THE OPINION OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS REGARDING THE PENDING SENATE

BILL1432: SHIFT IN SCHOOL YEAR FROM JUNE TO AUGUST

A Research
Presented to
The Faculty of the Senior High School
of St. Michael’s School Inc.

In partial fulfilment of the requirements for Practical Research

By
Aaron Paul Antiligando
Domenik June Guerrero
John Carlo Angelo Japis
(2018)
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preliminaries PAGE

List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………………..ii

List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………………ii

CHAPTER

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………….………...1

Theoretical Framework……………………………………………………………….…………3

Conceptual Framework……………………………………………………………….………...3

Research Paradigm……………………………………………………………………………..4

Statement of the Problem…………………………………………………………….….…..…5

Hypothesis of the Study……………………………………………………………….………..6

Significance of the Study…………………………………………………………………...…..6

Scope and Limitation…………………………………………………………………….……...7

Definition of Terms……………………………………………………………………………....7

2. Review of Related Literature and Studies

Local………………………………………………………………………………………...……8

Foreign……………………………………………………………………………………….....12

Synthesis…………………………………………………………………………………….…15
3. Research Method…………………………………………………………………………...16

Research Locale…………………………………………………………………………….…17

Respondents of the Study…………………………………………………………….……....17

Sample and Sampling Techniques………………………………………………………..…19

Research Instruments…………………………………………………………………………19

Statistical Tools Used……………………………………………………………………….…19

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE PAGE

Table 1: Respondents of the Study………………………………………………………….17

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE PAGE

Figure 1: Research Paradigm…………………………………………………………….……4

Figure 2: Map of St. Michael’s School Inc……………………………………………….….17

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CHAPTER 1

PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

This research aims to see the students, teachers, and parents’ opinion to Senate Bill 1432

- the plan to move the start of school years to August instead of June - to Junior High

School Students.

Introduction
The start of a school year is an important event to every student in the world. It

signifies a new year level, new friends, and possibly even new beginnings. Most school

years always starts around June here in The Philippines, however, a senate bill filed by

Sen. Francis Escudero suggest that the senate passes a law that mandates all schools

to start their school years on August. The objective of this research is to positively push

the pending Senate Bill 1432 to Junior High School Students and why it should be passed.

According to an interview made by Sashin (2015), starting US schools at August

allows the students to finish their first semester before the December holiday break, giving

them more time to enjoy it. It also lets the teachers have time to create their lesson plans

on January. However, it was also stated that if the school year ends at June, less students

take it more seriously and, coincidentally, the month is not used in its full value.

As can be seen in in the ASEAN State of Education Report (2013), the

Association is more concerned on how the Philippine’s Educational System is performing,

changing, growing, and helping students learn in schools rather than focusing on when

the Philippine’s School Year starts

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Executive Order No. 292, signed in July 1987 by then President Corazon Aquino,

provides that the opening date of the school year for the elementary, secondary and

tertiary levels for public and private schools “shall not be earlier than the first day of June

nor later than the last day of July of each year unless prevented by fortuitous events.”

This academic calendar was adopted to coincide with the country’s two seasons—rainy

(from June to November) and dry (from December to May). (Philippine Daily Inquirer,

2014)

Majority of the world's top institutions start their academic calendar in August or

September. And among the members of the ASEAN, only the Philippines follows the

June-to-March academic calendar. Our engagement with the world's top universities will

be greatly facilitated with the alignment of our academic calendar with the rest of the

world. (Escudero, 2017)

For school year 2015-2016, University of the Philippines (UP), Ateneo de Manila

University (AdMU), De La Salle University (DLSU) and University of Santo Tomas (UST)

will open classes in August. UP already led the change last school year, when the school’s

board of regents approved the shift of the academic calendar to August to July from the

previous June to May. UST also implemented a transitional calendar which moved the

start of their collegiate school year from June to July. This year, AdMU, De la Salle

University and UST will start implementing a calendar that begins in August, with AdMU

Loyola Schools’ academic year to span from Aug. 10 to May 21, 2016; DLSU’s from Aug.

24 to Aug. 11, 2016, and UST from August to May. (Gamil, 2015)
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Through this research, the researchers aim to know how will teachers, and

students of St. Michael’s School Inc. along with their parents react if the Senate Bill 1432

is to be passed. The researchers also desire to know if such a change can have a positive

or negative impact on students.

Theoretical Framework

Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (SLT) states that people learn from one

another, either via observation, modeling, or imitation. Us humans observe others’

behavior, attitude, and see what the outcome of their actions will be; through that

outcome, we analyze and think whether we will imitate or differ from their actions.

