Philippines: The National Achievement Test Essay

To assess and monitor the quality of basic education in the Philippines, achievement tests were administered to public schools both elementary and secondary. These achievement tests include National Achievement Test (NAT), Regional Achievement Test (RAT) and Division Achievement Test (DAT). Of these three achievements tests, the NAT is the main criterion of the school performance. Meanwhile, the RAT and DAT served as preparatory assessment procedures to be able the school to determine its readiness for the |NAT. The National Achievement Test (NAT) is a Philippine-made standardized test designed to determine pupils/students’ achievement level, strengths and weaknesses in five key curricular subject areas at the end of the school year. The NAT was developed to measure what pupils/students in grade three, grade six and fourth Year know and can do in five subject areas: Science, Mathematics, English, Filipino, and HeKaSi (Heograpiya, Kasaysayan at Sibika) in elementary and Araling Panlipunan in secondary level. Specifically, the test aims to: 1.) provide empirical information on the achievement level of pupils/students, to serve as guide for policy makers, administrators, curriculum planners , supervisors, principals and teachers in their respective courses of action 2.) identify and analyze variations on achievement levels across the years by region, division, school and other variables and 3.) determine the rate of improvement in basic education with respect to individual schools within certain time frames. Target clienteles of this achievement test are Grade 3 students of public schools, Grade 6 students both public and private schools (census) and Year 4 students both in public and private schools (census). It is composed of 310 items divided into learning areas such as Science, Mathematics, English, Filipino, Araling Panlipunan, plus critical thinking.