Schools to serve as guiding light for others
The first Excellence in Educational Transformation Awards (EETA) recognized seven schools for their efforts at improving the quality of their education programs and offerings to meet the demands of the 21st century.
This year’s winners are St. Paul College (SPC) in San Rafael, Bulacan; Assumpta Technical High School (ATHS) in San Simon, Pampanga; Pembo Elementary School (PES) in Makati City; Claret School of Zamboanga (CSZ) in Zamboanga City; Ednas School of San Carlos (ESSC) in San Carlos, Pangasinan; Colegio San Agustin (CSA) in Makati City; and Elizabeth Seton School (ESS) in Las Piñas City.
They were rated on five areas of innovation: transformations in curriculum design, learning materials, learning methodologies, administrative systems and learning spaces.
EETA organizers ABS-CBN Bayan Academy, Rex Book Store and Knowledge Channel Foundation Inc. (KCFI) want to make the award annual to honor outstanding public and private elementary and high schools in the country.
Dr. Eduardo Morato Jr., ABS-CBN Bayan Academy president, said, “The EETA will motivate schools to pursue academic excellence and efficient school administration.
“The winners will exemplify transformation, in the sense that it refers to the ability of the school to innovate and manage changes, to improve and turn around a difficult situation, and to upgrade or uplift education standards.”
For replication
Don Timothy Buhain, chief operating officer of Rex Book Store, said, “The EETA winners will hopefully be a guiding example for other schools. Their success stories can be replicated and shared with other institutions.”
ESS was named the most transformative school, with innovations in all areas. For curriculum design, the school provides a competency-based curriculum, integration of entrepreneurship across disciplines, zest for learning and living program, and integration of multiple intelligences and quantum learning.
ESS uses interactive handouts and ICT [information and communication technology]-enabled materials. It has a business simulation program for fourth-year high school students and, for faculty and staff, empowerment program and collegiality council.
The school also provides quantum learning-inspired facilities, a center for entrepreneurial studies and a multiple intelligences center.
SPC won for innovation in learning spaces. Its Learningville is an outdoor classroom where teachers can conduct some lessons and activities. It has an organic vegetable garden, fruit plantation, vermicompost area, fish ponds, butterfly garden, nipa huts for studying, a swimming pool, a meditation island, a free-roaming area for animals and a grotto of the Virgin Mary.
For innovation in administrative system, ATHS won for its socialized tuition fee scheme that allows rural poor students to receive the same quality education better-off students get.
PES, the only public school award recipient, was cited for innovation in learning methodologies and administrative system. The school’s “Concentrated Learning in English, Math, Filipino, Science and Hekasi” prepares grade school students for the National Achievement Test through remedial classes.
It also has an intervention programs for students at risk of dropping out and an environmental program for the whole community.
CSZ and ESSC also received awards for innovation in learning methodologies. CSZ implements the activity-based “Dynamic Learning Program” where lessons are 20 percent teacher-initiated and 80 percent student-centered.
Multiple intelligences
ESSC, on the other hand, applies the multiple intelligences approach—De Bono’s six thinking hats for orderly group discussions and the Waldorf-Steiner’s Eurythmy, which uses movement exercises accompanied with music at the beginning of each class to condition students.
CSA won for curriculum design and learning spaces categories for its enrichment programs for mathematics, science, Filipino, arts and sports, and for its state-of-the-art facilities that include science laboratories, culinary arts facilities and sports complex.
ESS received P500,000 while each of the other winners received a trophy and P300,000.
The winners were chosen from 13 short-listed entries. Each of the 13 schools was visited by the EETA screening committee composed of Morato; Dr. Milagros Lagrosa, psychologist and assistant professor, Asian Institute of Management; professor Cecilia Manikan, faculty member and educational consultant, Ateneo Graduate School of Business and Center for Entrepreneurship; and professor Tony del Carmen, program director, Ateneo Graduate School of Business and chief executive officer of STI College Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
From the 13, seven finalists were chosen, which were rated by the EETA national committee consisting of Morato; Dr. Gloria Mercado, dean, Graduate School for Public and Development Management, Development Academy of the Philippines; and Rina Lopez-Bautista, KCFI president.
EETA winners are expected to share best practices with the rest of the educational community.
