RELATIONSHIP OF STUDENT TEACHING AND COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION IN THE LICENSURE EXAMINATION FOR TEACHERS (LET) PERFORMANCE OF TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATES

This study determined the relationship of student teaching and comprehensive examination in the Licensure Examination for Teachers from 2014 to 2018. Using PRC LET results and grades in student teaching and comprehensive examination, this study employed documentary analysis and correlation research designs. Findings of the study revealed that the graduates received an outstanding performance in student teaching. Results also showed that more than one half of the graduates had fairly satisfactory rating in the comprehensive examination, and most of them did not meet expectations in the Licensure Examination. There is a significant relationship in the performance both in student teaching and comprehensive examination to the LET performance.


Introduction
According to Colinares [1], education shapes the world's future. It only proves that a man can change using education; it gives a man the confidence to face the future, shape his own identity within the society and gives him more opportunity to live a better life. Moreover, learning, progress and development of a person's ability and qualities depend on the education. As part and needed in the education system, there is a need to assess and evaluate the students' learning and understanding. Assessment is the process of interpreting the manifested level of what the students can or cannot do and evaluation is a process of assessing the students' knowledge, skills, determining the acquired knowledge of the students within the span of the teaching learning process. Education in the modern society needs to assess the students' knowledge and competencies to keep an eye on their learning throughout generation.
Nowadays, there is a growing demand for competitive and quality professionals. Future teachers should be equipped with skills and knowledge that they gained from pre-service education. They should possess these qualities since these are essential in the field of teaching. Pre-service teachers need to be provided with adequate and suitable experiences to acquire requisite competencies [2]. In addition, Aimin et.al [3], stated that students need to attend seminars and workshops in order to learn and achieved the intended learning outcomes.
The study conducted by Adebule and Oluwatayo [4] showed satisfactory teaching performance of the student-teachers. Moreover, a teacher has to face innumerable challenges and plays different roles in his institution. Teacher does not only plan lessons but also organizes activities, maintains necessary records, adopts new techniques of communication and motivates students by words and deeds.
In order to be competitive, graduates are given licensure examination according to the professions. In the teaching profession, there is an act promulgated for strengthening the regulation and supervision of the practice of teaching in the Philippines and prescribing a Licensure Examination for Teachers under RA 7836. The government for its part points to the provision of Section 5 Article XIV of the Constitution as its contribution to alleviate the plight of the poor teachers as this mandates that the state should give the highest budgetary priority to education as to attract the best available talent into being teachers.
One way of measuring students' performance is through Licensure Examination results, which is also used in gathering information about the students' learning progress. The main requirement and the gate pass used by the Department of Education for all teacher education graduates to earn the title professional teacher is passing the licensure examination for teachers. LET is a test of the overall knowledge and proficiency of prospective teachers. It gives access to professional growth and development. Passing the LET would mean having a passport to being a professional teacher. It enables individuals to acquire work. The university also benefits from the graduates who pass the LET in terms of promoting good quality of education and producing professionals.
It was revealed in the study of Bitang, et.al [5] that most of the test items in the LET require logical reasoning and have confusing words. The graduates had average performance in LET when it comes to their field of specialization and below average performance in general subjects and professional subjects. Similar study conducted by Rodriquez [6] revealed that BSEd graduates had average performance in the LET in general education, professional education and major field of specialization. She also found out that graduates performed well in the professional education while they found the examination difficult in their field of specialization. It was also found out that the CTE graduates obtained a passing percentage above the national passing percentage set by the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC).
As cited by Karacapilidis [7], the preparedness of the students before taking a test includes all reading materials for the general education, professional education and field of specialization. Students who are about to take the exam are going through the preparatory stage wherein a student attends review classes to help him recall the past and important lesson and stimulate their own thinking by participating in activities or answering set of questions to determine the ability and knowledge. Also, Alday [8] stated that schools should provide quality programs of activities to enhance the knowledge and skills in the subjects.
For the graduates to increase the performance, some institutions conduct review classes to help the students recall important theories and concepts in education. Sometimes, the institution invite experts to conduct review to increase their performance in LET. Tan [9], conducted a study on the impact of review on the performance of graduates in the LET 2012-2014. She found out that the LET review conducted by the CTE of LSPU Los Banos Campus has a great impact on the passing performance of those who attended the review. Moreover, Tan suggested to continue conducting the LET review as an intervention program of the College in order to improve the graduates' performance.
The main concern of the College of Teacher Education (CTE) of Batangas State University is to produce globally competitive, knowledgeable and competent teachers that are able to face real world of teaching and its challenges. It is integrated in the curriculum in order to develop the skills of graduating students. Therefore, all the efforts to improve the quality of education are dependent on the service of teachers who are properly prepared to undertake the function of a teacher. This objective, however, sets the higher standards in defining the aims, components and processes of the pre-service teacher education.

