Four quarters became three terms, and almost every routine a teacher built around the old calendar moved with it. Grading periods, exam names, report card columns, lesson plan formats, the rhythm of remediation — all of it shifted at once for SY 2026–2027.
This is the practical map: what changed, what stayed, and which of your templates from last year are now quietly wrong.
The 10-second answer: Three terms replace four quarters. Each term has two summative tests and one term examination (30/30/40 inside the Examinations component). Report cards carry three term grades. Transmutation continues for SY 2026–2027 on an adjusted table. Lesson plans move to the ILAW format, with DLL and DLP usable only until the end of Term 1. Grade 12 stays on its old rules for this year.
What changed, in one table
| Area | Before | SY 2026–2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Grading periods | Four quarters | Three terms |
| Major test | Quarterly assessment | Term examination, plus two summative tests |
| Examinations component | One assessment | ST1 30%, ST2 30%, TE 40% |
| Report card | Four quarter grades | Three term grades |
| Transmutation | Previous table | Adjusted table for this year; removal follows for Grades 4–12 from SY 2027–2028 |
| Grade 12 | Quarters, older weights | Three terms, older weights kept |
| Lesson plan | DLL / DLP | ILAW format; DLL and DLP until the end of Term 1 only |
| Awards | Ranked honors | No ranking; alphabetical lists |
1. The grading periods
Three terms means three sets of everything: three class record periods, three report card columns, three rounds of grading week. The final grade for a learning area is built from the three term grades rather than four quarter grades.
The immediate practical consequence is that a class record template from last year computes last year’s rules. A four-quarter template with a column deleted is not a three-term template — the weights, the examination structure, and often the transmutation table behind it are all from the old system. Start from a current template.
2. The assessment structure inside each term
Each term now carries two summative tests and a term examination, weighted 30/30/40 inside the Examinations component, each converted to its own percentage before weighting. The timing is described in instructional days: roughly the first 15 days for ST1, the next 15 for ST2, and the closing days for the term examination.
This is the change that most affects week-to-week planning, and it has its own guide: when to give ST1, ST2, and the term examination.
3. The component weights
Written Works, Performance Tasks, and Examinations remain the three components, and the weights still depend on the subject group. For Grades 4–10, core learning areas run 20/50/30, while EPP/TLE and MAPEH run 20/60/20. Senior High School has its own set, and MAPEH is still computed as two halves that are averaged — see MAPEH grade computation.
Two groups need their own treatment and are covered separately: GMRC and Values Education, which split into cognitive, affective, and behavioural domains, and Senior High School under the Strengthened SHS weights.
4. Transmutation, and its coming removal
Transmutation did not disappear this year — it changed. For SY 2026–2027 an adjusted table applies, under which an initial grade of 70.00 corresponds to a transmuted 75, and 60 remains the minimum reportable grade. From SY 2027–2028, transmutation is removed for Grades 4–12, and a raw 75 will stand as 75.
So this is a transition year with a table of its own, and it is the single easiest thing to get wrong: an old template silently produces grades that are close enough to look right. The check that catches it is a worked example — our MATATAG grading system and transmutation guide walks through one, and the Tagalog version covers the same computation.
5. Lesson planning moved to ILAW
Alongside the assessment changes, lesson planning moved to the ILAW format — Intentions, Learning Experience, Assessing Learning, Ways Forward — with the older DLL and DLP formats usable only until the end of Term 1 of this school year. The format is genuinely shorter than what it replaced, and the shift is more about what each section demands than about length.
Start with the ILAW lesson plan guide, then DLL vs DLP vs ILAW for how the formats relate, and fitting an ILAW lesson into 50 or 60 minutes when the plan meets a real period length. Plans drafted with AI assistance also carry a declaration — see the AI use declaration.
6. Reporting, promotion, and awards
- Report cards carry three term grades, attendance, and the year-end outcome. Grade 1 reports descriptively instead — see the Grade 1 PACE Form and Progress Report.
- Promotion turns on failed learning areas, with the Summer Remedial Class and a Recomputed Final Grade for one or two failures: promotion, retention, and remediation.
- Awards are no longer ranked: awards and recognition under DO 15.
- Attendance appears on every term report and carries two thresholds: attendance rules on the report card.
7. What did not change
Worth saying, because the volume of change makes teachers doubt things that are still true:
- The three components — Written Works, Performance Tasks, Examinations — remain.
- 75 is still passing, and 60 is still the minimum reportable grade.
- Formative assessment is still not graded. It informs teaching; it does not enter the computation.
- Tests are still teacher-made and based on what was actually taught.
- Grade 12 keeps its older component weights for this year — but only the weights: it moved to three terms with the same ST1/ST2/TE structure as everyone else. See Grade 12 grading this year.
Your template audit, in ten minutes
- Does the class record have three grading periods, not four?
- Does the Examinations component hold ST1, ST2, and TE separately, and weight them 30/30/40?
- Does it convert each assessment to a percentage before weighting?
- Are the component weights right for this subject group?
- Does it use the adjusted transmutation table? Test it against a worked example.
- Does the report card have three term columns and attendance?
- Is your lesson plan format ILAW for Term 2 onward?
Any “no” is a template to replace rather than patch.
Where Skoolari fits
Skoolari’s DepEd mode was rebuilt around the three-term structure rather than adapted to it: three terms, the 30/30/40 examination split, the subject weight profiles including GMRC, MAPEH, Strengthened SHS and Grade 12, the adjusted transmutation table checked against DepEd’s own worked examples, and report cards, promotion status, attendance flags, and award lists built from the same record. Everything prints as editable Word, Excel, or print-ready files under your own school header. You still submit through your school’s official forms. See the plans, or compare options in choosing a class record app.
This is a transition year and details are still being clarified by memoranda. Check anything here against your current division issuances before you rely on it.