1.5 Curriculum

1.5  Curriculum

A new era in the education system of the Philippines flourished when former President Benigno Aquino III signed the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 into law, more commonly known as the K-12 program on the 15th of May, 2013 which means that has been implemented for 5 years already. This law provides the standard kindergarten, elementary (6 years), high school (4 years) and senior high school (2 years) before going to college, so that the Philippine schools will have the same number of years with the other South East Asian Countries. Back in 2013, the Philippines was one of only three countries worldwide with a 10-year pre-university (Angola and Djibouti are the other two) without senior high school. As of now, the Philippines offers Senior High School (SHS) in the country. The Central Luzon State University (CLSU) also offers SHS in Academic, and Technical Vocational and Livelihood tracks.

The University Science High School became the service provider to 52 Grade 11 senior high school students who take the STEM strand. The STEM strand is one of the four major academic tracks in the K-12 Basic Education curriculum, others are: Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMMS), Accountancy, Business, and Management (ABM), and General Academic (GA). The old curriculum only required four years in high school, but with this change, two more years were added in the Basic Education Curriculum. Now, the Philippines has adapted the high level of education that many countries already have. It is now a matter of time that the Philippines becomes a juggernaut in the scholastic scene all over the world. This is also emphasizing that students get to the right track for their future profession. Since the curriculum also would like to help the students because it helps the students to be ready for competing with the other countries which also has the same years of school obligation after graduating from Senior High School.

There is also an ‘interesting’ policy regarding to the grading system in USHS. the DepEd orders all state universities and colleges to adopt the Policy Guidelines on Awards and Recognition for the K to 12 Basic Education Program, in line with the implementation of K to 12 curricula.

Those several awards that implemented are:

1.    Classroom Awards.

These awards are given as recognitions to learners in each section. It includes:

·         Conduct Awards

Students must have obtained a rating of at least 75% (21 out of 28) Always Observed (AO) at the end of the school year. Students also must have not sanctioned with offenses punishable by suspension or higher sanction within the school year according to the Department’s service manual and child protection policies. The conduct awards are given to learners at the end of school year. All subject teachers of a student will rate the student in each core value. The rating that will appear in the card is the rating with the highest frequency.

·         Academic Excellence Award

At the end of the quarter or school year, the Academic Excellence Award is given to learners from Grade 1-12 who attained a General Average of at least 90 and passed ALL learning areas. The Average Grade per Quarter is reported as a whole number following DepEd Order No.8, s. 2015.

·         Recognition for Perfect Attendance

This award is given at the end of every quarter to encourage learners to attend and actively participate in class. Perfect attendance means that a learner must be present in all of his/her classes, and must have no absences for the entire quarter. Learners who are officially representing the school for various purposes may also qualify for this award.

2.      Grade Level Awards.

These awards are given to qualifying learners for every grade level at the end of the school year. Grade Level Awardees are deliberated by the Awards Committee (AC) if learners met the given criteria. It includes:

·         Academic Excellence Award

·         Leadership Award – this is given to learners in Grade 6, 10, 12 who have demonstrated exemplary skills in motivating others and organizing projects that have significantly contributed to the betterment of the school/community.

Criteria: 1. Academic Rating 2. Skill in the Discipline 3. Attitude toward the discipline 4.Contribution to the school related to the discipline

20% 40% 20% 20%

·         Most Outstanding Performance in Specific Disciplines Awards (candidates for completion and graduation)

Criteria: 1. Academic Rating 2. Skill in the Discipline 3. Attitude toward the discipline 4.Contribution to the school related to the discipline

20% 40% 20% 20%

       

 Special Recognition – this one is given to learners who represented and/or won in the competitions (division, regional, national or international level)

What do awardees receive?

The prize for the awardees students can be CLSU Gold Medals (with highest Honor's), CLSU Silver Medals (with high honor), CLSU Bronze Medals (with honor), Certificates, even a number of money (the last awardee students got PPs 10,000 or Rp 3,000,000). This kind of reinforcement are given in order to attract students attention and motivation in the learning process, they should work hard to get what they want.