Process Evaluation of the CHED K to 12 Adjustment Assistance Program

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This paper evaluates the implementation of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) K to 12 Adjustment Assistance Program, established following the full implementation of the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 in 2016, which introduced senior high school into the basic education curriculum. While it presented a rare opportunity to upgrade the country’s higher education sector, the transition threatened higher education institutions’ labor and sustainability and prolonged CHED's bureaucratic processes, further delaying the program’s benefits. This process evaluation examines the aspects of implementation that have led to said challenges through an assessment of the program logic and its plausibility, service delivery and utilization, and program organization. The study finds that the program has to be appreciated as a transition program itself. It has to be viewed as an innovative program spurred by the need to adapt to the calls of globalization. Adjustments to and in the internal bureaucracies of CHED must also be reevaluated to realize the gains of the K to 12 program. Stakeholders must also intensify collective efforts to develop and design accompanying policies, plans, and strategies to address these challenges and make Philippine higher education more globally competitive.