education, four years of Junior High School, and two years of Senior High School), before taking
up a degree course in tertiary education. The program aims to provide sufficient time for mastery
of concept and skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education,
middle-level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship (Lopez, 2015). In addition,
this also aims to prepare students for the world ahead (Aquino Signed K-12 bill into Law, 2013).

Furthermore, 5965 public schools and 4729 private schools are offering Grade 11 in
2016 and Grade 12 in 2017. One of these private institutions in Bislig that has been accredited by
Department of Education (DepEd) to offer Senior High School is the mentioned educational
institution above.
 As a preparation for the said program, the school started to build Grade 11 Senior High
School building in 2016. Although the school was not fine established when the school year
started, the number of students enrolled in the institution have improved tremendously.

The introduction of new curriculum showed that the school will undoubtedly boost
enrollment rates since the majority of students will come from Bislig City.

After the school year, the institution is in the process of finding innovative ways to
improve school facilities, learning and teaching quality. Since the school has acknowledged that
it is widely through (Journal of Asian one African studies, 2016) unique school environment that
students will be captivated to enroll at school. In 2017, as a result of mergers, SHS enrollment
rate has totally increasing.

Review of Related Literature

Enrollment is the ongoing process of enrolling to the specific school that the students will
be attending for his/her career development (Santiago, 2001). Also, the Oxford University posits
that enrollment is the action of enrolling or being enrolled.

Providing the full definition of enrollment trend, the researchers try to seek for the
definition of trend. The Vocabulary.com Dictionary defines the word trend as a general tendency
to change. Also, the English Oxford Living University posits that it is a change or develop in a
general direction. Combining the definition of two mentioned words above, this would imply
that enrollment trend is the change (increasing/decreasing) of number of students who enrolled in
the institution in different school year.

Enrollment change is the result of interaction (Moritz, 2003) of four factors: Parental
Influence, Quality School Experience, School Facilities, and Socioeconomic Status (SES).

Quality School Experience is one of the most important factors in school growth which
means the overall quality of the experience. Mailto (2008) added that parents are investing
significant resources to provide the best education for their child. A high quality experience must
be integrated throughout the school to grow enrollment (Hey & Miskel, 2005). Glasser (2008)
refers the quality school as one having quality leaders who truly lead rather than simply manage.
To gather numerous students, the leader must be able to lead efficiently. Since, enrollment trend
depends on the teacher and the quality of school clearly depends on its educator.

On the other hand, Miley (2017) proposes an another approach to the problem of falling
enrollment is that schools fail when they are not run in an optimal manner, that they, in fact,
should run in business. Bryson (2005) very much like the steps in a business decision,
respondents are cited the significance of being given the facts about the products, in this case, the
school. In connection to that, parents and students want to know the factors (Kotter, 2000) that
influence them upon choosing the school to be attended. These factors are the facilities, services,
and quality school experience.

Beamish & Morey (2012) investigated what motivates parents in the choice of school for
their children. The study indicated that parents are motivated in their school choice by two main
considerations: the aspirations that they have for their children, and the anxieties they hold for
them.

Moreover, mother factor that is greatly affecting school choice of the students is school
facilities on offer to students and the state of the school grounds are also another strong influence
on a parent’s choice of school (Wellham, 2017). For instance, generally speaking, school
buildings are favored on a well-located, accessible and appealing site. This will include facilities
and environment provided for students to concentrate, learn, and play.

Another study has supported the statement of Wellham on school facilities as one factor
that interests the students to choose the best school for them. Further, the impact of the physical
environments in learners is not ignored in current research. It has been determined that the
surroundings in which people function can greatly impact moods, satisfaction, and self-worth
(Ma. & MacMillan, 1999).

Students, on the other hand, with low-socioeconomic status are often faced with multiple
obstacles unknown to their more affluent counter parts (Temple, 2009). These impediments,
specifically those related to SES (Bloom, 2007; Louie, 2007), often hinder to Senior High School
attainment process for many students.

There are many social and cultural elements (Temple, 2009) that contribute to school
choice. According to the students pathways study done by Letseka and Maile (2008), ‘first
generation’ students from low income, less educated families are most likely to dropout. Also,
Levitz (2012) states that socio-economic indicators are a large contributing considerations
experienced by parents when deciding on the right school to send their children.

