FILIPINO learners posted measurable gains in reading proficiency during School Year 2025–2026, but nearly half still failed to meet grade-level expectations by the end of the school year in March 2026, according to an analysis by the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2).

The findings were based on three major literacy assessments conducted by the Department of Education (DepEd) across various grade levels.

For learners in Grades 1 to 3, DepEd administered the Comprehensive Rapid Literacy Assessment, which classifies students from Low Emerging to Grade Level Ready.

Meanwhile, learners in Grades 4 to 10 underwent the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI), where students were assessed based on how many grade levels they were behind at the beginning of the school year and later categorized as Frustration, Instructional, or Independent readers by year-end.

DepEd also piloted the Senior High School Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (SHS-LNA) for Grade 11 students in March 2026, covering around 1.4 million of the country’s 1.9 million senior high school learners from both public and private schools.

Across all assessments, results showed consistent improvement throughout the school year. However, EDCOM 2 noted that around 18 percent — or roughly 3 million out of 16.5 million learners — remained at non-proficient reading levels despite the first full year of implementation of the ARAL Program.

Using DepEd literacy assessment data, EDCOM 2 found that an average of 40 percent of learners from Grades 1 to 10 were classified as struggling readers at the beginning of School Year 2025–2026.

By the end of the school year, the proportion of learners considered Grade Level Ready or Independent readers increased from 19 percent in June 2025 to 48 percent in March 2026, reflecting a 29-percentage-point improvement.

Despite the gains, the commission emphasized that one in every two learners still remained below grade-level reading proficiency by the end of the school year.

EDCOM 2 also flagged major disparities in reading outcomes across regions. Learners in Region II, Region VII, and Region IV-B recorded nearly double the share of struggling readers compared to higher-performing regions such as the Cordillera Administrative Region, Region III, and the National Capital Region.

The commission noted that literacy gaps remained especially pronounced in high school, where reading improvements seen in earlier elementary grades appeared to taper off in later years, particularly from Grades 7 to 10.

The situation was most alarming in senior high school. Results from the pilot SHS-LNA showed that 87 percent of Grade 11 students were not considered Independent readers, while only 12.58 percent demonstrated the ability to read and comprehend texts without assistance.

According to DepEd data, 58.9 percent of Grade 11 learners were classified under the Frustration level, indicating they could not independently read grade-level materials, while 28.5 percent were categorized under the Instructional level, requiring teacher support to understand texts.

“We commend DepEd for undertaking a comprehensive literacy assessment, even going the extra mile to examine how our students are doing in Senior High School,” said EDCOM 2 Executive Director Karol Mark Yee.

“This baseline data provides a clear starting point for refining interventions as DepEd conducts the ARAL Summer Program and prepares for the second year of the full rollout of ARAL interventions,” Yee added.

He also noted that the first full year of the ARAL Program already showed significant progress in supporting learners through the efforts of educators and education officials.

“Moving forward, our task now is to design specialized support for our students in high school and better differentiate interventions to help our students actually reach grade-level readiness,” Yee said.