GABALDON VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE HIGH

SCHOOL

THE IMPACT OF PANDEMIC ON GRADE 8 STUDENT’S ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS

Presented to the Junior High School Faculty of Gabaldon Vocational Agriculture High School in the
subject English

Research Study - Quantitative Research

RESEARCHERS:

Baja, Kishian Ashley P.

Cuaresma, Rea Jane DR.

Cunanan, Jhon Renald G.

Del Rosario, John Mandy G.

Mauricio, Marco J.

Mendez, Jessilyn C.

Santiago, Lynn Aira S.

Tabiolo, Mae Lyn B.

Introduction

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic educational institutions around the world have had

to adapt a non-face-to-face modality to continue with educational plans, seeking the use of various

technologies to allow synchronous and asynchronous contact between students and teachers.

Various resources, such as educational platforms, social networks instant messaging, and video

conferencing programs, have been used. Although courses have not been disrupted, there is interest

in examining how this contingency time has affected the students, in addition to the consequences
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on mental health that the broader public is experiencing owning to fear of contagion, confinement,

and economic difficulties.

In some studies, students reported significant levels of worry and tension due to lack of

access to technology or the internet, the inability of educational institutions to embrace this mode,

and the fear of losing the school year. These repercussions are exacerbated in students who lack the

financial and material means to take their classes through this mode. Furthermore, students believe

that this modality requires more work on their part and that teachers lack the necessary skills to

educate using third type of technology.

School systems are often challenged to meet the needs of students who are not performing at

grade level expectations and provide support services to help those students to close the

achievement gap (Cimmiyotti, 2013).

According to Silalahi et.a (2022), reading comprehension is challenging since students must

be able to understand written words, decode vocabulary, and recognize the contents of texts. The

study of

English language acquisition revealed that reading comprehension is the most of the

essential aspects English language acquisition for all students because it is the foundation for a

significant amount of educational learning.

Since reading is a skill utilized in every academic subject area, it is a logical domain

to examine for a correlation relationship with the academic performance. Reading is the basic

foundation in which academic performance of students is built.

Reading is one of the aspects that a person needed to learn. Reading is a means for

language acquisition communication and sharing information and ideas (Favonian 2019). It

needed to read and learn reading. It will also help the students to understand things will help

everyone to have more information. Reading is one of the most needed to learn by a person

because things are always written like the supplies in your house that you would buy, the
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instruction in exams. Reading is essential in today’s society, and teaching children to become

proficient readers is one of the main goals of primary education.

Reading consists of many different processes at different levels that need to be

coordinated, including abilities, strategies, and knowledge. Many people do not become avid

readers and they struggle with reading throughout school.

According to the study of Gilakjani (2016), reading strategies have a great impact on

the students’ reading comprehension ability. Students are not just passive receivers of

information but they are active makers of meaning. Successful readers try to apply numerous

skills to grasp meaning from the texts. Readers should be involved in the reading process by

using different strategies to monitor their meaning, it emphasized the idea that comprehension

processes are influenced by a lot of strategies. In addition, the person’s way of processing his

own reading comprehension can make a message of story wrong in his own understanding

and may tell wrong information to others.

Students who receive support and involvement at home from their parents have

higher reading comprehension scores than those of their peers without such support. Further

research that would continue to identify factors that make parent support programs effective is

recommended. Results of such studies could be helpful for educators as they strive to improve

home-school collaboration and increase student achievement in a variety of subjects, (Stone,

2016).

In fact, comprehension of language entails understanding of individual words but also

active engagement with the content to create a mental representation. Successful

comprehension requires coordination of skills at many levels to extract and construct meaning,

(Elwer, 2015).

December 2013, the NSO’s 2010 Census of Population and Housing (CPH) showed

that of the 71.5 million individuals who are 10 years old and above 97.5 percent or 69.8
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million were literate or could read and write. This is higher compared to the literacy rate of

92.3 percent recorded in the 2000 CPH. 97.5 literacy rate is quite an impressive figure but if

we will take a look at the result of the National Achievement Test (NAT) on 2012, Grade 3

students got a Mean Percentage Score of 54.42% in English reading Comprehension and

58.61% in Filipino (Edutopia.com).