Conceptual Framework

As kids, we have always learned to observe what our family members our doing in

front of us. Then, we sometime copy those movements because our instinct says that we

should. In our tiny little brains then, we thought our family members are models and that

we should mimic what they do, regardless if it’s gender appropriate or not. This is because

we identify to those people and we copy them to have identity.

As we grew up, this sense of identifying and imitating others didn’t really leave our heads.

They were just placed at the back of our brains to be used for later. As an example, people

tend to copy trends, fashion, attitude, and opinions form other people just because they

are popular, or they idolize those people. After this, comes reinforcement, reinforcement
 4

can be either positive or negative and is sometimes the deciding factor to whether we

should continue the imitation or stop it for good.

As the Philippines saw that almost every country in the world starts their school

year around August, they felt compelled to follow their method and to see whether it will

help in the betterment of our society or not. We are now at the time for reinforcement, as

of now it is up to us whether we will react positively to this change or react negatively to

it.

Research Paradigm

• Name, Age, PROCESS • Opinions of

Gender Junior High
• Grade Level • Questionaires School
• School Year Students About
• Surveys Senate Bill
Habits
1432
• Summer Habits
• S.Y. Preference
INPUT OUTPUT

For the researchers to successfully gather important information for the research,

the researchers will distribute questionnaires and surveys to Junior High School

Teachers, Students, and their Parents, wherein they will fill out their answers to the

questions provided such as respondent’s name, age, gender, other questions also ask

the respondents opinion.

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Statement of the Problem

This study aims to learn the consensus of Junior High School Teachers, Students,

and Parents about moving the start of the school year from June to August.

Specifically, the following problems will be tackled

1. What is the profile of the respondents in regard to:

1.1 gender

1.2 age

1.3 year level

2. What is their opinion regarding Senate Bill 1432

3. Do they agree or disagree with it and why

4. Will the change have a big impact in their lives.

5. Will their normal routine/s be changed if ever the law gets passed.
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Hypothesis of the Study

The Researchers hypothesize that the students, teachers, and parents will agree

with the senate bill and it will not leave any significant impact in their daily lives.

Significance of the Study

The following people can benefit from the study:

Schools. If the pending bill is passed, schools can have more time to pass the

data/information for the Learner Information System (LIS) and the Enhanced Basic

Education Information System (EBEIS).

School Administrators. They are like the organizers of the school, and if the

administrators knew what the students feel about a certain topic then the administrators

can help them ease in the new schedule in case it happens. In addition to this, the

administrators can also make new projects that can relate to the longer summer vacation.

Teachers. The teachers can use the knowledge from this study to better create

their lesson plans and have more time to compute grades. This can also benefit the

teachers by giving them more time between school years to focus on themselves and

their families.

Students. If the bill happens and the school year moves, the students can learn

much easier because the start of the school year is now not on time with the rainy season

furthermore, if this law gets passed on the end of a school year, students will have more

summer vacation time, and this can either help or help the students.
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Scope and Limitation

The research will be conducted and limited only to the St. Michael’s School Inc.

Junior High School Teachers, Students, and their Parents.

Definition of Terms

Bill. Proposed legislation under consideration by a legislature.

Mandate. An authoritative command.

Outcome. Something that follows as a result or consequence.

Implement. An article serving to equip.

Routine. A sequence of actions regularly followed.

Impact. Have a strong effect on someone or something.

Compelled. Force or oblige.

Consensus. A generally accepted opinion.

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CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter discusses the related literature and studies reviewed by the researchers.

Related Literature and Studies

Local

The Senate committee on education, arts and culture is recommending the

synchronization of the academic calendar for all schools, moving the opening of classes

from the current June to sometime between August and September. (Sy, 2017)

“Studies show that the quality of a country’s human capital is directly proportional

to the quality of its education therefore, far-reaching reforms in our education system must

be undertaken in order to ensure the development of our human capital,” (Escudero as

cited in Antiporda, 2017)

Having a synchronized schedule is very helpful and must be undertaken to ensure

the development of the Philippines’ human capital. This relates back to the pending

senate bill because if it is passed, both recommendations above will be met.

According to Santiago (2017), the Department of Education already announced

that for school year 2017-2018, classes in all public elementary and high schools will

officially start on June 5. Private schools, however, may deviate from this schedule but

must start their classes not later than the last day of August.
 9

It has long been proposed that the country revise its school year, which as all

parents and students know begins at the onset of the rainy season. School days are

usually lost whenever a typhoon or heavy flooding causes the public transport system to

go awry. (THE MANILA TIMES, 2014)

The start of our school year currently is connected to rainy seasons and

suspensions, that is why some schools already started their school year early. This

relates back to the topic of the present research due to the fact that if the senate bill is to

be passed, this problem can be solved.

One trimester in La Salle has 14 weeks, that already includes one-week of exams.