Research Design and Methodology

The study used descriptive survey design to determine, describe, and analyze the effect of
the four factors: parental influence, quality school experience, school facilities, and SES upon
choosing the best school or institution to be attended by the students or learner. On the other
hand, the study also used comparative method to compare the data. (number of enrollees)
gathered by the researcher from S.Y 2016-2017 to S.Y 2017-2018.

Table 1. No. of Enrollees in Different School Year

Different School Year Total No. of

S. Y. 2016-2017 S. Y. 2017-2018 Enrollees

No. of Enrollees 485 654 1139

Table 1 shows the number of enrollees of Senior High School of Andres Soriano
Colleges of Bislig in each school year. The data shows that there are 485 students enrolled in the
S. Y. 2016-2017 and 654 students enrolled in the S. Y. 2017-2018. The total number of enrollees
within two consecutive school year is 1139 and has a difference of 169.

Table 2. Definition of Variables Under SHS Students of ASCB

Measurements
Variables Instrument
Not Satisfactory V-Satisfactory
Satisfactory
Parental Influence
Survey
Quality School
Questionnaire
Experience
School Facilities
 Socioeconomic Status

Table 2 shows that the four variables were measured using the following three
measurements: not satisfactory, satisfactory, and very satisfactory.

Two hundred (200) research respondents were identified through the list from the Office
of the Student Affairs and Services (OSAS) from S. Y. 2016-2018. The participants from
different strands/tracks were selected through the use of Random Sampling Technique have to
complete survey questions as a means of gathering needed data.

Results and Discussions

Schools value parental influence, quality school experience, school facilities, and SES as
the potent instruments for increasing enrollment rate in the institution. This belief remains a
theory since empirical evidence that demonstrates the interaction of four variables is not easily
accessible in the literature. The present study attempted to provide such a connection between
the four variables and enrollment trend.

Table 1. Impact of Four Variables to Enrollment Growth

Measurements
Variables NS S VS Total
No. of R % No. of R % No. of R % No. of R %
Parental 54 27% 66 33% 80 40% 200 100%
Influence

Quality 40 20% 70 35% 90 45% 200 100%

School
Experience
School 39 19.5% 64 32% 97 48.5% 200 100%
Facilities
 Socioeconomic 53 26.5% 58 29% 89 44.5% 200 100%
Status

Legend: NS – Not Satisfactory S – Satisfactory % - Percentage

VS – Very Satisfactory R – Respondents

The table 2 shows the number of the students who answered not satisfactory, satisfactory,
very satisfactory regarding the quality school experiences, school facilities, parental influence,
and socio-economic status.

In quality school experiences, there are 40 students for not satisfactory, 70 students for
satisfactory, and 90 students for very satisfactory. In school facilities, there are 39 students for
not satisfactory, 64 students for satisfactory, and 97 students for very satisfactory. In parental
influence, there are 54 students for not satisfactory, 66 students for satisfactory, and 80 students
for very satisfactory. In socio-economic status, there are53 students for not satisfactory, 58
students for satisfactory, and 89 students for very satisfactory.

The data means that the most critical factor that affects the students choice of school is
the school facilities. However, there are also pivotal interaction or relationship between four
factors. In this case, the quality school experiences, parental influence/attainment, school
facilities, and SES are things need to consider by the school or institution on gathering numerous
students.

The schools most offer various scholarships especially for those with low socio-economic
status students. Therein, the poor learners can still enroll at school and the school will increase
the enrollment rate.

Conclusion

The problem of decreasing enrollment rate at school can be eliminated. It will, however,
take time, money, and a combined effort on the part of many people. There are four variables
that could captivate the students to enroll at school and probably it will increase the enrollment
rate. These variables are the following: Quality School Experience, School Facilities, Parental
Influence, and Socioeconomic Status. However, achieving these variables is not easy to be
attained. Improving quality of school as well as education takes a lot of effort and time. Driving
school facilities into highest level needs enough financial aid. Considering parental influence to
the students’ school choice needs patience since parents think first about their monthly income
before they send their children to the school. If these factors will be imposed, the school will
surely see an increase in enrollment rate year by year.

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