EDUCATION GOVERNANCE EFFECTIVENESS (Edge) Annual Performance Report October 2016 – September 2017
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EDUCATION GOVERNANCE EFFECTIVENESS (EdGE) Annual Performance Report October 2016 – September 2017 This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development. It was prepared by the Synergeia Foundation, Inc. The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. List of Acronyms DepEd - Department of Education EdGE - Education Governance Effectiveness EO - Executive Order ES - Elementary School LAPG- Language Assessment for Primary Grades LCE - Local Chief Executive LGU - Local Government Unit LSB - Local School Board M&E - Monitoring and Evaluation MOA - Memorandum of Agreement MOOE - Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses NAT - National Achievement Test NGO - Non-Government Organization NCR - National Capital Region PPP - Public-Private Partnership Phil-IRI- Philippine Informal Reading Inventory Test PTA - Parents Teachers Association SEF -Special Education Fund SGC- School Governing Council SIP - School Improvement Plan SRO - Standing Room Only USAID - United States Agency for International Development USG - United States Government ZamSulTa – Zamboanga Sulu Tawi-Tawi 1 Table of Contents I. Executive Summary 5 II. Summary of Results 6 III. Correlation to M&E 7 IV. Result by Result Analysis 8 4.1 Strengthening Education Governance 8 4.2 Increased Transparency and Accountability at Local Level 28 4.3 Increased Participation of Stakeholders in Education Policy 30 Formulation and Implementation V. Other Significant Stories 35 5.1 The 11th National Education Summit 35 5.2 The Ozanam Award 36 VI. Performance Indicator Tracking Table 37 VII. Financial Summary 40 VIII. Success Stories 43 IX. Plans for Next Quarter 46 LIST OF ANNEXES Annex A: List of Regional SGC Trainings in 2017 50 Annex B: Process Flow 52 Annex C: List of Mentoring Sessions with LSBs and SGCs in 2017 54 Annex D: Training of School Heads/Teachers on Remedial Reading 59 2 List of Tables Table 1 Summary of Expenditure Results, FY 2017 (October 6 2016-September 2017) Table 2 Distribution of LGUs by Level of SGC Performance, 8 September 2017 Table 3 Distribution of LGUs by Level of LSB Performance (In 9 Percent) Table 4 Cohort Survival Rates of Grade 6 Students in All EdGE 11 Sites, 2013-2017 (In Percent) Table 5 The Education Governance Scorecard 17 Table 6.a Average Scores of Frustrated and Instructional 27 Readers in Valenzuela City, 2017 (In Percent) Table 6.b Percentage of Frustrated and Instructional Readers in 27 Valenzuela who scored below the mean, 2017 (In Percent) Table 6.c Number of pupils who scored 0 27 Table 7 Local Government Units with Increased in Spending 29 in Education, 2013-2016 Table 8 List of PPs by Municipalities 31 3 List of Figures Figure 1 Comparative Performance of LSBs Pre- and Post- 9 EdGE Figure 2 Level of Performance of LSBs by Island Group (In 10 percent) Figure 3 Cohort Survival Rate in EdGe Communities, 10 2013-2017 (In percent) Figure 4 Average Scores of Children in EdGE Communities 11 in the NAT SY 2013, SY 2015 (In percent) 4 I. Executive Summary It was a very good year indeed. All our targets were met and in almost all cases, the planned numbers were surpassed. We were overwhelmed with the passion and dedication that local leaders displayed upon realizing the under-performance of the children from their towns and cities. They responded with urgency to improve the cohort survival rate and the high percentage of children who are unable to read well. We are truly convinced of the power of data to inform and to challenge. EdGE focused on the organization of functional School Governing Councils. We are convinced that they are the most effective tool for community convergence and sustainability. A community with a shared vision and shared plans leads to self-reliance. After a series of training and mentoring, the SGCs which used to be non-existent in many schools have been organized and are actively participating in formulating School Improvement Plans (SIPs). They now appreciate that bottom-up approach to planning promotes broad ownership of goals and mobilizes various expertise in improving instruction. By the end of FY 2017, 1014 SGCs have been organized and are truly involved in the development and implementation of School Improvement Plans (SIPs). The growth of the SGCs has been fostered by the Local School Boards. They have reached a higher level in performance with an average score of 3.90 in a 5-point assessment. Their operations have been reinvented based on the Robredo model, with broader functions and membership. More effective governance has contributed to increases in cohort survival rate from 63% when EdGE started to 70% in 2017. Mean performance scores of grade six students in the National Achievement Test (NAT) moved up by 3 percentage points from 70.67% in 2014 to 74.59% in 2015. The results in recent years have yet to be released by the DepEd. LSB's are increasingly being guided to be outcome oriented. Their expenditures on education have