The result is longer class periods and shorter term breaks (only a week in some cases)

and also a shorter summer session (only about two to three weeks). In terms of degree

completion, the semestral system would require four years of eight semesters before a

student can graduate, while a trimestral system would normally require three years of

nine semesters. (Contreras, 2014)

This shows that the schedule of a student studying in a trimester schedule is very

tight and hectic. In relations to the current research, if the bill is to be passed, students

with a trimester schedule can enjoy longer summer vacations.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said last month that no decision has been made

regarding the proposed shift in academic calendar for basic education. He cited a

Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa)

study showing that typhoons and heavy rains are not frequent occurrences during June
 10

and July. Classes in April and May may also not be advisable due to the intense heat,

Luistro said. (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 2014)

This relates to the current research because if the pending senate law is passed,

students may need to go to school in very hot conditions just because the school year

schedule was moved.

The School Year (SY) 2018-2019 shall formally open on Monday, June 4, 2018

and shall end on Friday, April 5, 2019. It shall consist of 208 school days inclusive of the

five-day In-Service Training and the three days for the Parent-Teacher Conferences

(PTC) conducted within the school year. However, learners are expected to be in school

for a total of 200 class days. (iMillennial, 2018)

This relates back to the present research where is the senate bill is to be passed at the

start of 2019, the next school year may start in the month of August

According to sources, the Philippines and Thailand are the only countries that start

their classes in June. Under the new academic calendar, the first semester will be from

August to December; the second semester, from January to May; and the short term,

from June to July. (Hines, 2015)

This relates back to the current research due to the fact that if the senate bill is to

be passed, we will be in synch with almost all of the ASEAN countries in terms of school

year schedules.
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Each June, over 21 million elementary and high school students start a new school

year in the Philippines, and almost 4 million of them, or 18 percent of the entire student

population, will be forced to attend extremely overcrowded public schools. In urban areas,

some classes hold over 100 students—well beyond the Department of Education’s

(DepEd) prescribed 45 students per class. (Jones, 2017)

This relates to the present study because if the senate bill will be passed,

the students in the heavily populated schools will have a very hard time in their cramped

classrooms by May or April due to the intense heat.

The new curriculum initially gained ground in 2011 with the enactment of RA

10157, which made compulsory kindergarten education for children at least 5 years old.

With the additional two years in high school, the K-12 program aims to prepare students

for college, future employment and entrepreneurship. (Inquirer.net, 2018)

In relation to the present study, if the pending senate bill will be passed, students

planning to go study abroad for college or high school won’t have a hard time adjusting

to their new school year schedule.

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Related Literature and Studies

Foreign

In California, where nearly a thousand schools switched calendars between 1998

and 2005, schools that switched to a year-round calendar did not see test scores rise,

and schools that switched back to a traditional calendar did not see scores fall. (Graves

& von Hippel, 2018

In relation to the present study, if the pending senate bill ever gets passed, it may

not yield the expected results in terms of higher academic performance like the cited study

showed.

As reported by Amundsen (2018), Northside Elementary School in Wisconsin

changed their school year schedule in order to better the learning experience of the

students. They have implemented a way to have the students have a year-long schedule

without tiring the pupils so that they could learn more.

This is related to the current study because similar results to the citation above can

be achieved if the pending senate bill will be passed.

According to Bhardwa (2018), Spain is the number one destination for international

students planning to study based on a survey conducted by GoEuro.

This is related to the current study due to the fact that if some Filipino students

wanted to study in Spain, they could have a much better time adapting if our school year

schedule is in synch with them.

 13

The changing of Boston Public Schools’ start times will be greatly beneficial

according to Anonymous (2017). Changing the start time will allow the high school

students to have more productivity during the start of the day and it keeps younger

children safe because they can get home before sunset.

It has relation to the current study because the pending senate bill may also show

a similar result here in the Philippines if it is to be passed.

This fall in Bellingham Public Schools, we implemented new start and end times

for our high school students that benefit their overall health and strengthen their academic

experience. Many scientific reports support changing school start times for teenagers to

no earlier than 8:30 a.m. School districts nationally have been working to push back high

school start times to better match the “biological clock” of teens. (Baker, 2017)

In relation to the present study, the students of the Philippines may also have a

similar reaction if the pending senate bill is to be passed.

Results suggest year-round schooling has essentially no impact on academic

achievement of the average student. Moreover, when the data is broken out by race, we

find no evidence that any racial subgroup benefits from year-round schooling. (McMullen

& Rouse, 2007)

This is related to the current study because, like the research above, changing the

academic schedule of the Philippines’ education may not show any change or result

regarding academic performance.

