Dep Ed Order

No. 39. s 2016

Adoption of the Basic
Education Research
Agenda

Reporter : Donnabelle I. Nonod

1. The Department of Education (DepEd)
adopts the enclosed Basic Education
Research Agenda which provides
guidance to DepEd and its stakeholders
in the conduct of education research
and in utilization of research result to
inform the Department’s planning,
policy and program development aligned
with its vision, mission, and core values.
2. The research agenda shall build on gains
from existing research, generate new
knowledge on priority research areas,
focus DepEd’s attention on relevant
education issues, and maximize available
resources for research within outside the
Department.
3. All DepEd orders and other related
issuances, rules and regulation, and
provisions which are inconsistent with
this policy are hereby repealed,
rescinded or modified accordingly.

4. Immediate dissemination of and strict

compliance with this Order is directed.
I. Rationale

Learning is the core of the

Department of Education’s (DepEd)
mandate. However, DepEd is not only a
learner-centered government institution; it
is also an organization that constantly
incorporates the learning process in
implementing education policies and
programs consistent with its vision
 The Department sustains its
progressive orientation by ensuring that
its actions are informed by sound and
relevant evidence from research.
Evaluation research can draw lessons
from past and existing education
programs and identify ways to improve
them. Policy studies can define problems
and generate possible solutions. Social
experiments can compare the effects of
school interventions, and weed out
ineffective from promising ones.
 The Basic Education Governance Act
of 2001 underscored the role of research
in the management and administration of
the basic education system. With this
mandate, DepEd has strived to strengthen
research in the Department. Such efforts
include various research initiatives under
the Basic Education System Reform
Agenda (BESRA) as well as the
establishment of the Research, Innovation,
and Policy Evaluation Secretariat (RIPES) in
2003.
 Building on these gains, the Department
created the Policy Research and Development
(PRD) Division under the Rationalization Plan
as a mechanism to promote and oversee the
vertical and horizontal conduct of education
research. PRD is tasked, among others, to
conduct, support, and manage empirical
studies, and thereby promote evidence-based
decision- and policy-making at various levels
of the Department.3 In addition, the
established policy development process
(DepEd Order 13, s. 2015) within the Agency
leverages the use of evidence.
 While there are myriad of topics to probe in the education
sector, the Department’s research thrusts are strategically
geared towards supporting its mission “to protect and
promote the right of every Filipino to quality, equitable,
culture-based, and complete basic education where:
Students learn in a child-friendly, gender-sensitive, safe,
and motivating environment.
Teachers facilitate learning and constantly nurture every
learner.
Administrators and staff, as stewards of the institution,
ensure an enabling and supportive environment for
effective learning to happen.
Family, community, and other stakeholders are actively
engaged and share responsibility for developing lifelong
learners.”
 Accordingly, priority themes surfaced as
research areas that are most necessary and
practical in light of the Department’s vision and
mission, as well as local and international
developments in the sector. It is important to note
that 2015 marked the transition from the
Millennium Development Goals and Education For
All initiative to the Sustainable Development Goals
and Education 2030. DepEd implemented major
reforms in the basic education system through the
K to 12 Program, and is gearing up for the first
nationwide batch of Senior High School (SHS)
students this 2016.
 These emergent priority themes are
captured in the Research Agenda. In this
document, the themes have been
translated into questions to prompt
scientific inquiry and yield significant
findings that can improve the quality and
delivery of basic education in the
Philippines.
 The Research Agenda identifies research topics that
will fill in critical knowledge gaps and respond to pressing
concerns in Philippine basic education, consistent with
the Department’s vision, mission, and target outcomes
and in line with local and international developments in
the sector. By articulating specific study areas, this
document seeks to:
(1) Build on gains from existing research;
(2)Generate new knowledge on less explored but
priority fields of basic education;
(3)Systematically focus DepEd’s attention on relevant
education issues; and
(4)Maximize available resources for research within
and outside the Department.
 II. Scope
The Basic Education Research Agenda will
guide all DepEd researchers from schools, divisions,
regions, and central office. In the same way, the
Agenda will also be shared for consideration of
external partners, such as research institutions,
other government agencies, higher education
institutions, teacher education institutions, and
non-government organizations, among others.
However, this document will not limit research
inquiries. Rather, it will encourage researchers to go
beyond, especially for pressing and emerging
education issues not covered by the Agenda.
III. Definition of Terms

1.Research – a systematic process of

collecting and analyzing data to increase the
understanding of a topic
2.Research Agenda – a document containing a
list of priority education research areas to
guide DepEd and its stakeholders in the
conduct of research
IV. Policy Statement
This policy provides guidance in the conduct of basic
education research to ensure its alignment with DepEd’s
vision, mission, and goals, maximize existing resources, and
set up platforms for the sharing and use of results.

The Research Agenda shall guide DepEd and its

stakeholders, both at the national and local levels, in
gathering and examining evidence that can inform the
Department’s planning, policy, and program development.
The creation of regional and division research agendas is
encouraged to echo local concerns that fit seamlessly into
the national agenda.
V. The Basic Education Research Agenda
The consultation process for the preparation of this
agenda was conducted in two phases. First, a
comprehensive problem tree analysis was done by key
DepEd offices to identify challenges in the education
system. This was later transformed into a solution tree
to match existing DepEd policies and programs
already addressing the identified challenges. Executive
pronouncements, official documents, and professional
expertise influenced the initial prioritization and
analysis of the items in the Agenda. The resulting tree
was at first uneven in terms of depth, as can be
expected, but it provided distinct directions for the
 The second phase was the consultation and
validation of the thematically- clustered draft
research questions. This phase included
purposively-selected but nationally-representative
group of key informants consisting of internal
stakeholders from different DepEd offices across
all governance levels, as well as external partners.
Two major activities6 were conducted to ensure
that the draft agenda is relevant, timely, and
aligned with the mission, vision, values, and the
mandates of the Department. Representatives from
the regional, division, and school levels
participated in the first activity, where the research
themes and questions were subjected to review and
 Overall, DepEd adheres to the following
principles in the conduct of basic education
research:
1. Excellence – Given the influence of research on
education and actions, quality research is
expected.
2. Integrity – the highest ethical standards shall be
applied to basic education research.
3. Openness - DepEd acknowledges the
importance of collaboration in its work,
including in research. Openness emphasizes
the need to engage more partners in basic
education research and to employ multi-
Thank You !!!