Benchmarks for reading performance in the Philippines

On August 27, 2014, USAID’s Education Data for Decision Making (EdData II) project and Basa Filipinas Project (Basa) jointly supported a workshop to use the results from early grade reading assessments (EGRAs) conducted in the Philippines to develop benchmarks for reading performance in the first years of elementary education. The Philippine Department of Education (DepEd) assigned staff from the office of the Undersecretary for Programs and Projects, the Bureau of Elementary Education, and six regions to attend this workshop. The regions that participated included Region I, Region IV-A, the National Capital Region (NCR), Region VI, Region VII, and the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). A total of 49 participants spent the day examining data from the EGRA surveys conducted in 2013 and 2014 and used those data to propose benchmarks for reading performance in grades 1 through 3 for Filipino and English and for four regional mother tongues: Ilokano, Hiligaynon, Sinubuanong Binisaya (Cebuano), and Maguindanaoan. The present document summarizes the methods, data used and results of the benchmarking workshop.