To meet them where they’re at, we took time to sit down with each of our Tagbanua young learners from Culion, Palawan. It turned out to be an insightful and surprisingly fun process for the children and their teachers too!

Cartwheel Foundation, Inc. began preparations for the pre-test by initially reviewing assessment materials from past school years.  In consultation with volunteer reading specialist Angeli Perez, the team ensured that the pre-test contents covered all general topics from the Early Childhood Education (ECE) curriculum while at the same time retaining the test’s brevity. A preparatory meeting for demonstration and practice with the teachers significantly helped during the actual test administration.

 

On August 17, 2017, the teachers innovatively worked with various instructional materials—most of them crafted from indigenous resources around the community— as well as creative assessment activities, to make the test less tedious and more engaging for the young learners.

Our ECE young learners are aged 3-7 years old, all of them being first time enrollees in an education program. Consolidated test results show that said learners rate from average to high in verbal communication. Most of them are able to effectively express themselves in basic introduction of self, identification of body parts, verbal counting, and presenting of their aspirations. Focus needs to be directed more on basic literacy and numeracy skills such as writing one’s name, as well as identification of letters and numbers.

In knowing these about our learners, we work hand-in-hand with our teachers to build on their strengths and address their areas of difficulty. Onward and forward we go this school year, towards growth through culturally relevant education for our Tagbanua learners.