Chronological/ Progress Report on the Implementation of the Programs

Component 3-Improvement of Program Design for Targeting Disadvantaged

Groups
9. Improvement of Data Management for educational programs serving the Target
Disadvantaged Groups in the Target Regions
The Department of Education currently has a number of programs, activities and
projects (PAPs) that cater the disadvantaged learners who are in school-both in formal
and non-formal sectors and those who are out of school youth. These PAPs aim to
address the potentially disadvantaging factors that affect learners’ education
participation.
The Department of Education has always streamlined its national goals,
objectives, policies and strategies with this global framework for action to promote
inclusive and quality education for all.
The objective of understanding this component is to support the improvement of
access and quality outcomes for disadvantaged groups in the target regions; however,
these were all in tracks.
The World Bank continues to support the BESRA upon government’s request
with a new loan called the Learning, Equity and Accountability Program Support or
LEAPS. The US$300 million loan, approved in March, 2014 support the gains made
under BESRA and NPSBE and aims to improve the reading and math skills of children
in target regions and target schools with a special focus on disadvantaged groups. This
will be achieved through:
(i) improvement of teaching and learning in grades 1 to 3 for reading and
math;
(ii) strengthening of accountability and incentives of Department of Education
employees; and
(iii) improvement of program design for targeting disadvantaged groups.
From the partnership of the Department and the Bank, this particular year
developed an information strategy for programs serving disadvantaged groups and
developed information system according to strategy.
Under the DO 26, s. 2015 which aims to establish accurate and reliable registries
of learners and schools ensure availability of data and information needed for planning
and budgeting, allocation of resources and setting operational targets to provide access
to compete quality basic education, the Department of Education (DepEd) has
implemented the Enhanced Basic Education Information System (EBEIS) and Learner
Information System (LIS).
The introduction of this Learner Information System (LIS) and the enhanced
Basic Education Information System (EBEIS) contain important information to identify
disadvantaged groups that are in school. However, developing a strategy to fill
remaining data gaps, determine how to report information to programs and provide
information on out-of-school children is just beginning.
At some level, data is already being collected for persons with disabilities,
indigenous peoples and out-of-school youths and adults. DepEd has also collected
Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates of over 80% of public schools nationwide,
which may provide an initial indication of schools in remote or difficult areas. Further
data mining might produce a list of schools in remote or difficult areas. However, all of
these still need to be improved and made explicit in the relevant information systems.

In the year 2015

While many of the elements of an information system to track disadvantaged
children have been developed, a strategy to fill remaining data gaps, determine how to
report information to programs and provide information on out-of-school children has not
begun despite being identified in the last Mission.
The DepEd and WB have agreed on the four programs that will be covered in the
program reviews. These include: a) the School Feeding Program; Alternative Learning
System Program: and two Alternative Delivery Mode Programs i.e. Open High School
and Modified In-School and Off-School Approach (MISOSA).
The School Feeding Program review has not yet been completed as of the time
of the Mission. On the other hand, SEAMEO INNOTECH recently completed a review of
the Open High School Program. Discussions are underway to assess whether the
program review report satisfies the quality dimensions indicated in the DLI verification
protocol. The ALS program evaluation being undertaken by the DepEd with the WB
Education team is underway, and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of
2015.
In keeping with the prerequisites of IP Education Program implementation at the
school-community level as expressed by indigenous communities, DepEd is working
towards the start of curriculum indigenization and development of culture-based
learning resources at the division-school level within this Administration. DepEd has
also vigorously pursued capacity strengthening of DepEd Regional Offices, Division
Offices, and schools/learning centers as the “frontliners” in the actual implementation of
IP Education. Together with capacity building interventions led by the IP Education
Office of DepEd, the field offices have been provided IP Education Program Support
Fund to enable progressive engagement in a manner that is flexible, demand-driven,
evidence-based and specific to the context of indigenous communities in their
respective service areas.
In January- December 2015 the Department develop an information strategy for
programs serving disadvantaged groups. While many of the elements of an information
system to track disadvantaged children have been developed, a strategy to fill
remaining data gaps, determine how to report information to programs and provide
information on out-of-school children has not begun despite being identified during the
first ISM.
But in the next year the Department haven’t started yet the development of
information system according to information strategy for disadvantaged groups and
there were no additional reviews of DepEd programs serving target disadvantaged
groups in targeted regions.

