The Education Department imposed a new grading system last year of October, 2003

In DepEd Order No. 4 issued Feb. 12, Former Education Secretary Edilberto De Jesus lifted an earlier order fixing the passing mark for pupils at 75 and that the lowest mark that may appear in a report card is 65.

The new rating system requires students to pass each of the four quarters of the school year instead of only the 4th grading period. It takes away the system of transmutation tables, where it gives an equivalent grade to the total number of points earned by a student.

In the old grading system, teachers were using the transmutation tables to arrive at grades based on test scores. A teacher could give a passing grade of say 75, even if the student correctly answered only one-fourth of the items in a 100-item test.

De Jesus said the old grading system did not accurately reflect the student’s competence. He described the old grading system as “inherently defective and inherently deceptive.” He told teachers to record the raw scores, total these scores at the end of the grading period, then compute them as percentages. He fixed 75 percent as the passing mark.

“What we’re saying is teachers should pay attention to what they actually teach the students, which should be the basis of exams. We’re just transferring the teachers’ priority from the mechanical process of giving grades because of the transmutation table, focusing on how closely the students are achieving the learning outcome,” De Jesus said in an interview.

This school year NSDAPS adapted the New Grading System imposed by DepEd. After computing the grades for the first quarter all parents and students were surprised to see the effect of this new system that made many students flunk their subjects. However, teachers explained thoroughly to parents and students how grades are computed prior to the Orientation given to Parents at the beginning of the school year.

Hence, the school administrators and faculty are working hard this time to improve students’ evaluation and test constructions to give justice in the validity of the new grading system. And in this manner parents would also be satisfied that their children are graded accordingly.

The New Grading System for sure will push students to study harder and a big challenge as well to teachers to improve Filipino students and be globally competitive.

Extensive preparation makes the whole NSDAPS busy as each family partakes in the intricate task of next school year’s application to Philippines Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges, and Universities (PAASCU) accreditation. PAASCU is a private, voluntary, non-profit and non-stock corporation which aims to elevate and meet the standards of quality education and to pursue the continuing evaluation and self-surveys. Accredited schools gain benefits and incentives such as prestige and self-esteem, partial deregulation, and curricular autonomy upon meeting the minimum requirements. Some of the biggest names affiliated with PAASCU are DLSU, AdMU and St. Scholastica’s Academy.

Principal Sr. Rebecca Maglalang of St. Scholastica’s Academy oriented the NSDAPS administration, faculty and personnel last September about the requirements of an aspiring school for accreditation. She mentioned the basic characteristics that a school should possess. There must be the prevailing sense of volunteerism, strong tradition of self-regulation, reliance on evaluation techniques, and primary concern with equality.

In pursuance of the accreditation, our Director Msgr. Mariano T. Balbago, who believes in uplifting the standard of our school, would be applying next school year. NSDAPS families are working on their designated areas which will be evaluated by PAASCU. These are the school’s philosophy and objectives, faculty, instruction, laboratories, library, physical plant, student services, administration, and community relations.