An Appraisal of Grade 11 Mathematics Curriculum of Senior High School Modeling Program

A. Project Title:
AN APPRAISAL OF THE GRADE ELEVEN MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL MODELLING PROGRAM

B. Author: ROBERT MATTHEW J. DE CASTRO

C. Institution: PHILIPPINE NORMAL UNIVERSITY Taft Avenue, Manila

D. Introduction: The Department of Education (DepEd) has implemented the enhanced K to 12 or Kindergarten to Grade 12 Basic Education Program, adding two more years to the existing 10-year basic education curriculum. The graduates of this program are envisioned to be holistically-developed Filipinos with 21st century skills who are prepared for higher education, middle-level skills development, employment and entrepreneurship. DepEd Order 36, series of 2012 pertaining to Senior High School (SHS) has called for a research and development process that would explore the implementation of a “Senior High School Modeling Program” with 28 schools as participants or “model” schools ahead of the projected nationwide actualization of SHS in 2016-2017. The school modeling started last June 2012 for selected model high schools (Grade 11), with fourth year high school graduates of SY 2012 and beyond as the enrollees. This study aimed to initially appraise the implementation of the Grade 11 Mathematics Curriculum of Senior High School. It identified the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of Mathematics Curriculum of Grade 11 under SHS Modeling Program in six pilot schools from Region IV-A CALABARZON and National Capital Region so that the results could help in the policy formulation and curricular enhancement to run the curriculum successfully and beneficially.

E. Objectives:
The study aimed to appraise the Grade 11 Curriculum of K to 12 Senior High School Modeling Program in Mathematics in six pilot schools for SY 2012-2013 as inputs to curriculum enhancement.

F. Method/s:
The study utilizing the descriptive-evaluative design assessed the pilot implementation of Mathematics Curriculum of Grade 11 in terms of objectives, contents, instructional materials, instructional process, assessment procedure, classroom management, implementation, and administrative support. Administrators, teachers and students of the pilot schools were the participants of the study. Four instruments were used in this study. These are Continuity of SHSMP Survey Form, Survey Questionnaire for Curriculum Evaluation, Interview Guides, and Survey Questionnaire for Document Evidences. These instruments were validated in terms of their contents by five experts from PNU and DepEd.
G. Findings:

The findings revealed that all of the schools followed technical-vocational track in Senior High School. The respondents perceived that objectives were not fully measurable and attainable in terms of preparation for higher education. They felt that the objectives were insufficient and for some schools, they did not fully attain these. In terms of contents there were some schools which had fewer topics while the others had overwhelming lessons. The most used instructional material was the textbooks followed by the modules. High school and college textbooks were used. For instructional process, changing of faculty every two quarters affected the motivation of the students. Since the curriculum was contextualized, assessment must also reflect real life applications of Mathematics. There was no enough orientation conducted by the DepEd for the proper implementation of the curriculum. Another factor in implementation of the curriculum was the HEI partners of the school. There were some schools that experienced lack of teachers and classrooms. The instructional mathematics facilities and equipment were not enough for the successful implementation of mathematics curriculum. Travel funds were not made available immediately for teachers to attend seminars and trainings outside of the division. In general, the Mathematics Curriculum needs revision so that all SHS schools can fully realize the intents of the curricular reforms as crafted in the K to 12 framework and intents.

H. Conclusions:

The tracking chooses by the pilot schools from NCR and CALABARZON were Technical-Vocational track during the first year of implementation of SHSMP and the schools preferred Statistics as Mathematics of Grade 11 students. The schools should search or action for its improvement concentrating in contents, instructional materials, assessment procedure, classroom management, and implementation of grade 11 mathematics curriculum. Higher Education Institutes, industries and other government or non-government agencies were the prime external factors of the implementation of the curriculum. Based on these findings, recommendations on other evaluation models and tools are needed for more comprehensive results. Further, studies on classroom interaction in math classes may likewise be pursued to determine the skills and competencies of teachers and professors as actually and deliberately chosen for improved instruction in this subject.