In this study, data was collected on students reading comprehension level and

academic performance at the school site of study. The data was then assigned to

performance levels an average performance level was determined for “each student in reading

comprehension and academic performance. Finally, the performance levels for each student

were analyzed to determined if a correlation existed between student reading comprehension

level and academic performance of Grade 8 students of Gabaldon Vocational Agricultural High

School.

Theoretical Framework

Mezirow theorized that students had important teaching and learning opportunities

connected to their past experiences. Mezirow found that critical reflection and critical review

could lead to a transformation of their understanding. Adult education and adult learning is

key in this theory, as children often don’t have the same kind of transformation with their

learning experiences. Mezirow found that adult learning involves taking the very things we

believed and thought as a child, and letting critical reflection and teaching impact the

transformation to what we should believed and understand now. Mezirow’s theory has

developed into a larger idea that our world view is changed the more we learn, and that

helps us grasp new concepts and ideas.

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Conceptual Framework

The Mezirow (1997) theory of trans-formative learning provides support for this study.

According to this idea, learning starts when students are placed in an uncomfortable or

unanticipated scenario. The COVID-19 pandemic produced paradigm upheavals and

transformation in higher education, as well as dissonance in the global educational system.

Due to lack of facilities in poor nations, learners may have trouble accessing the materials.

This restriction is reasonable and has a significant impact on how well students study in

higher education. Employing helpful strategies and changing the learning process to new norms

are two things that educators can do to improve students’ learning while experiencing cognitive

dissonance. These variances will therefore spur innovation and change in the teaching and

learning process.
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Research Paradigm

Factors of pandemic

Grade 8 Students

Coping Mechanisms Reading Comprehension Academic Performance

Figure 1. Research Paradigm

Figure 1 shows the paradigm of the study. As shown in the figure, the first illustration are the

Grade 8 students and the following illustration shows the pandemic factors; coping mechanisms, reading

comprehension, and academic performances. These are the factors that might affect to students of the

Grade 8 to the given academic activities.

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Statement of the Problem

This study aimed to determine the reading comprehension level and academic

performance of Grade 8 students of Gabaldon Vocational Agriculture High School.

Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:

1. How may the profile of the respondents be described, in terms of:

1.1 age;

1.2 sex;

2. What are the reading comprehension of the respondents?

3. What is the academic performance of the respondents?

4. Is there significant relationship between reading comprehension level and academic

performance of the respondents?

Research Hypothesis

This study contains one primary hypothesis needed for further investigation.

Ho: There is no significant relationship between the reading comprehension level and
academic performance of Grade 7 students of Gabaldon Vocational Agriculture High School for the
School Year 2022-2023.

Ha: There is significant relationship between the reading comprehension level and academic
performance of Grade 7 students of Gabaldon Vocational Agriculture High School for the School Year
2022-2023.

Significance of the Study

Results of the study can be beneficial to the following:

School: This will be used to identify under performing students and provide them with early

intervention opportunities in order to boost their performance.

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Teacher: The result from this study will give them information they needed when planning for

the teaching strategy or method to be more effective in the classroom.

Students: This study will help them evaluate their reading comprehension skill and its effect

to their academic performance.

Future Researcher: This study can be used as reference of their study. Provides additional

evidence to support the findings that a relationship between reading comprehension level and

academic performance exists and that it changes over time depending upon the age level

being examined.

Scope and Limitation

This research aims to investigate the significant relationship between the reading

comprehension level, adjustment from modular to face-to-face classes, and academic

performance of grade 8 students at Gabaldon Vocational Agriculture High School, specifically

considering the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on these variables. The study will focus on

gathering data from grade 8 students within the time frame affected by the pandemic, which

includes the academic years 2020-2021 and 2021-2022.