For the 2016,

The current administration has placed a high regard for education and has
pushed for educational reforms that promote inclusive education especially for the
marginalized. Education, being the priority of the government, has produced active
public-private partnerships over the years both at the national and the school levels.
 The development of the information strategy for disadvantaged groups that was
aimed for completion in December 2015 has been delayed. Lack of a systematic
database hampers efforts to match these learners with the many programs DepEd has
developed that target disadvantaged children.
The lack of information of this kind has the potential to affect the reach of these
programs and limit their impact in improving the education outcomes of disadvantaged
learners. Delays in the development of the information strategy have also prevented
initial planning to develop and modify existing information systems in line with the
information strategy.

In this same year the following initiatives were concentrated on the information
for enrolment for disadvantaged groups (DGs) come from eBEIS; Information is also
available in the Learner Information System (LIS) which incorporates information
collected from parents regarding IP status at time of enrolment; and Some mapping
done by divisions in coordination with Local Government Units (LGUs).

Since the previous ISM, there has been substantial progress in developing the
information strategy. The team from the Planning Service Division of DepEd presented
the concept for the Information Strategy, which is built on the rationales for extending
the coverage to the last five percent learners (children not-in-school at elementary
enrollment) and children in-school but at risk of dropping out.
According to the presentation, “disadvantaged groups” will be redefined using
tangible parameters such as age, economic conditions (poor/near-poor), health
(mental/physical disability), geographical, social, environmental, institutional, and
political status of individual learners. It will also identify the data gaps and suggest how
these gaps can be filled through enhancing the existing data systems such as the
Learner Information System (LIS), the Enhanced Basic Education Information
System (eBEIS) and other program-based micro information systems (PMIS), as well as
interlinking data systems managed by different agencies (such as DSWD and DOH).
The strategy enabled DepEd to improve its capacity to enhance program designs
to cater to the disadvantaged groups more efficiently, to set clear baselines and targets
for these programs, and to eventually reduce the number of disadvantaged groups. An
individual consultant hired by the Bank has provided assistance in reviewing the draft
Information Strategy and the data dictionary and provided a set of concrete
recommendations to refine them further.

While welcoming this important progress by DepEd, the mission team

recommended the following areas moving forward. First, though the Information
Strategy presented a comprehensive picture for the data system for the disadvantaged
groups, a concrete plan to operationalize the strategy is necessary. The plan would
require time-bound actions and estimates of necessary resource (financial, technical
assistance, human resources, etc.) needed to operationalize the strategy. Second, as
also previously recommended, a senior management official needs to be appointed to
provide support for effective coordination across internal and external stakeholders and
lead the process for developing and adopting Information Strategy in DepEd.
 By the forthcoming MTR, it was agreed that:
(i) DepEd will complete development of the Information Strategy and
adopt the strategy, which is related to the achievement of DLI 9.1
(grace period lapses December 2016); and
(ii) DepEd will present a roadmap or strategy to develop the information
system for educational programs servicing the Target Disadvantaged
Groups in accordance with the information strategy by December
20174. It was also agreed that DepEd would discuss internally if there
is a need for technical assistance in achieving the DLI 9.2, in particular.

Information strategy target: as mentioned above, the end target for DLI 9
“Improvement of data management for educational programs serving disadvantaged
groups in target regions” may not be feasible within the project timeline. DepEd has
developed the blueprints for a comprehensive information system that would capture
data related to “Last Mile Learners” (i.e., the last 5 percent of learners) and is expected
to include geographic isolation; chronic illness; displacement due to armed conflict,
urban resettlement or disasters; child abuse and child labor practices. Given the
extensiveness of this proposed information system, it is not feasible to complete it by
the end of the DLI period or project. An intermediate delivery could be envisaged and
will be discussed between the DepEd and Bank teams ahead of the MTR as well.

