Guidelines on the Implementation of Executive Order No. 200 dated September 20, 1994

November 24, 1994

PRC RESOLUTION NO. 338-94

GUIDELINES ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 200 DATED SEPTEMBER 20, 1994

WHEREAS, His Excellency Fidel V. Ramos, President, Republic of the Philippines issued E.O. No. 200 on September 20, 1994;

"Institutionalization of the Full Computerization of the Licensure Examination Administered by the Various Regulatory Boards under the Supervision of the Professional Regulation Commission"

WHEREAS, by virtue of the said order, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) is directed to adopt measures and issue implementing guidelines on such full computerization of the licensure examinations;

WHEREAS, under Secs. 5(a), (b) and (c) of P.D. No. 223, as amended, the PRC is empowered to implement the policies of the National Government on the licensing and regulation of the various professions, to make such rules and regulations necessary in the execution of its functions and the improvement of its services, and to administer and conduct the licensure examinations; and

WHEREAS, the rationale behind the computerization of the licensure examinations consists of the following:

1) Protection and preservation of the integrity of the licensure examinations;

2) Ensuring the validity, reliability, and quality of test questions/problems in the licensure examinations;

3) Immediate release of the results of the licensure examination which shall (a) pave the way for early practice of the profession by the successful examinees; (b) give failed examinees more time to prepare for the next examination; (c) dispel doubts on possible irregularities because of the shortened period of correction of test papers; and (d) leave fixers or syndicates no time to met prospective victims; cDTIAC

4) More time for the Professional Regulatory Boards for other important activities involving regulation of the profession; and

5) Performance evaluation of schools with graduates fielded in the licensure examinations based on computerized statistical data which the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) utilizes for monitoring schools, especially those with substandard.

NOW, THEREFORE, pursuant to its quasi-legislative (rule-making) power under Sec. 5 (n) of P.D. 223, the Commission hereby RESOLVED, as it now so RESOLVES, to issue and promulgate the following guidelines on the implementation of E.O. 200 issued on September 20, 1994:

ARTICLE I

Examination Objectives, Standards and Nature

SECTION 1. Examination Objective. — The primary objective of the professional licensure examinations is to obtain valid and reliable information as to whether examinees possess the technical competence required for admission to the profession. Technical competence includes technical knowledge, the ability to apply such knowledge skillfully and with good judgment and an understanding of professional responsibility.

SECTION 2. Standard of Technical Competence. — The examination should test whether a candidate meets the minimum standard of technical competence expected of a newly-qualified member of the profession. A relatively uniform standard should be established and consistently followed to ensure the reliability of examination results.

SECTION 3. Nature of Questions. — The examination should emphasize technical knowledge that is currently relevant to the profession concerned, and adequately discussed in textbooks and other professional literatures. Trivial, outdated, unsettled and controversial questions should be avoided.

SECTION 4. Level of Difficulty. — The examination should measure technical competence at the level of new entrants to the profession. Questions should neither be too easy or too difficult. Between these two extremes, a "difficulty scale" should be adopted so that there is a suitable mixture of "easy", "moderate", and "difficult" questions.

SECTION 5. Test of Cognitive Abilities. — The examination should have sufficient "depth" to provide a meaningful measure of technical competence. Questions should not be limited to merely recalling memorized information but should include adequate tests of higher cognitive abilities, such as comprehension, interpretation, application, analysis, problem-solving and other higher-order thinking skills.

SECTION 6. Required Syllabus for Licensure Examinations. — Each subject shall have approved Syllabus which must be harmonized with the curriculum in the undergraduate level. The examination questions/problems shall be confined to topics listed in the syllabus for each subject.

ARTICLE II

Establishment and Operation of a Computerized Test Bank

SECTION 7. Establishment of Test Bank. — Test Banks for all licensure examinations shall be set up by each of the professional regulatory boards using the computer facilities and specially authorized computer expert personnel of the Professional Regulation Commission.