Definition of Terms

For the purpose of the study, the following are operationally define:

Reading Comprehension - the level of a text or messages (Rayner, 2001). In this study

reading comprehension refers to the intellectual processes that are happening in the mind of

the student while reading the text.

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Academic Performance - a frequently defined in terms of examination performance refers to

the 1st Grading Period Grade Point Average (GPA) of the students.

Reading - the action or practice of one who reads; ability to read: the oral interpretation of

written language (Oxford Dictionary, 2017).

Comprehension - the act or fact of comprehending, perception or understanding; capacity of

mind to understand (Oxford dictionary, 2017).

Correlation - the stare or relation of being correlated; specifically, a relation existing between

phenomena or things or between mathematical or statistical variables which tend to vary, be

associated, or occur together in a way not expected on the basis of chance alone (Merriam

Dictionary). In this study correlation refers to the relationship of Reading Comprehension Level

to the Academic Performance of the student.

Coping mechanism - an adaption to environmental stress that is based on unconscious choice and

that enhances control over behavior or gives psychological comfort. (dictionary.com).

COVID-19 Pandemic - Is a global pandemic of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by

severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (Wikipedia)

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter includes the related literature and studies which the researchers have examine to
reveal to reveal insight on the topic of the study.

Reading Comprehension

The Simple View of Reading is a formula demonstrating the widely accepted view that reading
has two basic components: word recognition (decoding) and language comprehension . the student’s
reading comprehension score can be predicted if decoding skills and language comprehension are
known . (Farell et al, 2019 ): “ The Simple View of Reading”

On the other hand, The ability to monitor one’s own reading comprehension is a critical skill for
deriving from text. Self-questioning during reading is a strategy that enables students to monitor the
reading comprehension and increases their ability to learn to learn independently (Joseph et al, 2015).

In fact, Research on inferences in discourse processing has long been characterized by

whether they are made online or offline. The underlying process involved in inferences fall in to one of
two broad categories: two those that become available to the reader through passive or automatic
activation of casual inferential information (Cook and O’Brien, 2015).

Thus, Comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading and because comprehension failures can lead
to school failures, this is a serious concern. Some may blame this poor performance of today’s
students on too much playing on their electronic devices, but it is not just today’s students (Keenan,
2016).

According to Silva & Cain, (2015), Successful reading comprehend have good word-reading
skills, robust vocabulary knowledge , an understanding of the grammatical rules that govern their
language, and the integrative and inference-making skills that enable them to construct a mental
model of what they read . There is strong empirical support for the view that, over and above word-
reading ability , word-sentence, and passage-level language skills each contribute to reading
comprehension outcomes: Vocabulary, grammar, and integrative and inference skills explain unique
variance in the longitudinal prediction of reading comprehension in the beginning stage of reading
development.

Academic performance

Academic achievement or academic performance, according to Wikipedia, The Free

Encyclopedia (2021), is the extent to which a student, teacher, or institutions has met their short or
long-term educational goals. Academic achievement is demonstrated by the completion of educational
benchmarks such as secondary school diplomas and bachelor’s degrees. Academic achievement is
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commonly measured through examinations or continuous assessments, but there is no general

agreement on how it should be evaluated or which aspects are most important procedural knowledge
like skills or declarative knowledge like facts. Furthermore, there are inconclusive results regarding
which individual factors successfully predict academic performance; elements such as test anxiety,
environment, motivation, and emotions must be taken into account when developing school
achievement model.

Additionally, The wikipedia (2013), academic performances is the outcome of education; it is the
extent to which a student teacher are institution has achieve their educational goals.

In addition, According to the study of Lamas (2015), academic performance is influenced by

factors such as intellectual ability, personality, motivation, skills, interests, study habits, self-esteem,
and the teacher-student relationship.

