Abstract
School-Based Management (SBM) is the number 1 key reform thrust of the Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda (BESRA) which underscores the empowerment of key stakeholders in school communities to enable them to actively participate in the continuous improvement of schools towards the attainment of higher pupil/student learning outcomes. This study sought to investigate the level of compliance to SBM framework of public elementary schools in the sixth congressional district in the province of Pangasinan and its impact on the delivery of basic education services in terms of school’s key performance indicators for the school years 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020. This study employed the descriptive survey research design among 146 public elementary schools across ten municipalities in the district. The researcher used a survey form as the primary data gathering instrument which was derived from the SBM Assessment Tool of the Department of Education. Findings show that both the school heads and teachers perceived high compliance to the school-based management framework across the six dimensions of autonomy on school leadership, school improvement process, and school-based resources, of participation of internal and external stakeholders, and of accountability and transparency. However, perceived compliance is significantly higher for the teachers than their school heads. Enrollment across three school years was found to be significantly related to autonomy on school leadership. There was no significant relationship between the compliance to SBM framework principles and the learners’ performance. However, in terms of teachers’ performance, the number of produced instructional materials was correlated with autonomy on school-based resources. Higher compliance to autonomy on school-based resources was noted which implies higher production of instructional materials. In addition, the number of research outputs significantly influences the extent of participation of internal and external stakeholders. Furthermore, promotion rate and drop-out rate were positively and negatively, respectively, correlated with the school improvement process. This implies that a higher promotion rate and lower drop-out rate signify higher compliance to the school improvement process. Meanwhile, promotion rate, achievement rate in science, and the number of projects with LGU were positively correlated with the participation of stakeholders which influences higher participation. The drop-out rate was negatively correlated with accountability and transparency which implies that higher accountability influences lower drop-out rates. Thus, an intervention measure to improve the compliance to the SBM framework of public elementary schools was proposed which primarily considers the policy reforms, needs assessment, and allocation of resources in the planning, designing, developing, testing, implementing, and maintaining structural reforms to foster continuous innovation in public education.