SECTION 8. Nature and Standard, Type and Classification of Question for Deposit in the Test Bank. — The questions which are deposited in the Test Bank shall meet the examination objective, standards, and nature in Article 1 of this Implementing Guidelines. They shall be classified or categorized according to (1) topic or concept in the approved syllabus for the subject; (2) level of difficulty: "easy," "moderate," and "difficult"; (3) cognitive level: memory, comprehension, interpretation, computation, application, analysis, problem-solving, and other high-order thinking skills or abilities; (4) knowledge and proficiency level; and (5) question types — objective, essay, problem-solving or design/drawing — shall have four (4) items for the choice of one (1) correct answer. The questions for each category must be representative of the mass. Every question shall be fully edited to avoid clerical error. It shall be appraised by a test construction expert, if necessary, as to clarify, objectivity, validity, relevance, reliability, and effectiveness. It shall be specific calling only for one definite correct answer.

SECTION 9. Number of Questions for Deposit in the Test Bank. — At least five hundred (500) test questions/problems shall initially be deposited in the Test Bank by each Board Member for each of his/her assigned subjects. At each subsequent examination, he/she shall deposit at least three hundred (300) additional questions in the Test bank until it shall reach the ideal level of three thousand (3,000) questions/problems.

SECTION 10. Drawing or Extraction of Questions. — Based on a program, questions extracted or drawn from the Test Bank to be used in each examination subject shall be representative in each topic in the syllabus to ensure a comprehensive and balanced coverage and categorized according to the level of difficulty — easy, moderate and difficult. No single topic or topics shall receive undue weight in the examination. Two (2) sets of differently arranged questions shall be drawn and assembled in an encrypted disk before printing.

SECTION 11. Printing, Assembly, Packing, Sealing, and Distribution. — The encrypted disks containing the questions shall be fed into the computer for stenciling by the Board Member concerned, with or without the assistance of the computer operator. After stenciling, the Board Member shall further proof read the stencil and if found in order, shall authorize Commission personnel to print or mimeograph, assemble, pack, and seal the box containing the test questions set which shall be done inside the security room within reasonable hours before the start of the examination. Distribution of test questions to testing centers shall be done by authorized Commission personnel.

SECTION 12. Security Over Extraction of Question, Printing, Assembly and Packing of Tests. — During the extraction of questions, stenciling, printing, assembling, packing and sealing of test papers, only authorized persons shall be allowed inside the security room. No person shall leave the said room until one (1) hour shall have elapsed from the start of the examination in the particular subject. NBI, PRC security officers, and representative/s of the duly accredited professional organization may be stationed outside the security room.

SECTION 13. Security Over Computer Programs and Files. — Computer Programs and Files shall be secured to be tamper-free or tamper-proof and protected from unauthorized access and use through adequate physical safeguards and other appropriate controls. Multiple passwords shall be adopted so that no one person has complete control of, or access to the computer programs and files. Only three (3) officials designated by the Chairman of the Commission shall have access to such confidential documents. cIaHDA

SECTION 14. Withdrawal and Replacement of Used and Obsolete Questions. — Questions, which have been used in the last examination or which have become irrelevant, are to be withdrawn from the Test Bank. Withdrawn questions — if they are still relevant — may be redeposited after they are modified. Questions for replacement must be abreast of the economic, technological, and scientific modernization and globalization of the profession. The proceedings of withdrawal and replacement of test questions shall take place under strict confidential conditions.

SECTION 15. Ownership of Questions. — The questions once deposited in the Test Bank shall become the intellectual property of the Commission. The Board Member who framed and inputted the said questions thereinto shall lose the right to withdraw them, once he or she is no longer a Board Member. The newly appointed Board Member assigned to the subject by the Chairman of the Board shall add to the test bank his/her own questions for the subject.