Also, based on the study of Chege, Elizabeth Wanjiku (2016), it is common to attribute poor
academic performance to lack of mastery of the particular subject skills. However, it is possible that
this poor performance is due to poor reading comprehension ability. Local studies have recognized the
importance of reading in academics. However, these have restricted themselves to pupils’ ability to
decode. Though decoding is important, the ultimate goal of all reading is comprehension. This study,
therefore, sought to establish the relationship between reading comprehension and academic
performance, and in so doing provide local empirical data that shows magnitude of this relationship for
various subjects offered in the primary school level. In addition, the study investigated the relationship
of pupils’ reading comprehension with gender and intelligence. The study was carried out in Machakos
District among Standard Eight pupil in five randomly selected primary schools.

Furthermore, academic performance is the measurement of student achievement across

various academic subjects. Teachers and education officials typically measure achievement using
classroom performances, graduation rates the results from standardized tests. When people hear the
term “academic performance” they often think a person`s GPA. However, several factors indicate a
student`s academic success. While some may not graduate top of their class. They may hold
leadership position in several student groups or high or standardized test such as the SAT or ACT. A
research carried out by Ali et .al (2013).

Coping Mechanism

In study of Haeron (2015) where she studied the stress and coping strategies of High School
Students success, result is showed that the students who employed time and task management ,
sleep, and deterioration to cope were more likely to experience higher academic achievement, while
those who coped by seeking academic support, skipping school, engaging in social and creative
diversion s , using substances , reducing effort on schoolwork, and handling problems alone were less
likely to be academically successful . Additionally, those who used cognitive reappraisal, turning to
family, social, and athletic diversions were more likely to experience high life satisfaction, while those
relying on creative diversions, reduce effort on schoolwork handle problems alone, and deterioration
were less likely to have high life satisfaction.

According to, Yazon et al. (2018) on their study pointed out that coping mechanisms are
techniques that people frequently employ when confronted with complicated feelings or situation
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coping mechanisms aid individuals in responding to stressful situations while also preserving their
emotional well-being. In addition, coping skills improved students’ attendance, participation, and
perseverance in the face of difficulties or failure and provide them with a more challenge, more
resilient self-capable of learning in a far more productive manner.

(Lederer et al,. 2020). Although the negative impact on student mental health is clear, what
should be further explored is how students used coping mechanism during this experience and how
this may have impacted their academic resilience. If we can identify and understand student coping
experiences, we may be better suited to also understand how to best help them moving forward.

Furthemore, there is little research focusing on the experience of faculty members during the
pandemic as well. Considering the importance of effective coping mechanism, Perino et al. (2016)
recommended that teachers can guide and monitor their students properly in order to give an
immediate action and help to students who are facing different kinds of stresses. One way to help their
students is by giving them motivation to face their struggles in life optimistically. Schools can also
conduct and provide school-based seminar for the students. This seminar shall include the practices
and coping mechanism in order students to be aware and prepared for the possible stress they are
going to encounter.

Even before the pandemic, students have been struggling and coping with a lot of difficulties in
may aspects to their lives. Mazo (2015) observed that student`s struggles are found everywhere, that
is, at home , with friends, in school, in the classroom. It is just around the corner. It simply cannot be
avoided because it is part of a student`s life. In fact, a lot of students experience struggles every day.
It could be brought about many factors. The causes and levels of struggles vary from one person to
the other. No person is free from it, regardless of how privileged,, reasonable, clever, and intelligent he
may be. Every student will be challenged at times by frustrations, failures, losses, changes and
conflicts.

Reading strategies

Swan (2015) determined the efficacy of reading strategies in improving comprehension, and
provided evidence that active learners tend to have a lower level of performance in reading
comprehension followed by pre- and- rereading activities based on keyword strategy in reading,
whereas visual, sensitive and sequential learners performed in this reading strategy. In this instance,
Swan (2015) suggested that keyword strategy should be integrated with reading strategy to enhance
the extent of comprehension in students.

