 In line with the implementation of the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013

(Republic Act No. 10533), the Department of Education is adopting the

enclosed Policy Guidelines on Classroom Assessment for the K to 12 Basic
Education Program.
 Effective School Year (SY) 2015-2016, the Policy Guidelines on Classroom
Assessment for the K to 12 Basic Education Program shall be implemented in
public elementary and secondary schools nationwide.
 Non-DepEd schools are urged to implement these policy guidelines as well.
Non-DepEd schools are permitted to modify these policy guidelines
according to their school’s Philosophy, Vision, and Mission with the approval
of the appropriate DepEd Regional Office.
 Special programs may further issue supplementary guidelines in relation to
the program’s specific assessment concerns.
 These guidelines will remain in force and in effect for the duration of the
program, unless sooner repealed, amended, or rescinded. All existing Orders
and Memoranda that are inconsistent with this Order are rescinded.
 Immediate dissemination of and strict compliance with this Order is directed.

POLICY GUIDELINES ON CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT FOR THE K TO 12

BASIC EDUCATION PROGRAM (BEP)
Theoretical Basis
Classroom Assessment is a joint process that involves both teachers and learners. It
is an integral part of teaching and learning. Teachers provide appropriate
assessment when they aim to holistically measure learners’ current and developing
abilities while enabling them to take responsibility in the process. This view
recognizes the diversity of learners inside the classroom, the need for multiple ways
of measuring their varying abilities and learning potentials, and the role of learners
as co-participants in the assessment process.

 At the heart of this assessment framework is the recognition and deliberate

consideration of the learners’ zone of proximal development (Vygotsky 1978).
Appropriate assessment is committed to ensure learners’ success in moving
from guided to independent display of knowledge, understanding, and skills,
and to enable them to transfer this successfully in future situations. From this
point of view, assessment facilitates the development of learners’ higher-
order thinking and 21st-century skills. This view of assessment, therefore,
acknowledges the unity of instruction and assessment. Assessment is part of
day-to-day lessons and extends the day-to-day classroom activities that are
already in place in the K to 12 curriculum.
What is Classroom Assessment?

 Assessment is a process that is used to keep track of learners’ progress in

relation to learning standards and in the development of 21st-century skills;
to promote self-reflection and personal accountability among students about
 their own learning; and to provide bases for the profiling of student
performance on the learning competencies and standards of the curriculum.
Various kinds of assessments shall be used appropriately for different
learners who come from diverse contexts, such as cultural background and
life experiences.

Classroom Assessment is an ongoing process of identifying, gathering, organizing,

and interpreting quantitative and qualitative information about what learners know
and can do. Teachers should employ classroom assessment methods that are
consistent with curriculum standards. It is important for teachers to always inform
learners about the objectives of the lesson so that the latter will aim to meet or even
exceed the standards. The teacher provides immediate feedback to students about
their learning progress. Classroom assessment also measures the achievement of
competencies by the learners.

There are two types of classroom assessment, namely, formative and summative.
Formative assessment

 Formative assessment may be seen as assessment for learning so teachers can

make adjustments in their instruction. It is also assessment as learning
wherein students reflect on their own progress. According to the UNESCO
Program on Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future (UNESCO-TLSF),
formative assessment refers to the ongoing forms of assessment that are
closely linked to the learning process. It is characteristically informal and is
intended to help students identify strengths and weaknesses in order to learn
from the assessment experience.
 Formative assessment may be given at any time during the teaching and
learning process. It is also a way to check the effectiveness of instruction.
Formative assessment involves teachers using evidence about what learners
know and can do to inform and improve their teaching. Teachers observe and
guide learners in their tasks through interaction and dialogue, thus gaining
deeper insights into the learners’ progress, strengths, weaknesses, and needs.
The results of formative assessments will help teachers make good
instructional decisions so that their lessons are better suited to the learners’
abilities. It is important for teachers to record formative assessment by
documenting and tracking learners’ progress using systematic ways that can
easily provide insight into a student’s learning. Such monitoring will allow
teachers to understand their students and thus teach them better. Formative
assessment results, however, are not included in the computation of
summative assessment.
Formative assessment must also provide students with immediate feedback on how
well they are learning throughout the teaching-learning process. Recommendations
on how they can improve themselves should also be given by the teachers.
Formative assessment enables students to take responsibility for their own learning,
and identify areas where they do well and where they need help. As a result,
students will appreciate and make their own decisions about their progress.
Summative assessment

 Summative assessment, on the other hand, may be seen as assessment of

learning, which occurs at the end of a particular unit. This form of assessment
usually occurs toward the end of a period of learning in order to describe the
standard reached by the learner. Often, this takes place in order for
appropriate decisions about future learning or job suitability to be made.
Judgments derived from summative assessment are usually for the benefit of
people other than the learner (UNESCO-TLSF).