ARTICLE III

Correction of Test Papers, Grading, Deliberation of Borderline Cases, Decoding,and Release of the Results Through the Computer

SECTION 16. Correction, Transmutation, Grading of Answer Sheets and Deliberation. — Sealed envelopes with answer sheets shall be taken from the vault and opened in the presence of the Board Member who gave the test on the subject. The answer sheets shall be read or scanned into the Optical Mark Reader (OMR). After the answer sheets are checked, raw scores shall be obtained and adjusted through a transmutation table. Grades of all subjects shall be consolidated to arrive at the general average rating. If the examination has examinees for "removal", grades with conditioned past grades shall be inputted, the ID sheets read into the OMR, the name and grade matched, and past grades obtained. Statistics of the foregoing data shall be reported to the Board. A list of examinees with borderline grades shall be submitted to the Board for deliberation. Thereafter, the grades shall be adjusted to get the new general average rating and readied for the decoding process. DTcHaA

 

SECTION 17. Decoding, Final Reporting, and Release of the Results. — The ID Examination Number Sheet and the answer sheet shall be decoded and matched. History table control report shall be prepared and printed to arrive at the final report for official release of the results of the examination and their immediate publication.

During the decoding and until after the official release of the examination results, the Board Members, the computer operators, and the staff of the Rating Division shall stay inside the PRC decoding room. Under no circumstances shall they be allowed to communicate with any one outside or get out of the said room.

SECTION 18. Report of Rating. — Immediately after the official release of the examination results, a computerized report of rating shall be sent by mail to the examinee at his/her address in the mailing envelope or provided by him/her during the examination. This report of rating shall contain the following: (a) examinee's name and examination code number, (b) the ratings in individual subjects and (c) the general average rating properly marked as passed, failed or conditioned.

SECTION 19. Report on Performance of Schools. — The Board with the assistance of the Statistics Section shall prepare a report of the performance of schools based on the results of their respective licensure examinations. DHSaCA

ARTICLE IV

Miscellaneous Provisions

SECTION 20. Illegal, Immoral, Dishonorable, Unprofessional Acts. — The hereunder acts shall constitute prejudicial, illegal, grossly immoral, dishonorable, or unprofessional conduct:

A. Providing, getting, receiving, holding, using or reproducing questions.

1. that are for inputting into, or on deposit in the test bank;

2. that have been withdrawn or extracted by randomization from the test bank or printed for use in the examination subject; or

3. that have been given in the examination except if the test bank for the subject has on deposit at least two thousand (2,000) questions.

B. Violating any provisions of the herein resolution.

The PRC, upon complaint or motu proprio, may investigate any person who has committed any of the above acts and/or impose thereto a disciplinary actions or should he/she be found guilty; or may indorse the case to the proper body or tribunal for appropriate investigation and adjudication.

SECTION 21. Separability Clause. — If for any reason, any section or provision of this Resolution or the application of such section or provision to any person or circumstance is declared unconstitutional, unlawful or invalid, no other section or provision of the herein Resolution shall be affected thereby.

SECTION 22. Part of the Rules. — The sections or provisions of this Resolution shall become part and parcel of the rules and regulations of the Commission.

SECTION 23. Repealing Clause. — The provisions in the "Rules and Regulations Governing the Regulation and Practice of Professionals," as amended; in Commission Resolutions No. 265 (Series of 1993), No. 269 (Series of 1993), Resolution No. 332 (Series of 1994); in Commission M.C. No. 08 (Series of 1992), M.C. No. 08 (Series of 1992), M.C. No. 93-03 (Series of 1993), M.C. No. 93-04 (Series of 1993); Board Resolutions on Full Computerization of the licensure examinations (as amended, if any); and other resolutions, memorandum circulars and issuances of the Commission and Boards that are in conflict or inconsistent with any provisions of the herein Resolution are hereby repealed, amended or modified.

SECTION 24. Effectivity. — The herein Resolution, upon its promulgation, shall be effective after fifteen (15) days following its publication in the Official Gazette or any newspaper of general circulation, wherever is earlier. EIcSDC

SECTION 25. Dissemination. — After effectivity of the herein Resolution, a copy thereof shall be furnished to the Office of the President, and it shall be disseminated widely to the academe and all others concerned.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 24th day of November, 1994.

 

(SGD.) HERMOGENES P. POBRE

Commission Chairman

Professional Regulation Commission

MARIANO A. MENDIETA

Associate Commissioner

Professional Regulation Commission

(SGD.) ARMANDO C. PASCUAL

Associate Commissioner

Professional Regulation Commission