Division planners and assessment coordinators train on SPSS

Division planners and assessment officers together with regional personnel from the bureaus of elementary, secondary and madrasah education, and planning and programming division convene for a 5-day advanced training from January 20 to 24, 2014 at Davao City analyzing ARMM schools performance in the National Achievement Test (NAT) and the Regional Assessment for Maths, Science, English and Arabic (RAMSEA).

According to Regional Secretary Atty. Jamar Kulayan, this training program aims to elevate the capacity of DepEd-ARMM in analyzing performance data. It is also a way of moving the planning and programming conversation from mere "supply side", e.g. new schools, more teachers or more classrooms, towards a more inclusive "demand side" and data-driven exercise.

This is the second training under the administration of Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman who insisted on more objective and professional planning and programming exercise. The first training was done last year.

The trainer is Dr Ken Vine, a Senior Education Adviser at AusAID Manila and assisted by Ms Tess Felipe, Senior Education Specialist. Ms Felipe was formerly an Assistant Secretary at DepEd Central Office who was involved in the design of the first BEAM Project which was implemented across Regions 11, 12 and ARMM.

Dr Vine is an renown Autralian education researcher and specialist who is currently involved in a partnership among AusAID, Philippine Normal University and University of New England (Armidale, Australia)  working on creation of the Research Centre for Teacher Quality (RCTQ) that will implement the research and development projects of the two institutions nationwide.[1] He also co-authored "A Synthesis Report of Education for All 2000 Assessment for the Asia-Pacific Region" published by UNESCO in 2000 [2].

Crisalyn Miraato, a RAMSEA specialist,- "the training is helping us in deepening our analysis ..."(Photo courtesy of Vaizah Pristine Stone)

About the on-going training, RAMSEA Assessment Officer Crisalyn Miraato said, "the training is helping us in deepening our analysis, understanding interaction of complex variables, and allows us to qualify and be succinct with recommendations."

BEE Regional Coordinator Abdul-Aziz Iya, believes "the training is opening our eyes to the qualities of variables and sharpening our analysis in terms of priorities and interventions."

Assistant Regional Secretary for Programs Noor Saada and RAMSEA Team Leader Anna Maria Zorilla are currently drafting a training design so that all division and district supervisors will be capacitated to use MS Excel and Access and SPSS in analyzing NAT and RAMSEA results at their levels and using such tools as ANOVA, Regression and Cluster Analyses, be able to tailor specific interventions at school, district and division levels.

This training program is a partnership between DepEd-ARMM and the Autralian Embassy through the BEAM-ARMM Program.

References:
[1] AusAid funds PNU and UNE research and development partnership
[2] A Synthesis Report of Education for All 2000 Assessment for the Asia-Pacific Region