The Assessment, Curriculum and Technology Research Centre held a regional conference on October 22, 2018 at the University of the Philippines Cebu, Cebu City. This was attended by elementary and secondary school teachers of math and science, school heads, and officials from division and regional offices of the Department of Education, as well as representatives from teacher education institutions, local government units, and professional organizations. Participants came from Regions 6 (Western Visayas), 7 (Central Visayas), and 8 (Eastern Visayas).
The conference was opened by Director, Professor Esther Care, and closed by Director, Dr Therese Bustos respectively. The first presentation was delivered by Dr Marlene Ferido, ACTRC Curriculum Program Leader, and a senior academic with NISMED, UP Diliman. She discussed DepEd’s mandate to undertake classroom assessment and the use of assessment practices to scaffold learning. The readiness of students to tackle concepts in Science and Math based on results of studies conducted by the Centre was highlighted. Research Officer Joesal Jan Marabe followed with a detailed presentation on the definition and use of learning progressions in the classroom, and how these can be used effectively in writing test items to understand what students can do and what they are ready to learn. The attendees participated in a workshop on writing test items based on the identified level of students in the progression. Finally, Research Fellow Pam Robertson shared about the use of Formative Assessment and how it can help teachers in scaffolding student abilities. A workshop on the use of learning progressions was also held for invited elementary and secondary teachers and department heads on October 23, 2018.
The Conference show-cased how the research activities of ACTRC can also inform teacher practice in the classroom. Several requests from schools were received to participate in continuing research through which they would continue to use some of the assessment tools that have been developed for research. ACTRC looks forward to working with these schools!
Here are the links to the presentations:
ACTRC Reg Conference Cebu_Assessment