Summative assessment measures whether learners have met the content and
performance standards. Teachers must use methods to measure student learning
that have been deliberately designed to assess how well students have learned and
are able to apply their learning in different contexts. The results of summative
assessments are recorded and used to report on the learners’ achievement. Primarily,
the results of summative assessment are reported to the learners and their
parents/guardians. In addition, these are reported to principals/school heads,
teachers who will receive the child in the next grade level, and guidance teachers
who should help students cope with challenges they experience in school.
What is assessed in the classroom?
Assessment in the classroom is aimed at helping students perform well in relation to
the learning standards. Learning standards comprise content standards,
performance standards, and learning competencies that are outlined in the
curriculum.
A. Content Standards identify and set the essential knowledge and understanding
that should be learned. They cover a specified scope of sequential topics within each
learning strand, domain, theme, or component. Content standards answer the
question, “What should the learners know?”.
B. Performance Standards describe the abilities and skills that learners are expected
to demonstrate in relation to the content standards and integration of 21st-century
skills. The integration of knowledge, understanding, and skills is expressed through
creation, innovation, and adding value to products/ performance during
independent work or in collaboration with others. Performance standards answer
the following questions:
“What can learners do with what they know?”
“How well must learners do their work?”
“How well do learners use their learning or understanding in different situations?”
“How do learners apply their learning or understanding in real-life contexts?”
“What tools and measures should learners use to demonstrate what they know?”
C. Learning Competencies refer to the knowledge, understanding, skills, and
attitudes that students need to demonstrate in every lesson and/or learning activity.
D. Concept Development
The learning standards in the curriculum reflect progressions of concept
development. The Cognitive Process Dimensions adapted from Anderson &
Krathwohl (2001) may be a good way to operationalize these progressions. It
provides a scheme for classifying educational goals, objectives, and standards. It also
defines a broad range of cognitive processes from basic to complex, as follows:
Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating. Each
dimension is described in Table 1.
Table 1. Adapted Cognitive Process Dimensions

Cognitive Process
Descriptors
Dimensions

The learner can recall information and retrieve relevant knowledge

Remembering from long-term memory: identify, retrieve, recognize, duplicate,
list, memorize, repeat, reproduce

The learner can construct meaning from oral, written, and graphic
Understanding messages: interpret, exemplify, classify, summarize, infer,
compare, explain, paraphrase, discuss

The learner can use information to undertake a procedure in

familiar situations or in a new way: execute, implement,
Applying
demonstrate, dramatize, interpret, solve, use, illustrate, convert,
discover

The learner can distinguish between parts and determine how they
relate to one another, and to the overall structure and purpose:
Analyzing
differentiate, distinguish, compare, contrast, organize, outline,
attribute, deconstruct

Evaluating The learner can make judgments and justify decisions: coordinate,
 measure, detect, defend, judge, argue, debate, critique, appraise,
evaluate

The learner can put elements together to form a functional whole,

create a new product or point of view: generate, hypothesize, plan,
Creating
design, develop, produce, construct, formulate, assemble, design,
devise

To align the assessment process with the K to 12 curriculum, the adapted Cognitive
Process Dimensions may be used as guide not only in lesson development but also
in the formulation of assessment tasks and activities.

How are learners assessed in the classroom?

Learners are assessed in the classroom through various processes and measures
appropriate to and congruent with learning competencies defined in the K to 12
curriculum. Some of these processes and measures may be used for both formative
and summative assessment, which have different goals. Learners may be assessed
individually or collaboratively.

Individual and Collaborative Formative Assessment

Individual formative assessment enables the learner to demonstrate independently

what has been learned or mastered through a range of activities such as check-up
quizzes, written exercises, performances, models, and even electronic presentations.