Furthermore, Ness (2016) has enlightened the context of strategies that promote effective
reading in students and their effect on enhancing their level of reading comprehension, and the
findings suggest that teachers should adopt explicit teaching style in reading comprehension during
reading activities. Rastegar et al. (2017) have implied that metacognitive reading strategies, mainly
comprising of thinking about text and character, rereading, intuitive pause during reading, notes taking
and underlining important information in text helps the students to engage in effective comprehension.
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According to Anggraini (2017) found out that the correlation analysis between student's
reading comprehension and academic performance showed that the regression level between the two
variables was (.236), therefore he concluded that reading comprehension and academic performance
are positively correlated.

In similar, Gelizon (2018) also found out that there is a negatively high correlation on the
academic performance of the Grade 8 pupils of Biliran Science High School who belong in frustration
level reading comprehension with correlation coefficient of -.597. It was also found out that the
correlation is significant in 1% level of significance. It implies that reading comprehension of the
students greatly affect their academic performance. She also found out that there is a significant
relationship between the academic performance and reading comprehension level of the grade 8
pupils who belong to the independent level of reading comprehension at 5% level of significance with
correlation coefficient of .440 as moderately small positive correlation. The findings of the studies
seem to imply that students still need to comprehend the reading text because it influenced their
academic achievement. The findings can also have implications for students that the better their
reading comprehension, is the better their academic performance will be.

In addition, As an intricate process of understanding a written source and comprehending its

meaning, a fluent reader, must equip themselves with skills for comprehensive reading (Sattar, &
Salehi, 2014). If students are unable to understand a text due to failure in adopting suitable
comprehension approach, they may face issues in understanding the tasks assigned to them. Thus,
reading strategies could be one of the important factors affecting students’ academic performance and
achievement (Amini, Ayari, & Amini, 2016.

Reading

DeBruin-Parecki et al. (2015) states that reading enables students to become independent in
comprehending complex text structures while improving their proficiency in academic and professional
skills. Successful readers tend to have a higher extent of comprehension as they are able to create
connection between different ideas, understand complex notions and reflect on the information
simultaneously while reading. Hence, educators are required to implement educational strategies that
promote critical thinking and pre-reading to develop comprehension skills in students (Javed et al.,
2015).

Similarly, reading should be considered as a strategy by the educators and authors so that it
can intrigue the readers attain related information from texts, improve their academic vocabulary while
engaging in critical reflection to promote comprehension (DeBruin-Parecki et al., 2015). Glenberg
(2017) implies that comprehension accounts as the ability to engage in adequate response to the
information provided in text Similarly, reading interventions in education setting enables the students to
engage in the critical reflection and understanding text, and utilize rational in order to generate
adequate responses in comprehension.DeBruin
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Furthermore, Reading is a critical ability for students to develop early in their schooling since it
serves as the basis for learning in all academic disciplines throughout their education (Sloat et. al.,
2013 as cited by Almutairi, 2018). In addition, developing reading abilities before students enter third
grade is crucial, as students begin to read in order to obtain information and learn from academic
content after third grade. Additionally, students who do not master reading abilities by the end of third
grade have low desire for learning, behavioral difficulties, and academic success, and are at danger of
failing to graduate from high school. However, students who grasp reading by the third or fourth grade
have a better chance of academic success. (Foorman et. al., 2003 as cited by Almutairi, 2018).

Additionally,a study was conducted by Cabardo (2013) in one of the performing high schools
in Davao City to determine the reading proficiency level of Year 1 to Year 3 students as basis for
reading intervention program. The Philippine-Informal Reading Inventory (Phil -IRI) materials were
used in assessing the level of reading proficiency of Year 1 to 3 students. The results revealed that
majority of the students belonged to the frustration level of reading proficiency in silent reading while in
instructional level for the oral reading majority of the males are less proficient in reading compared to
females in both silent and oral reading.

