A Tracer Study of Baybayin National High School (Grade 7-12) Senior High School Graduates

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Graduate tracer studies are designed by educational institutions to gather the perceptions of its graduates on the relevance of their academic experiences to employment opportunities. It is also a means to measure the relevance of the curriculum in meeting the needs of the students. The implementation of the K-12 curriculum signaled a milestone in the Philippine Education System. This curriculum offered a different path to senior high school graduates because the new curriculum has provided four avenues for the graduates to choose from, which are higher education, employment, entrepreneurship, and middle skills development. This study is designed to track the alumni and to determine which exit they took. It identified the profile of the graduates in terms of sex, SHS strand, chosen exit, and their reasons for choosing that exit. This also examined the significance of the curriculum in guiding the students on which exit to take.

METHODS

This study used the descriptive research method employing a researchers-made questionnaire as a data gathering instrument. The researchers designed a questionnaire data gathering instrument. Two hundred seventy-nine alumni served as the respondents of the study. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

RESULTS

Based on the results of the study, the respondents are mostly male, from the Humanities and Social Sciences strand and have pursued higher education. From the information gathered, the top three reasons of the alumni in choosing the exit is because they wanted to reach their goals and dreams, to sustain their daily needs and pay back all their families' sacrifices and to have an experience in the working field. As revealed, 126 of the respondents perceived that the senior high school curriculum is very significant/useful in preparing them for the exits.

DISCUSSIONS

The senior high school curriculum was found to be very useful/significant in preparing the graduates for the exits. However, it is noteworthy to address that none of the graduates pursued entrepreneurship, and only one pursued middle skills development. It is recommended that programs and instructions be more adaptive to student's needs. Continued tracking of alumni for at least three consecutive years is also suggested to be conducted in the school and in other schools in order to be able to gather more concrete evidence with regards to the effectivity of the K-12 curriculum in achieving its goals.