Collaborative formative assessment (peer assessment) allows students to support

each other’s learning. Discussions, role playing, games, and other group activities
may also be used as performance-based formative assessment wherein learners
support and extend each other’s learning.

Formative Assessment in Different Parts of the Lesson

Formative assessment may be integrated in all parts of the lesson. Basically, every
lesson has three parts: before the lesson, the lesson proper, and after the lesson.
Formative assessment conducted in each part serves a different purpose.

Before the Lesson

Formative assessment conducted before the lesson informs the teacher about the
students’ understanding of a lesson/topic before direct instruction. It helps teachers
understand where the students stand in terms of conceptual understanding and
application. Formative assessment provides bases for making instructional decisions,
such as moving on to a new lesson or clarifying prerequisite understanding.

During the Lesson Proper

Formative assessment conducted during the lesson proper informs teachers of the
progress of the students in relation to the development of the learning competencies.
It also helps the teacher determine whether instructional strategies are effective. The
results of formative assessment given at this time may be compared with the results
of formative assessment given before the lesson to establish if conceptual
understanding and application have improved. On this basis, the teacher can make
decisions on whether to review, re-teach, remediate, or enrich lessons and,
subsequently, when to move on to the next lesson.

After the Lesson

Formative assessment conducted after the lesson assesses whether learning

objectives were achieved. It also allows the teacher to evaluate the effectiveness of
instruction. Students who require remediation and/or enrichment should be helped
by the teacher using appropriate teaching strategies.

Table 2 enumerates the purposes of formative assessments conducted before, during,

and after the lesson. It also shows examples of assessment methods. Teachers should
not limit the assessment methods they use to the examples provided in the table 2.

Table 2. Purposes of Formative Assessment

Parts of
Examples of
the For the Learner For the Teacher
Assessment Methods
Lesson
 Agree/disagree
activities
Know what s/he
knows about the Get information about
Games
topic/lesson what the learner already
knows and can do about
Interviews
Understand the the new lesson
purpose of the lesson
Inventories/ checklists
and how to do well in Share learning intentions
Before of skills (relevant to the
the lesson and success criteria to the
Lesson topic in a learning area)
learners
Identify ideas or
KWL activities (what I
concepts s/he Determine misconceptions
know, what I want to
misunderstands
know, what I learned)
Identify what hinders
Identify barriers to learning
Open-ended questions
learning
Practice exercises

Provide immediate
feedback to learners
Multimedia
Identify one’s Identify what hinders
presentations
strengths and learning
weaknesses
Observations
Identify what facilitates
Identify barriers to learning
Other formative
learning
performance tasks
Identify learning gaps
(simple activities that
Lesson Identify factors that
can be drawn from a
Proper help him/her learn Track learner progress in
specific topic or lesson)
comparison to formative
Know what s/he assessment results prior to
Quizzes (recorded but
knows and does not the lesson proper
not graded)
know
To make decisions on
Recitations
Monitor his / her own whether to proceed with
progress the next lesson, reteach, or
Simulation activities
provide for corrective
measures or
reinforcements
 Multimedia
presentations

Observations

Other formative
Assess whether learning
performance tasks
Tell and recognize objectives have been met
(simple activities that
whether s/he met for a specified duration
can be drawn from a
learning objectives
specific topic or lesson)
and success criteria Remediate and/ or enrich
After
with appropriate
Lesson Quizzes (recorded but
Seek support through strategies as needed
not graded)
remediation,
enrichment, or other Evaluate whether learning
Recitations
strategies intentions and success
criteria have been met
Simulation activities
exercises

Short quizzes

Written work

The information or feedback gathered from formative assessment will help teachers
ensure that all learners are supported while they are developing understanding and
competencies related to curriculum standards. These also prepare them for
summative assessments. Teachers should keep a record of formative assessment
results to study the patterns of learning demonstrated by students. However, this
should not be used as bases for grading.

Summative Assessment

This form of assessment measures the different ways learners use and apply all
relevant knowledge, understanding, and skills. It must be spaced properly over the
quarter. It is usually conducted after a unit of work and/or at the end of an entire
quarter to determine how well learners can demonstrate content knowledge and
competencies articulated in the learning standards. Learners synthesize their
knowledge, understanding, and skills during summative assessments. The results of
these assessments are used as bases for computing grades.