COVID 19 Pandemic

The pandemic did not make it easy for students and teachers alike. Learning is disrupted due
to a series of lockdown, so learners are expected to continue their academic tasks at home. Learning
at home during this time of the pandemic poses challenges to both the learners and their families. This
is consistent with existing literature, which identifies family background variables as significant
predictors of educational achievement (Calica, 2020). The decline in reading comprehension skills
among learners is explicit. Teachers are even more encouraged to come up with ways to address
such a pressing matter.

According to Alexis Sol Ganaden (2022). As learning pushes through, several problems arose.
One of which revolves around the literacy skills of learners. Over the past couple of years, literacy
scores among Filipino learners were significantly low. In 2018, the Philippines joined the Programme
for International Student Assessment (PISA) where under reading literacy assessment, 1 out of 5
Filipino learners (19.4%) only achieved at least the minimum proficiency level overall. This result
posed a challenge to the Department of Education.Since then, the department carried out programs,
interventions, and projects that are set to eradicate factors that hinder students in improving their
reading comprehension skills.

Furthermore, Various factors must be considered in ascertaining whether and to what extent
reading achievement has been affected by the restrictions related to the pandemic. Students learn to
read via formal school-based instruction, including homework, and in their leisure time through
informal reading activities. The transition from face-to-face instruction in school to ERE because of the
COVID-19 restrictions led to less time for formal school-based instruction (Reimers and Schleicher,
2020). In addition, there was less instructional time available in ERE, so that overall students spent
less time on learning than they would have in school (Woessmann et al., 2020).
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CHAPTER |||

METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the research methods and procedures to be used in gathering the data
of the study including the research design, research locale, tools to be used, respondents, data
gathering procedure, activities done in data gathering, and statistical treatment. It provides information
on the participants, that is, the criteria for inclusion in the study, who the participants were and how
they were sampled. The researcher describes the research design that was chosen for the purpose of
this study and the reasons for this choice. The instrument that was used for data collection is also
described and the procedures that were followed to carry out this study are included. The researcher
also discusses the methods used to analyze the data. Lastly, the ethical issues that were followed in
the process are also discussed.

Research Design

This study will use descriptive correlational-quantitative research design. According to

Cresswell (2013), descriptive-correlational research design is a non-experimental quantitative research
design in which the researcher will apply correlational statistics to measure and describe the degree of
association among variable or sets of score.

This method will be used to gather information regarding to the impact of pandemic on Grade
8 Students of Gabaldon Vocational Agriculture High School. It will also present in numerical form, and
analyzed through the use of statistics. This study will use the quantitative research design to gather
information about the impact of pandemic on Grade 8 Students of Gabaldon Vocational Agriculture
High School. It will be presented in numerical form, and will analyze through the use of statistics. It will
focus on gathering numerical data and generalizing it across groups of people or to explain a particular
phenomenon. This research design was used by giving questionnaires to the respondents of this
study.

`
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Research Flowchart

|. Profile 1. Data Gathering

Mkdej
||. The impact pandemic on grade 8 1.1 Construction of the Survey Questioner
students academic performances
1.2. Administration of Questioner
2.1. Academic Performance
1.3. Retrieval of Survey Tool
2.2. Coping Mechanism
2. Tabulation of Data
2.3. Reading Comprehension
3. Analysis of Data

PROCESS INPUT

OUTPUT

Proposed action plan based on

the data that will be gathered
with to the impact level of
pandemic on Grade 8 students
academic performances.
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FIGURE 2. RESEARCH FLOWCHAR

Figure 2 presents the flowchart of the study, where: inside the input box shows the profile that
represents the respondents' information relevant to the study, The impact of pandemic on Grade 8
students academic performance; academic performace; coping mechanism; and reading
comprehension.

The study involves a series of procedures, including the creation of questionnaires and the
collection of survey data, followed by the tabulation and analysis of the gathered information. The
conclusions and recommendations derived from the analysis will guide the proposed action plan
aimed at mitigating the impact of the pandemic on the academic performances of Grade 8 students.
The output box contains the detailed action plan based on the data gathered through the study.