 14

How a student’s classes are scheduled throughout the day is often determined by

necessity but can have a meaningful impact on academic performance. Acknowledging

student’s internal clocks and making small changes to scheduling patters could be a

relatively low-cost method for administrators to improve performance. (Shapiro &

Williams, 2014)

The relation of the citation to the current study is that a change in a students’

schedule, as shown by the study, can have a big positive impact on the academic

performance of students. A similar result may also be achieved if the senate bill will be

passed.

The results of these test scores, showed no statistical difference in the

performance of the students in the two types of schedules. However, the students in the

non-block class (traditional class) preferred the traditional type A schedule, two to one

(10 students favored it, while 5 students did not). (Papadakis, 2008)

While most researchers find a generally positive relationship, one meta-analysis

suggests that extra time does not in itself make a difference; rather it's how the extra time

is used. For schools, this means "maximizing the time during which students are actively

and appropriately engaged in learning," or what is often simply called "time on task"

(Walberg, 1998; Aronson, Zimmerman, and Carlos, 2005 as cited in Reading Rockets)

The relation of the citations to the present study is as follows, as both of the studies

show, even if a change in the students’ academic schedule is made, no tangible change

or difference can be seen. The same result may be seen if the senate bill is to be passed

in the Philippines.
 15

Block schedules appear to offer a slightly higher degree of flexibility than traditional

schedules. Other advantages include greater ease accommodating the needs of remedial

and accelerated students from a scheduling perspective, the ability to offer more courses

per year, and increased opportunities for teachers to use a variety of instructional

techniques. (Hanover Research, 2014)

In relation to the current study, a new schedule can help students have more free

time to take care of their personal duties and to take a rest. This can happen if the pending

senate bill is to be passed giving students more time in their vacations.

Synthesis

The present study is similar to the study made by Stevenson (2001) in that both

research talks about the reaction of students regarding their condition and environment.

Stevenson’s study showed that the conditions surrounding the school does affect the

performance of students.

The present study is considered diffident to the study made by Mkonto (2015) in

that the present study talks about the preference of students in regard to changing the

start of the school year of the Philippines.

The present study is unique because the present study shows the opinions of the

Junior High School Students of St. Michael’s School Inc., the Teachers, and the Parents

in regards to the pending bill to change the start of the school year in the Philippines.
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CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

Introduction

This chapter discusses the methods of research utilized, the respondents of the

study, the research design, the sample and sampling techniques, and the data gathering

methodology used.

Research Method

The research method used for this research is Historical Research for the aim of

the researchers is to learn the opinion of students, teachers, and parents regarding the

pending state bill that aims to change the start of the academic calendar in the Philippines.

The researchers also primarily used historical data to prove their point regarding the topic.
 17

Research Locale

The research made use of selected Junior High School Students, some of the JHS

Students’ Parents, and Teachers of St. Michael’s School Inc. as respondents for the

process of the collection of data.

Respondents of the Study

Junior High School Student Respondents from St. Michael’s School Inc.

Grade Level Population Percentage Respondents

Grade 7 44 23% 44

Grade 8 50 26% 50

Grade 9 50 27% 50

Grade 10 46 24% 46

Total: 190 100% 190

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Junior High School Teacher Respondents from St. Michael’s School Inc

Grade Level Population Percentage Respondents

Grade 7 2 25% 2

Grade 8 2 25% 2

Grade 9 2 25% 2

Grade 10 2 25% 2

Total: 8 100% 2

Parents of Junior High School Student Respondents from St. Michael’s School Inc.

Grade Level Population Percentage Respondents

Grade 7 6 25% 6

Grade 8 6 25% 6

Grade 9 6 25% 6

Grade 10 6 25% 6

Total: 24 100% 24

The respondents of the study are the 190 JHS students and 8 JHS teachers.

Additionally, the researchers also added 24 parents to become respondents to the study.

All adding up to 222 respondents in total.

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Sample and Sampling techniques

The respondents are the Teachers and the Junior High School Students of St.

Michael’s School Inc. The Parents of the JHS Students are also part of the respondents.

The sampling technique used for this is convenience sampling method. In this sampling

technique, samples are chosen because of their availability.

Research Instruments

The research instruments used are questionnaires and surveys given to the

study’s respondents.

Statistical Tools Used

The researcher made use of the frequency table, percentage, and measure of

central tendency.

Frequency table is a way of summarizing data by showing the number of

observations that belong in the different categories of classes.

Percentage is a number or ratio expressed as a fraction of 100. That is often

denoted as “%”. The formula used is shown below:

Relative Number
x 100
Whole Number
 20

The measures of central tendency locate the center of a distribution of

measurements. These numbers fall somewhere in the center of a set of organized data.

The most common of these measures are mean, median, and mode.

The mode is the value that appears most often in a given set of data. If two or more

entries appear the same number of times and the number is more than any other number,

then each of these entries is a mode.