In 2017,
Since the previous Implementation Support Mission (ISM), there has been
progress in developing the information strategy (IS). The teams from the Planning
Service Division, ICTS and BLD (through a technical working group) continued the work
and developed a final draft version of the information strategy, which was shared with
the Bank during the mission.
The Bank commends DepEd and the technical working group for advancing the
development of the IS, which now includes a thorough review of factors that might
disadvantage a student, an agreement on the definition of the term “disadvantaged”,
and expanded the scope of “disadvantaged groups” to be monitored beyond those
identified by the Project.
In addition, the IS proposed to develop the School Information System (SIS).
The SIS is envisioned to be an offline system that will be made available at the school-
level and fill in the information gaps and access issues with the current eBEIS and
Learning Information System (LIS).
Based on the latest version, the Bank team reviewed the draft information
strategy and offered a set of recommendations, both short- and longer-term actions for
DepEd consideration.
DepEd agreed to ensure that the following short-term recommendations are
addressed prior to the information strategy being finalized:
(i) The IS could be further enhanced by: including targets, key measures
and a roll-out plan with specific timelines for DepEd to monitor the
strategy’s progress and discussing the specific roles and
responsibilities of key DepEd Offices, Bureaus, Services and Units
 (OBSUs) to institutionalize the Information Strategy: this is already
partially addressed by the draft office order on the creation of the
technical working group but needs to be incorporated into the
Information Strategy;
(ii) Factors that might disadvantage students learning: it was also
recommended to including under Section B “School context” the issue
of teacher qualifications and other factors which may have big impact
on whether or not a student becomes educationally disadvantaged;
(such as teacher qualifications, availability of instructional, learning and
reading materials, notebooks, etc.); and
(iii) DepEd may consider prioritizing data sources already available within
the organization to lessen the impact of potential delays attributable to
stringent data releases from external government agencies: this will
need to be considered when developing the action/work plan with
timelines.

The Bank team also suggests DepEd to consider the following points, if possible prior to
the finalization of the IS:
(i) Develop an Information Policy aligned within the existing eBEIS and
LIS framework: this is partially addressed by the draft office order but
will need to be incorporated into the draft office order; and
(ii) Learners identified as part of a Disadvantaged Group should form part
of the LIS and should be issued with a Learner Reference Number
(LRN): although already enforced in practice, it still requires a policy
declaring it as such and therefore should be incorporated in the draft
office order.

In the year 2018,

Following the adoption of the Information Strategy in May 2017, limited progress
has been made regarding the establishment or enhancement of DepEd’s information
system. Due to changes in leadership in Information and Communications Technology
Services – ICTS, the proposed meetings with other members of the Technical Working
Group have not happened. As a result, DepEd has not been able to develop and share
with the Bank the request time bound action plan that would allow the Bank to
determine if and to what extent it could agree to DepEd having achieved the respective
DLI.
During thematic discussions, the DepEd team reminded the Bank that part of the
challenge is that not all data is within DepEd’s control. While pertinent, this issue will
require proactive action from management if the revised information system is to
produce reliable and updated information on target disadvantaged groups. DepEd
mentioned that the Secretary’s office order should be sufficient to allow information
sharing between departments and bureaus. The Bank requested DepEd to take
concrete actions that would provide the Bank reasonable assurance that information
from the department of health or social welfare can be obtained before the end of March
2018.
 A major challenge however is the validation of data being collected by other
agencies, and the difficulties in cross-referencing information such as recipients of the
conditional cash transfer (CCT) program for poor families. The Department of Social
Welfare and Development collects information on CCT recipients in their system while
DepEd collects the same information through teachers in the Learner Information
System, but there does not yet exist a mechanism to cross-reference this data and
validate either systems’ accuracy. Although beyond the scope of this project, the Bank
urged DepEd to find a way to address this challenge which would further facilitate the
implementation of a reliable information system capturing data on children/students
from disadvantaged groups.

There has been some positive progress in terms of adjusting information “fields”
in eBEIS to accommodate additional data captured by other systems, and which would
allow to report on “disadvantaged groups”. The Bank has requested a list of changes
already introduced to eBEIS as well as copies of new requests that would allow ICTS to
adjust and update the kinds of data captured in the eBEIS. As previously mentioned,
there already exist a number of information systems which may already capture
essential data, and that one of the foci should be to ensure that these systems are
connected. The Bank requested a list of changes that have been introduced so far in
the eBEIS and an action plan to guarantee that the enhance information system meets
DLI requirements by March 31, 2018. DepEd also informed the Bank that the Australian-
funded “Basic Education Sector Transformation – BEST” project is supporting the
development of the enhanced information system under their component 2.