Research Locale

The study will be conducted at Gabaldon Vocational Agriculture High School, which is situated
in Gabaldon, a municipality in the landlocked province of Nueva Ecija. The town is located in a valley
at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains to the east and the Caraballo Mountains to the west. It is
situated 171 kilometers northeast of Manila and is surrounded by the municipalities of Bongabon,
Laur, General Tinio, and Dingalan, Aurora. Gabaldon is classified as a 3rd class town in the province
of Nueva Ecija, Philippines.

As per the 2020 census, Gabaldon has a population of 38,958 residing in 9,881 households. The
town has a rich history, as during the latter half of the 19th century, it served as the site of the Sabani
Estate, which was the largest hacienda in Nueva Ecija. The estate occupied more than 6,000
hectares and possessed 3,000 heads of cattle. In 1920, the National Development Company took
over the administration of the estate and developed it for rice production. From 1935, the estate was
leased by a group of local businessmen until it was returned to the Sabani Estate Development
Company. Eventually, the government converted the estate into a homestead.

Gabaldon Vocational Agriculture High School, established on January 01, 2000, has been
providing quality education for 22 years to 1,959 students. The school, situated in Barangay Pantoc,
Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija, boasts an enrolment of 1,330 junior high school students (67.22%) and 629
senior high school students (37.71%) according to its official records. The institution offers a
specialized curriculum in technical vocational education in agriculture and vocational, with courses
such as Animal Production, Crop Production, Horticulture, Fishery, and Agricultural Mechanics. By
equipping its students with practical skills and knowledge, the school prepares them for a promising
future in the agriculture industry. The school offers academic strand, Humanities and Social Science
(HUMSS), Accountancy, Business of Management (ABM), and Science Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics (STEM) in senior high school. Gabaldon Vocational Agriculture High School also offering
Technical Vocational Livelihood (TVL) Track, Agri-Fishery Arts (AFA) Agri-Crops Products, Organic
Agriculture (OA). Home Economics (HE) Cookery, House Keeping (HK), Information Communication
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Technology (ICT), Computer Systems Servicing (CSS) and also; Industrial Arts which include the
Electrical Installation and Maintenance (EIM) as well as Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW).

Locator Map

Legend:

MALINAO COURT VILLA MERCEDES FOOD STREET

FARM AND RESORT

JOHAVAH’S WITNESSES CJ’S CARWASH

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Figure 3 shows the location of the focus of the study in Gabaldon Vocational Agriculture High
School.

Sample and Sampling Procedure

For the purposes of this study, the researchers have chosen to use total enumeration sampling
as the sampling procedure. This method involves gathering data from the entire population of interest,
rather than just a subset or sample. While this approach can be time-consuming and resource-
intensive, it can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the population and eliminate the
potential for sampling bias. Overall, the researchers believe that total enumeration sampling will be
the most appropriate and effective way to gather data for this study ( Glen 2021 ).

Table 2: Distribution of Respondents

Grade Level of High School Number of Respondents

8-STE 31

8-CANVA 37

8-HUMILITY 1 39

8-HUMILITY 2 38

8-FAITH 1 37

8-FAITH 2 37

8-HOPE 1 36

8-HOPE 2 27

8-COURAGE 36

TOTAL: 318

The table 2 shows all the enrollee of the grade 8 students of Gabaldon Vocational Agriculture
High School. The table 2 shows the total population of grade 8 students with 318 learners. Using total
population sampling technique, a random sampling approach that draws a sample from the entire
population to represent the population as a whole. The study used a sample of 150 respondents who
were students at Gabaldon Vocational Agriculture High School enrolled in AY. 2022-2023. At
Gabaldon Vocational Agriculture High School, a representative sample of students from each grade
level was chosen at random to serve as the student respondents.
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SCHOOL

Data Gathering Procedure

The OIC-Head Teacher VI and Academic Group Head's consent will be required before the
researchers may proceed with this study. Once approval is granted, the class adviser of each
respondent will be contacted to obtain their approval for the survey. The researchers will ensure that
all confidential information gathered from the student participants will be treated with utmost care and
kept private, in line with the accepted study ethics. The data collected will be encrypted at the time of
gathering, and upon completion of encoding, the statistician will assist the researchers in assembling
and tabulating the results. The analysis and interpretation of the data will be based on the tabulated
results.