Individual and Collaborative Summative Assessment

Learners may be assessed individually through unit tests and quarterly assessment.
Collaboratively, learners may participate in group activities in which they cooperate
to produce evidence of their learning. The process of creating a learning project is
given more weight or importance than the product itself.

Components of Summative Assessment

Summative assessments are classified into three components, namely, Written Work
(WW), Performance Tasks (PT), and Quarterly Assessment (QA). These three will be
the bases for grading. The nature of the learning area defines the way these three
components are assessed.

Written Work

The Written Work component ensures that students are able to express skills and
concepts in written form. Written Work, which may include long quizzes, and unit
or long tests, help strengthen test-taking skills among the learners. It is strongly
recommended that items in long quizzes/tests be distributed across the Cognitive
Process Dimensions so that all are adequately covered. Through these, learners are
able to practice and prepare for quarterly assessment and other standardized
assessments. Other written work may include essays, written reports, and other
written output.

Performance Task

The Performance Task component allows learners to show what they know and are
able to do in diverse ways. They may create or innovate products or do
performance-based tasks. Performance-based tasks may include skills
demonstration, group presentations, oral work, multimedia presentations, and
research projects. It is important to note that written output may also be considered
as performance tasks.

Quarterly Assessment

Quarterly Assessment measures student learning at the end of the quarter. These
may be in the form of objective tests, performance-based assessment, or a
combination thereof.

Table 3 shows the components of summative assessment, their purposes, and when
they are given. The lists of sample summative assessment tools per learning area are
found in Appendix A.

Table 3. Components of Summative Assessment

Components Purpose When Given

 Assess learners’ understanding of concepts and
Written Work application of skills in written form At end of the
(WW) topic or unit
Prepare learners for quarterly assessments

Involve students in the learning process

individually or in collaboration with teammates
over a period of time

Give students opportunities to demonstrate and At end of a

integrate their knowledge, understanding, and lesson focusing
skills about topics or lessons learned in a specific on a topic/skill
Performance real-life situation by performing and/or producing lesson
Tasks (PT) evidence of their learning
Several times
Give students the freedom to express their learning during the
in appropriate and diverse ways quarter

Encourage student inquiry, integration of

knowledge, understanding, and skills in various
contexts beyond the assessment period

Quarterly
Synthesize all the learning skills, concepts, and Once, at end of
Assessment
values learned in an entire quarter the quarter
(QA)

There must be sufficient and appropriate instructional interventions to ensure that

learners are ready before summative assessments are given. The evidence produced
through summative assessment enables teachers to describe how well the students
have learned the standards/competencies for a given quarter. These are then
reflected in the class record. The grades of learners are presented in a report card to
show the progress of learners to parents and other stakeholders.

What is the DepEd K to 12 grading system?

The K to 12 Basic Education Program uses a standard and competency-based
grading system. These are found in the curriculum guides. All grades will be based
on the weighted raw score of the learners’ summative assessments. The minimum
grade needed to pass a specific learning area is 60, which is transmuted to 75 in the
report card. The lowest mark that can appear on the report card is 60 for Quarterly
Grades and Final Grades.
For these guidelines, the Department will use a floor grade considered as the lowest
possible grade that will appear in a learner’s report card.
How is learner progress recorded and computed?
For Kindergarten
Guidelines specific to the assessment of Kindergarten learners will be issued in a
different memorandum or order. However, for Kindergarten, checklists and
anecdotal records are used instead of numerical grades. These are based on learning
standards found in the Kindergarten curriculum guide. It is important for teachers to
keep a portfolio, which is a record or compilation of the learner’s output, such as
writing samples, accomplished activity sheets, and artwork. The portfolio can
provide concrete evidence of how much or how well the learner is able to
accomplish the skills and competencies. Through checklists, the teacher will be able
to indicate whether or not the child is able to demonstrate knowledge and/or
perform the tasks expected of Kindergarten learners. Through anecdotal records or
narrative reports, teachers will be able to describe learners’ behavior, attitude, and
effort in school work.
For Grades 1 to 12
In a grading period, there is one Quarterly Assessment but there should be instances
for students to produce Written Work and to demonstrate what they know and can
do through Performance Tasks. There is no required number of Written Work and
Performance Tasks, but these must be spread out over the quarter and used to assess
learners’ skills after each unit has been taught.
How to Compute for Final Grades and General Average in DepEd K to 12 Grading
System
The following are the steps in computing for the Final Grades.
Step 1: Grades from all student work are added up.
This results in the total score for each component, namely Written Work,
Performance Tasks, and Quarterly Assessment.
Raw scores from each component have to be converted to a Percentage Score. This is
to ensure that values are parallel to each other.
Step 2: The sum for each component is converted to the Percentage Score.
To compute the Percentage Score (PS), divide the raw score by the highest possible
score then multiply the quotient by 100%. This is shown below:
Step 3: Percentage Scores are then converted to Weighted Scores to show the
importance of each component in promoting learning in the different subjects.
To do this, the Percentage Score is multiplied by the weight of the component found
in Table 4 for Grades 1 to 10 and Table 5 for Senior High School. The product is
known as the Weighted Score (WS).

