SAN FERNANDO CITY – “We have to improve teaching and learning so that we’ll be able to improve learning outcomes.”

These were shared by Assistant Regional Director Ronald B. Castillo of the Department of Education Regional Office I (DepEd ROI) during the conduct of the fourth quarter Regional Monitoring, Evaluation, and Adjustment (RMEA) held at the National Educators Academy of the Philippines Region I on January 16-17, 2020.

Castillo emphasized that since the Department is pivoting from access to quality, what matters is learning outcome.  It is necessary for the program owners to shift focus not only on physical and financial accomplishments, but also the linkages of the programs, projects, and activities (PAPs) with the desired outcomes.

“We are not measured on how many activities we have conducted, we are not measured on how efficient we were in the implementation of our PAPs, but we are measured on learning outcomes,” he said.

Castillo discussed that the RMEA is a reflection of accomplishments of the previous year and dedication of what will be done in the next calendar year. For these, the creation of a cadence of accountability is a necessity.

“Each one should be accountable for the prescribed Key Result Areas (KRA); if we do not link performance with accountability, then there is no way for us to progress,” Castillo stated.

He also encouraged the participants to look how they can align their PAPs with their KRA. “We want results, that is why it is called results-based. We are not only concerned about the process how we do it, but we want to see results,” he conveyed.

Meanwhile, to come up with a clearer picture on how the Regional Office could execute its plan for 2020, Castillo explained the conduct of integration.

The mandate of the RO should be related with the KRA of the SDOs, and the KRA of one functional in the RO should also be related with the KRA of the other.

 By Cesar S. Bucsit, ORD – PAU