Construction of the Instrument

The researchers will employ a survey questionnaire, To gather the required data, which is known
to be an efficient and quick way of collecting information. In developing the survey instrument, the
researchers will consider the material they have read, their own observations, as well as the
instruments they have previously used as respondents in other studies. The research adviser,
language critic, and statistician will all be consulted during the instrument development and selection
process. Any concerns, comments, or suggestions will be taken into consideration, and appropriate
revisions will be made to the questionnaire before its implementation.

The following is included in the questionnare:

The questionnaire prepared by the researchers consists of two parts.

Part 1 is the Personal Information Sheet, which includes a checklist of questions aimed at
gathering relevant personal information about the Grade 8 student-respondents.

Part 2 of the questionnaire is focused on the Impact of Pandemic on Students Academic

Performance. This section will help determine the extent to which the pandemic has affected the
Grade 8 students' academic performance and accomplishments across different areas of study.

The researchers created both parts of the questionnaire, drawing from information they gathered
from various literature and studies to support their own observations about the impact of the pandemic
on students' academic performance. By using this approach, the researchers strive to ensure that the
questionnaire is both reliable and valid.

Validation of the Instrument

 GABALDON VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE HIGH
SCHOOL

The researchers will seek the help of their advisor and English critic, among others. To ensure
that the surveys are properly created. These experts will review the surveys for clarity, relevance,
accuracy, and appropriateness. In addition, the researchers will consult with their statistician to seek
advice on how to format the survey questions and how to modify the questionnaire if necessary. The
researchers plan to have face-to-face conversations with the statistician and research adviser to
discuss any issues that may arise during the creation of the surveys. This approach will help the
researchers to refine the questionnaire and ensure that it is valid and reliable.

Activities done in Data Gathering

The researchers will conduct a data gathering process through survey questionnaires that will
be kept confidential to ensure the security of the respondents' profile. The instrument used in the
gathering of data will be reviewed by the research adviser, statistician, and language critic to ensure
its applicability and accuracy. The target respondents will only be the Grade 8 students currently
enrolled at Gabaldon Vocational Agriculture High School for the academic year 2022-2023.

The researchers will use the total enumeration sampling method to compute the target
respondents from the population. They will ask permission from the OIC HTVI and teacher for the
surveying process and their research adviser will approve their paper to proceed with the survey. The
survey questionnaires will be distributed to the respondents, and the researchers will guide them on
how to answer it. The responses will be gathered, and the data will be tabulated with the help of a
statistician.

Statistical Treatment

The researchers will be conducting a study on the impact of the pandemic on the academic
performance of Grade 8 students in Gabaldon Vocational Agriculture High School for the academic
year 2022-2023. They will use descriptive-correlational statistics to analyze the data gathered from
the survey questionnaires. The data will be presented in tabular form, and a statistician will assist in
using percentage, ranking, and weighted mean for analysis.

Microsoft Excel will be used for encoding the data. The researchers will use a rating scale to
gather qualitative information about the different aspects of the pandemic's impact on students'
academic performance. Pearson's correlation coefficient will be used to evaluate the relationship
between different implications on classroom engagement among grade 8 students. A holistic rubric
that considers all criteria to be evaluated together will be used in the study. The results of the study
will help determine the impact of the pandemic on students' academic performance and provide
insights on how to address the challenges faced by Grade 8 students in Gabaldon Vocational
Agriculture High School.
 GABALDON VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE HIGH
SCHOOL

Legend:

Degree of response Range Verbal Description Verbal Interpretation

5-

4-

3-

2-

1-