Graduating without learning
Third grade is a critical turning point in a child’s education. It is widely recognized as the stage when children transition from “learning how to read” to “reading to learn.” Beyond Grade 3, the concepts across various subjects become significantly more complex, and strong reading skills are essential for a child to fully comprehend topics and make progress in their learning.
Math proficiency follows a similar developmental trajectory. By third grade, a student must already have a firm grasp of the computational fluency of whole numbers so they can move to fractions and algebra. Without this foundation, future topics in the curriculum will be largely inaccessible.
Research consistently affirms the importance of this stage. A 2011 longitudinal study conducted in United States schools found that students who had not acquired foundational reading skills by the end of third grade were four times more likely to drop out of school. Similarly, another multistate longitudinal analysis done in 2020 found that the standardized test scores of third graders in math predicted the likelihood of high school graduation and other academic outcomes.
In the Philippines, solely looking at graduation rates masks the depth of the learning crisis. Data from the Second Congressional Commission on Education show that the proficiency of Filipino students drops sharply from 30.52 percent in Grade 3 to 0.47 percent by Grade 12. This means that only four out of every 1,000 senior high school students meet the expected learning standards.
And yet, most students still complete Grade 12. This disconnect means that young people are graduating from school even without the necessary knowledge and competencies their diploma supposedly implies. These numbers align with last year’s findings of the Philippine Statistics Authority, which show that there are 18.9 million high school graduates who are functionally illiterate.
These numbers put into the spotlight once again the issue of mass promotion in the country. While the Department of Education (DepEd) has reiterated that no such policy exists, the current accountability framework has inadvertently created a culture that enables it.
Public school teachers have spoken openly about the pressures they face to promote students who have not mastered basic literacy and numeracy skills, because the system penalizes them for doing otherwise. When a child is deemed not ready to advance, the burden of justification falls entirely on the teacher. They are expected to prove that they designed extensive remedial sessions, conducted regular home visits, and documented all these interventions via lengthy reports—all while managing an overcrowded classroom and fulfilling various administrative tasks.
Student failure also affects school-wide performance, impacting the kind of incentives and funding that the school receives. Under these conditions, many teachers, though not all, are pressured into just passing students. As one teacher shared in a Reddit thread, this erodes both the morale and moral authority of teachers, who are forced to participate in a system they know is failing their students.
Mass promotion is seen by some as the more compassionate approach. In reality, it denies children the dignity of mastery and the time they need to learn. While repeating a grade in the early years may carry some negative connotation, it is far less damaging than the social stigma and lifelong disadvantage faced by students who reach high school without being able to read.
Many teachers have been clamoring for the implementation of the “No Read, No Pass Policy” for Grade 1 students. Advocates believe that the threat of repeating a level can help compel parents to work closely with the school to ensure the students achieve the necessary skills. It is important to take note that holding students to strict standards must go hand in hand with giving teachers the conditions, resources, and support they need to help them meet those standards. Having clear and firm guidelines for level promotion, combined with funding and manpower support from DepEd dedicated to early-grade remediation via after-school and summer enrichment programs, just might be the key to reversing the mass promotion culture.
Grade 3 reading and math proficiency are universal and measurable indicators of whether our education system is truly serving its children. Missing them negatively impacts a student’s future, but meeting them can also become our greatest point of intervention. Rather than a system that disproportionately puts the blame and burden on teachers, DepEd must confront and change systems that quietly reward inflated metrics.
We need accountability structures that value early detection, targeted remediation, and school leadership willing to learn and respond to uncomfortable data. Fixing the education system requires not only better policies but also restoring the true purpose, integrity, and moral authority of the teaching profession.
—————-
eleanor@shetalksasia.com
******
Get real-time news updates: inqnews.net/inqviber
