“Bringing about quality education in Sarangani
as foundation for poverty alleviation
and economic progress.”
BACKGROUND
It was clearly stated in Article XIV, Section 1, of the Philippine Constitution that,“The state shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all”.
However it is sad to note that the Philippine government fails to provide Filipino children with basic quality education. Philippine education is declining continuously for roughly 25 years. Our schools are failing to teach the competence the average citizen needs to become responsible, productive and self-fulfilling. We are graduating people who are learning less and less.
In Sarangani, for the past years National Achievement Test average of both Elementary and Secondary ranges between 40%-60%, afar from 75% passing rate. Failure rate increases year by year, from 3.81% on 2003 now 7.7%.
The rationale behind the deterioration of the quality of our education are lack of general awareness about the current state of education, weak mechanism for meaningful parent participation, weak soft infrastructure support to facilitate learning process, under-performing school board, weak local involvement and participation in delivering basic education services, weak planning and budgeting practices and processes that contribute to inefficient and ineffective use of local education fund and lack of accountability and transparency in the administration of public school system.
The local government of Sarangani is definite to address the education crisis by persuading partnership among stakeholders. Thus, the Office of the Governor created Quality Education for Sarangani Today (QUEST) 
Program and adopted Synergeia’s model of intervention. The overall goal of this LGU led education reform program is to bring about quality education in Sarangani as a foundation for poverty alleviation and economic progress. QUEST leads and implements locally-led education reform programs to help uplift the quality of education. The program intensifies public school system’s accountability by engrossing community participation. In Alabel, this reading program has able to produce 6 out of 10 Grade 1 students a reader that comprehends what he/she is reading last school year. This year, QUEST is now into three municipalities namely Alabel, Kiamba and Malungon. It is to embark in all municipalities by SY 2009-2010.
GOAL:
“To bring quality education in Sarangani as foundation for poverty alleviation and economic progress.”OBJECTIVES: The key objectives of QUEST are as follows:
• To increase the learning of children in reading as shown by the increase in their achievement scores by at least 5 percentage points every year.
• To increase the accountability of community (DepEd, LGU, SK, Parents, NGO, Business Sector, Academic Institutions) over the academic performance of Sarangan children and Sarangani schools.
• To develop a community-owned educational plan and budget with strong citizen participation.
• To build and sustain stakeholdership by effectively communicating education reform plans to the public and implementing a feedback mechanism for parents and other education constituents.
QUEST PROGRAM COMPONENTS:A. Putting Reading First
• Provision of 1:1 ratio of English Workbook (Reading Readiness and Let’s Read, Write, Think and Express) 1:1 ratio of Teacher’s Manual
• Performance Test (Pre-test & Post-test)
B. Accountability for Students’ Performance
• Improving Teacher Quality
• Boosting Principals
• Parent Leaders Empowerment
• Parental Involvement
• Local School Board Reinvention
• Education Road Show
C. Rewards for Results
• QUEST Awards
• I Love My Teachers
• Gov Migs Leadership Award (ES Level)
PUTTING READING FIRST
Reading is the key to learning. But how could they learn if they cannot read?
Reading is like walking (or any other developmental area such as crawling and speaking) which has a “normal” range where some kids walk 
early and some kids walk later. Just as you cannot make a child walk before they are ready, you can not make a child read before they are ready. QUEST is up to provide children with 1:1 ratio of Reading Readiness Workbook to prepare every child to be a reader and Let’s Read, Write, Think and Express Workbook to reinforce their love for reading and build their basic competencies. The workbooks are coupled with lesson plan for teachers.
ACCOUNTABILITY FOR STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE
QUEST focuses on improving overall achievement of Sarangani children by persuading every member of the community to assume a responsibility in making every child learn better.
Teachers are acknowledged guide in processes of learning. Accordingly, to ensure that our schoolchildren are taught by quality teachers, QUEST provides Principals and Teachers Training.
Parent leaders from each school are equipped with skills for them to be more involved with school activities through Parent Leaders Training. Empowered parent leaders will then mentor their fellow parents in their respective schools.
Education summit on the other hand convenes all stakeholders. It draws the major reasons why children have poor performance in schools, what measures to take and how could they strengthen their partnership to uplift the reading proficiency of Sarangani children.
QUEST also strengthens the local school board as a vehicle for improving the public school system by promoting governance reforms and building partnership at the local level. REWARDS FOR RESULTS
Turning around low-performing schools is a difficult work. It requires high expectations, a focus on learning, a commitment to students, strong leadership, trust among school staff, and collective responsibility for student achievement. The local government cannot dictate that schools should have these characteristics, but they do have a critical leadership role in setting the context for change and raising the capacity of schools to acquire these attributes.
QUEST provides rewards to boost low-performing schools and to foster a cycle of continuous improvement in school performances. This is awarded to districts, schools, principals and teachers reflecting outstanding accomplishments using gains in students’ academic achievement. QUEST cash incentives will persuade schools to meet range of goals in partnership with parents, local leaders and business partners in the community.
QUEST also confers Gov Migs Leadership Award to one graduating public elementary student in each school who has shown exemplary leadership and dynamic spirit in both academics and extra curricular activities.
Ultimately, QUEST serves as a driving force to urge all Sarangans to have a shared goal and collective accountability to achieving quality education in Sarangani today.
