To: Bureau Directors, Regional Directors, Schools Superintendents
Heads of State Colleges and Universities
Heads of Private Schools, Colleges and Universities

1. Date of the 1994 NEAT. The annual National Elementary Assessment Test or NEAT for all Grade VI pupils in all public and private elementary schools will be administered from 8:30 to 12:00 o’clock in the morning of Tuesday, August 30, 1994. Henceforth, until further notice the National Elementary Assessment Test (which was called the National Elementary Achievement Test Iast year) will be given every year on the 13th Tuesday following the beginning of the school year.
2. Components of the NEAT. As before, the NEAT will consist of a battery of achievement tests of the multiple choice type which will cover the four areas of (1) English, with 30 per cent weight, (2) Mathematics with 30 per cent, (3) Science with 30 per cent, and (4) Heograpiya/ Kasaysayan/Sibika with 10 per cent. Each component test will last 40 minutes. Taking the NEAT will be a requirement for graduation; however, a low NEAT score by itself will not necessarily prevent a pupil from graduating, since it will only form part of the general average of each pupil with the weight of one academic subject transmuted into a percentage. The grade in the NEAT will be the last entry in the listing of subjects in the Forms 137-E and 138-E of Grade VI pupils, and for this reason the results of these tests will again be made available before the end of the school year to all schools. For private elementary schools offering Grade VII, the NEAT will again be given to its Grade VI pupils.
3. Implementing entities. The National Educational Testing and Research Center (NETRC), in cooperation with the Bureau of Elementary Education (BEE) and the Regional Offices, shall under-take the NEAT design, implementation and assessment. All bureaus, centers, regional and division offices of this Department and other government agencies shall assist in this undertaking. All regional directors shall take charge of the effective and efficient administration of the NEAT. The NEAT will be without charge to the pupils, and funding for the NEAT will come from the allotments of DECS Regional Offices. Note that the NEAT will also serve to determine the rate of improvement in elementary education, with respect to the individual schools.
4. NSAT. A new similar test for high school seniors, the National Secondary Assessment Test or NSAT, is scheduled to be given three days later, on Friday, September 2, 1994, and will be the subject of a separate DECS issuance. The NSAT replaces the abolished NCEE, but unlike the NCEE, passing the new NSAT will not be a prerequisite to entrance to college.
5. Guidelines. The guidelines for conducting the NEAT and other details of the aforementioned tests are provided in the enclosure.

Reference: DECS Order: No. 30, s. 1993
Allotment: l-2-3-4-(M.O. 1-87)

To be indicated in the Perpetual Index under the following subjects:
Course of Study, ELEMENTARY
PUPILS
SCHOOLS
TESTS

DO_s1994_037