To : Undersecretaries
Assistant Secretaries
Bureau Directors
Directors of Services, Centers and Heads of Units
Regional Secretary, ARMM
Regional Directors
Schools Division Superintendents
Heads, Public Elementary Schools
All Others Concerned

1. The Department of Education (DepEd) through the Bureau of Elementary Education (BEE) is strengthening the implementation of the Multigrade Program in Philippine Education (MPPE) through the provision of financial assistance for teachers’ training. The MPPE plays a significant role in improving the quality of educational services and learning outcomes of learners specifically in remote and underserved rural communities of the country. It has been proven that multigrade (MG) classes given appropriate interventions, and their teachers provided with materials and appropriate training on effective teaching approaches, can perform in accordance to standards. A study conducted by the University of the Philippines (UP) in 2004-2005 revealed that there is generally no difference between pupils from MG schools and pupils from monograde classes in terms of pupils’ academic performance.
2. With this, all MG teachers shall be trained on MG instruction to improve their pedagogical skills and behavior in handling and managing MG classes (with pupils in two or more grades in one class) and to enable them to utilize innovative instructional strategies for improved learning outcomes of pupils.
3. To achieve this, all regional offices (ROs), except the National Capital Region (NCR), have been allotted a total amount of One Hundred Twenty-Nine Million Eight Hundred Thousand Pesos (P 129,800,000.00). This amount has been downloaded to the regions under FY 2014 General Appropriations Act (GAA) Funds. The training shall cover 13,771 teachers and 628 teacher-trainers nationwide.
4. After the training, the teachers are expected to have:
   1. enhanced knowledge, skills, and attitude in teaching K to Grade 3 MG classes particularly in the areas of language and cognitive development;
   2. improved ability in gauging pupils’ learning outcomes in a MG class through the use of appropriate assessment strategies and tools; and
   3. gained concrete understanding of the approaches that would help develop or strengthen the school and community partnership to improve school performance.
5. This training activity shall be carried out in three phases: Phase 1: Training of Trainers; Phase 2: Training of Teachers; and Phase 3: Monitoring and Evaluation.
   1. Phase 1 is the conduct of the five-day Training of Trainers (ToT).
      a.1. The ToT shall be conducted at the national level to be managed by the BEE in partnership with recognized professional teacher-trainers and individuals who are experts in MG instruction. It shall be conducted by clusters of regions and divisions on the dates specified in Enclosure No. 2.
      a.2. The participating trainers from the RO shall be determined by the regional director (RD), while those coming from the schools division office (SDO) shall be determined by the schools division superintendent (SDS). Priority will be given to teacher-trainers from the districts where MG schools are prevalent.
      a.3. For the venue, a host region per cluster shall be identified by the BEE. A registration fee of Eight Thousand Five Hundred Pesos (P 8,500.00) shall be paid to the host region, which shall cover training expenses such as the board and lodging, supplies and materials, trainers’ professional fee, contingency, and other training related expenses. The said expenses shall be charged against the FY 2014 downloaded support to MG Schools Funds. Travel expenses shall be charged to local funds, subject to the usual accounting and auditing rules and regulations.
      a.4. The number of participants for each region with the breakdown of estimated expenses for the ToT and division-based training of teachers is found in Enclosure No. 1.
   2. b. Phase 2 is the five-day Training of Teachers.
      b.1. The five-day training of MG teachers shall be conducted
      by the RO through the Regional NEAP in collaboration with the MG trainers in ToT. The training must be conducted within the months of August and November 2014.
      b.2. The participants shall be identified by the SDSs with priority given to nationally paid teachers handling MG classes at any grade levels combination from K to Grade 3. The number of teachers to be trained with corresponding allotment by division is found in Enclosure No. 1.
      b.3. To ensure consistency in the presentation and delivery of training activities and processes, the regional training team shall use the training design adopted during the National ToT for this training. The training contents may be modified or changed to address the emerging professional development needs of teachers in the division. However, topics, which were discussed during the ToT particularly in the areas of language and literacy development and assessment in the early grades, as well as other vital topics on MG instruction such as lesson planning and development and MG instructional strategies shall be given priority in the said training of teachers.
      b.4. The MG school head (SH) shall make necessary arrangements in handling the K to Grade 3 classes, while teachers of these classes are attending the training.
   3. Phase 3 is for Monitoring and Evaluation Activities.
      c.1. The BEE shall monitor and evaluate the conduct of the
      training in the different venues to ensure proper implementation of the training activities using a tool to be developed specifically for the purpose.
      c.2. Using the goal-based approach in evaluating the results of the training, the school-based monitoring and evaluation shall be conducted by the monitoring teams from the RO and SDOs to assess the tangible results of the teaching and learning processes in terms of improving MG instruction and other school performance indicators.

   The guidelines for the release and utilization of the Funds are as follows:

   1. The RO shall issue the Sub-Allotment Release Order (Sub-ARO) to recipient SDOs based on the allocation provided in Enclosure No. 1. Each SDO shall be accountable for the disbursement of funds based on the eligible items and activities set forth in this Order, subject to the usual budgeting, accounting, auditing and procurement rules and regulations.
   2. Each recipient SDO must submit the accomplishment reports on the utilization of the support funds to the RO following the format found in Enclosure Nos. 3.a and 3.b. The submission shall be accompanied by a narrative accomplishment report of which the format can be found in Enclosure No. 4.
   3. The RO shall consolidate the accomplishment reports of all concerned SDOs using the format found in Enclosure Nos. 3.c and 3.d, and then submit them to the Office of the Director, Bureau of Elementary (BEE), 2nd Floor, Bonifacio Building, DepEd Complex, Meralco Avenue, Pasig City on or before October 15, 2014.
6. DepEd Order No. 52, s. 2012 entitled “Guidelines on the Utilization of Financial Support for the Multigrade Schools” on which its provisions on eligible items particularly 3.a, 3.c, and 3.d are amended and rescinded. These 2014 Guidelines on the Utilization of Financial Support for the Multigrade Schools shall remain in effect, unless sooner repealed, amended, or rescinded.
7. For more information and inquiries, all concerned may contact the Director IV, Bureau of Elementary Education (BEE), 2nd Floor Bonifacio Building, DepEd Complex, Meralco Avenue, Pasig City at telephone nos.: (02) 687-2948 and (02)637-4347 and/or through email address: bee_sdd@yahoo.com copy furnished Office of the Planning Service, Planning and Programming Division (OPS-PPD) at opsppd. deped@gmail .com.
8. Immediate dissemination of and strict compliance with this Order is directed.

Encls.:
As stated
Reference:
DepEd Order: (No. 52, s. 2012)

To be indicated in the Perpetual Index under the following subjects:
ALLOCATION
CLASSES
FUNDS
POLICY
PROGRAMS
SCHOOLS
TEACHERS

DO_s2014_030