increased. Our norm is at least an annual increase on their education spending by 20 percent. We have happily noted their investments on non-traditional activities such as teachers' and parents' training. They have demonstrated ownership of EdGE activities by underwriting expenses in EdGE supported capacity building programs. In some cases, like in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao, and Valenzuela City, the LGUs have assumed full responsibility for the logistics. Our partnership with Local Government Units (LGUs) has enabled Synergeia to stretch its resources to train more LSBs, SGCs, and provide training on remedial reading to teachers. Teachers' training was not part of our original program but we had to undertake it giving the huge number of non- and frustrated readers among primary school students. In 2017, EdGE sponsored 62 teachers’ training reaching 6,736 teachers with a cumulative total of 7,405 teachers. We have launched the Seal of Good Education Governance in partnership with Smart Communications. Smart took care of the incentive package for the winners, as well as the marketing campaign. Twenty- four LGUs obtained the Seal which included very rural areas like Dalaguete, Cebu and ARMM municipalities like Bongao and Simunul in Tawi Tawi. These helped drive the point that effective education governance is not just a matter of resource, but is driven by good intentions and a sense of purpose. EdGE has continued organizing parents to serve as teachers at home. Parent-workshops have been conducted and have been rolled-out in schools with the LSBs providing leadership and financial support. 5 Partnership with the private sector has been established through PPPs in school building construction, provision of books, and support of feeding programs. II. Summary of Results Table 1. Summary of Expenditure Results- Fiscal Year 2017 (October 2016-September 2017) TARGET Accomplishment Actual Intermediate Results Performance Indicator FY 2017 FY 2017 Expenditures 1. Strengthened Number of government effectiveness administrators and for education at the local Officials successfully 2,204 2,819 level trained with USG support (F.3.2.1 - 3) Number of laws, policies, PHP regulations, or guidelines 49,743,318.17 developed or modified to improved primary 3 17 grade reading programs or increase equitable (F- 3.2.2-38) 2. Increased transparency Number of education PHP and accountability at the Summits conducted 50 54 10,941,283.66 local level 3. Increased participation of Number of PTA’s or stakeholders in education similar “school” 2,150 2,528 policy formulation and governance structures implementation supported (F-3.2.1-18 ) PHP Number of new USG – 11,142,181.87 supported public-private partnerships (PPPs) 10 21 formed (F-PPP5) 6 III. Correlation to M&E Our plans for the year are made to reach targeted indicators and outcomes. We draw up strategies on how we can reach the number of participants within our timelines. We give equal importance to the quality of results by a continuous assessment of the needs of our participants. Every training program ends with a focus group discussion on what are its strengths and weaknesses, and how the next training programs can be made more relevant to the needs of our partners. Synergeia is a learning organization and we regularly review the content of our learning modules and how learning can be fostered. The content is also progressive to continuously bring our partners to a higher level of skills. All our workshops begin with a review of how SGCs, LSBs, and learners perform. This is to develop their proclivity to measure their progress using quantitative and qualitative indicators. Our M and E Team regularly produces education statistics for every LGU, and where possible for every school. We regularly monitor inputs and outputs through primary data that are collected by our Program Officers with the assistance of school officials. These include the number of schools and children who are participating in reading programs, and the number of teachers and parents who take part in our training programs. School principals supervise the administration of the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory Test (Phil-IRI) to identify children needing remediation in reading. We have met the principals and supervisors and guided them on how assessment data can be organized. The M and E Team organizes the data into a data base. Outcomes in terms of improved education governance of LSBs and SGCs are monitored using assessment results through focus group discussions. We have devised assessment tools when EdGE started in 2013. The results were validated through documentary evidences such as minutes of meetings, SIPs, and documentation of projects. Official government data are used in organizing data on enrolment, cohort-survival, number of schools, and budgets. The launch of the Seal of Good Education Governance has given us a great incentive to organize our data and use them in identifying the needs of our partners so that our technical assistance can be more strategic and relevant.