INTRODUCTION
The role of school administrators is highly significant in the success of an educational institution. Among of the key responsibilities of school managers include shaping a vision of academic success of students; creating a climate hospitable to education; cultivating leadership in others; improving instruction; and managing data, people, and processes. Because so much is being asked of those in leadership positions, it should be acknowledged that they also need support in order to do their jobs more effectively (Lou, 2017).
In the study of Sarvi (2015), one could find from this study the following six considerations in relation to the K-12 program: (i) Clarify the core problem. Core problems translate into foundational policies such as “improving national competitiveness” or “inclusive growth.” Restating macropolicies as educational outcomes aligns education reforms with macrolevel development priorities. (ii) Restructuring is just one of a bundle of reforms. Transition to a K–12 structure is part of a package of overall education reforms and, as the most visible part, often becomes a symbol for the entire package. (iii) Maintain focus on improving student competences. It is easy to lose focus on student learning in the pressure to prepare and implement a highly visible, multidimensional, and financially demanding K–12 reform. However, education programs are judged first and foremost by how well all students perform in assessments of their learning outcomes and competences. (iv) Teachers are the engine that pulls K–12 reform along, slows it down, or derails it. Even in very high-achieving education systems, teacher professional development is a sine qua non of any reform. In high achieving systems, teacher development tends to be peer centered.(v) Replace or supplement high-stakes examinations with low-stakes continuous testing. High-stakes testing tends to reinforce inequalities between families that can afford private tutoring and families that cannot. For students, high-stakes testing, perpetual preparation for high-stakes tests, and the stressful climate of competition in schools have negative effects. Successful students may do well on tests but have little self-confidence and dislike learning. (vi) Design the curriculum and assessments around the difficulty of cognitive tasks. Many assessments focus on lower order skills—those that are classified as level one or two on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s test of 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics, and science. Curriculum and assessment focusing on higher order skills are thought to be more aligned with the competences required in USSs, higher education, and decent work.
Another issue stipulated by Capilitan (2015) showed that there was decongestion of the topics for all areas of science especially the Biology. It shows that decongestion has to do with the retention and possible increase of knowledge to students. The teachers identified the main role of the module, activities, and time for the success of the implementation of the new curriculum. Module and activities are demanding and time problem floated as a result of the delay of the matrix of schedule to finish the lesson. Also, it was pointed out that the previous lessons are very essential in order to build up the knowledge to be connected to the next lesson. Further, it was emphasized the strengthening of the basic concepts from lower years so that the students and teachers will have their smooth mainstreaming to the next lesson.
According to Amadio (2015), some issues relating to the implementation of cross-curricular themes. Quite often teachers already have to deal with a ‘congested’ or overloaded curriculum: difficult to find enough time and space for cross-curricular themes. Teachers, students and parents may have the perception that these themes are an addition, and therefore not really relevant, especially ifwhat students have learned is not formally assessed or is not a component of high stake examinations (which is frequently the case). Limited teacher awareness, experience and expertise may represent a sizeable obstacle to the implementation of an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary approach at the secondary level, the well-rooted disciplinary structure of the curriculum and the discipline-based qualifications of teachers can represent a powerful barrier to cross-curricular teaching and learning.
Previous findings were supported Acar (2017) when he said that the implementation of the SHS program in STEC had mixed response ratings. Fair on the Infrastructure and Learning facilities; Very Good on Instruction and Curriculum and Poor on Admission and Retention. The infrastructure has certain positive degree of association with the academic performance. By supplementing the lack of infrastructure, facility and learning environment, it would have higher significant impact on the performance of the students. The Instruction has certain positive degree of association with the academic performance. Good teaching is equal to good learning. In spite of the lacking facilities and no admission and retention policy, the teachers were able to provide a resourceful mechanism of delivering the lessons in a meaningful way.
Sergio (2011), in his study claimed that the intended implementation of the K-12 program, teacher training and deployment are also serious concerns that need active intervention before their implementation. In the regionalconsultation conducted in Naga City involving academicians and administrators in the Bicol Region from both public and private sectors,it was observed that the deterioration in the quality of education inthe country is strongly attributable to the weakness or inadequacyin the academic and practical training of teachers. This concern hasbeen a perennial problem in the education sector and implementinga new policy will not be successful unless an aggressive move to solve this problem is seriously made. In fact, the author have listed some challenges for the K-12 implementers which could possibly affect the implementation of voucher program. First is the necessity of adopting and implementing a holistic approach to learning. Second is the need to consider the applied dimension of knowledge (what we know is as important as what we can do with that knowledge). Last is about the necessity of revising the traditional structure of the curriculum, the organization of learning experiences, the teaching approaches, and the assessment systems.
The same issues were found by Orbe and his colleague (2018) that the teacher’s content, pedagogy, and assessment in chemistry are problematic; specifically, challenges such as instruction-related factors, teacher competence, in-service training sufficiency, job satisfaction, support from upper management, laboratory adequacy, school resources, assessment tools, and others influence teacher success in teaching chemistry. These identified challenges greatly affect the ultimate beneficiaries of education, which is the learner.
According to Kumar (2010), to recognize this systemic provision, or at least the provision of the crucial constituent processes of education must lie in the hands, both literally and financially, of the government, the potential role for vouchers in improving school quality gets further restricted. Clearly, the impetus of any educational reform process must lie on improving the systemic features of education, such as the critical issues of teacher professionalization involving selection, training and academic support, and the provision of adequate resources to fulfil the imperatives of universal elementary education. Till such time as these systemic aspects are addressed and educational quality improves substantially, vouchers can serve little purpose save that of rhetoric aimed at reducing the state’s responsibility, and through it, interest or action in building the capacity of educational institutions at the national, state, district or local levels.
Nevertheless, in terms of curriculum development and preparedness, Dagaraga’s (2013) study revealed that the private and public schools in implementing the K-12 Curriculum, were found to be very prepared with their instructional planning, teaching pedagogy and assessment. With regards to their level of preparedness in terms of instructional materials, it turned out to be moderately prepared. While the most frequently cited concern/ problem is the unavailability and insufficiency of school facilities, equipment, function rooms, updated references, textbooks for students and teacher’s use, lesson guides and teachers’ manual. The concerns/problems encountered in implementing the K-12 curriculum exhibited significant difference when grouped according to age, educational qualifications and teaching experiences. This implies that the concerns and problems met by the respondents vary and differ.
With these gaps found in related studies embarking the implementation of K-12 program which took a very serious effects on the implementation of voucher program, the researcher purports to evaluate the administrativeissues and instructional issues associated with the implementation of voucher program in another research environment in selected private schools in Bocaue, Bulacan.