Table 4. Weight of the Components for Grades 1-10

Table 4. Weight of the Components for Grades 1-10

The grading system for Senior High School (SHS) follows a different set of weights
for each component. Table 5 presents the weights for the core and track subjects.

Table 5. Weight of the Components for SHS

Step 4: The sum of the Weighted Scores in each component is the Initial Grade.
This Initial Grade will be transmuted using the given transmutation table to get the
Quarterly Grade (QG).
Step 5: The Quarterly Grade for each learning area is written in the report card of the
student.
For a better understanding of how to record the summative assessments, Table 6
presents a sample class record showing three learners for the first quarter of Grade 4
English. On the basis of this class record, Table 7 presents a step-by-step process on
how to compute for the Quarterly Grade.
Table 6. Sample Class Record for English Grade 4 (First Quarter)

Table 7. Steps for Computing Grades

Steps for Computing Grades
1. Get the total score for each component.
2. Divide the total raw score by the highest possible score then multiply the
quotient by 100%.
3. Convert Percentage Scores to Weighted Scores. Multiply the Percentage Score
by the weight of the component indicated in Table 4 and Table 5.
4. Add the Weighted Scores of each component. The result will be the Initial
Grade.
5. Transmute the Initial Grade using the Transmutation Table.
For MAPEH, individual grades are given to each area, namely, Music, Arts, Physical
Education, and Health. The quarterly grade for MAPEH is the average of the
quarterly grades in the four areas.

How are grades computed at the end of the school year?

For Kindergarten
There are no numerical grades in Kindergarten. Descriptions of the learners’
progress in the various learning areas are represented using checklists and student
portfolios. These are presented to the parents at the end of each quarter for
discussion. Additional guidelines on the Kindergarten program will be issued.
For Grades 1-10
The average of the Quarterly Grades (QG) produces the Final Grade.
The General Average is computed by dividing the sum of all final grades by the total
number of learning areas. Each learning area has equal weight.

The Final Grade in each learning area and the General Average are reported as
whole numbers. Table 8 shows an example of the Final Grades of the different
learning areas and General Average of a Grade 4 student.
Table 8. Final Grades and General Average

For Grades 11 and 12

The two quarters determine the Final Grade in a semester. Table 9 shows an example
in Grade 11, second semester for the Accounting, Business, and Management (ABM)
strand.
Table 9. Grade 11, 2nd Semester of ABM strand
How is the learner’s progress reported?
The summary of learner progress is shown quarterly to parents and guardians
through a parent-teacher conference, in which the report card is discussed. The
grading scale, with its corresponding descriptors, are in Table 10. Remarks are given
at the end of the grade level.
Table 10. Descriptors, Grading Scale, and Remarks

Using the sample class record in Table 6, LEARNER A received an Initial Grade of
84.86 in English for the First Quarter, which, when transmuted to a grade of 90, is
equivalent to Outstanding. LEARNER B received a transmuted grade of 88, which is
equivalent to Very Satisfactory. LEARNER C received a grade of 71, which means
that the learner Did Not Meet Expectations in the First Quarter of Grade 4 English.
When a learner’s raw scores are consistently below expectations in Written Work
and Performance Tasks, the learner’s parents or guardians must be informed not
later than the fifth week of that quarter. This will enable them to help and guide
their child to improve and prepare for the Quarterly Assessment. A learner who
receives a grade below 75 in any subject in a quarter must be given intervention
through remediation and extra lessons from the teacher/s of that subject.