Methodology
Documentary analysis was used to determine the relationship of student teaching and comprehensive examination in the Licensure Examination for Teachers. Data were retrieved from the records given by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) office.

Student Teaching
Student teaching is one of the requirements in the completion of the teacher education program. It is often considered as the most established way of helping students to have a transformative experience in teacher education. It serves as an opportunity for the University to evaluate the progress of student teachers and provide support and help as needed. Table 1 presents the performance of teacher education graduates on their attendance to student teaching during the period of 2014-2018. Indicated in the table that 2776 or 74.48% of the graduates received an outstanding performance in student teaching. This means that the majority of graduates performed very well on the preservice teaching based on the assessment of the cooperating teachers. The graduates possibly applied all the knowledge and skills needed to perform all the assigned tasks. It can be noted also that all the agreed and accepted responsibilities were effectively followed. This conforms to the idea of Knight [2] that pre-service teachers need to be provided with adequate and suitable experiences to acquire requisite competencies.
The table also revealed that 832 or 22.33% received a very satisfactory performance. Most of the graduates have shown a very satisfying job may be because of the familiarity to student teaching competencies that should be applied while performing the responsibilities as practice teachers.
It was shown in the table that only 91 or 2.44% acquired a satisfactory performance. This is an indication that those graduates were focused on delivering satisfying results, have the courage to integrate new approaches in teaching and know how to accept comments and suggestions. This is in line with the findings of the study conducted by Adebule and Oluwatayo [4] wherein results showed satisfactory teaching performance of student teachers.
Based also from the table, it can be observed that only 28 or 0.75% gained a fairly satisfactory performance. It only implies that few graduates failed to attend to schedule regularly, exert less effort to learn, not motivated, do not perform agreed responsibilities, and lack the required skills.
The mean value of 91.69 revealed that CTE graduates had a performance of outstanding on student teaching. This means that the graduates of Batangas State University have shown excellence in the performance of the duties and responsibilities as practice teachers based on the evaluation of the cooperating teachers. This is a manifestation of acquired requisite competencies by providing adequate and suitable experiences which conforms to the idea of Knight [2].

Comprehensive Examination
Educ 417 or Teacher Education Practices with Comprehensive Examination is one of the courses to be taken by the 4 th year students. This course serves as the assessment of the students' performance in all subjects. The students are required to attend the intensive review and have to pass all the written evaluation in order to pass the course. Table 2 represents the students' performance in the Comprehensive examination. As noted from the table, there are 38 or 1.02 percent out of 3727 students with outstanding performance. This indicates that there is a need to substantiate the review because the results may implicate its performance in Licensure Examination. There is a big chance that one or two students may top the Licensure Examination. Table 2 also revealed that there are 206 or 5.53 percent students who perform very satisfactorily which implies that majority of them are still challenged to focus on the practices being done by the College. The result connotes negative implications because this mean that many students found difficulty in the comprehensive examination. In this vein, the faculty need to provide more challenging activities to uplift students' performance. This is in consonance with the idea of Alday [8], that schools should provide quality programs of activities to enhance the knowledge and skills in the subjects.
There are 994 or 26.67 percent of students who have satisfactory performance. The results is also alarming since the number did not reach 50 percent of the total number of 4 th year students who took the examination. This can be attributed to the fact that many students nowadays are not that committed on their studies. With this result, the College needs to plan more practices to motivate students to take extra effort to perform better in the Comprehensive examination. This confirms the statement of Knight [2] that pre service teachers need to be provided adequate and suitable experiences to acquire the required competencies.
As indicated in the table 2484 or 66.65 percent have fairly satisfactory rating in the comprehensive examination. The results revealed that more than one half of the 4 th year students have average performance. Though this is a passing grade, this also implies that there is an urgency to prepare enhancement program that would improve students' performance. The College may find other ways to develop the competencies of students because this may affect their performance in LET.
As explained by Aimin [3], students need to attend seminars and workshops in order to learn and achieved the intended learning outcomes.
As shown in the table, five or .13 percent did not meet expectations. This is a very small percentage but still this is not a good indication because this contradicts 100 percent target performance of the students in the licensure Examination. The College may prepare special treatment to the three students to ensure 100 percent passing in the comprehensive examination.

Licensure Examination
As part of the screening process of teachers, Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) serves as the major component that ensures the qualification for the future educators. One way of measuring students' performance is through Licensure examination. Both elementary and secondary teachers should pass the LET to be licensed teachers. Table 3 presents the performance of Teacher Education Graduates in the Licensure Examination during the academic year 2014-2018.

(Did Not Meet Expectations)
Reflected from the table that 1483 or 39.79 % of the graduates did not meet expectations in the Licensure Examination. It only implies that graduates of the college did not acquired enough knowledge necessary for the profession. It may be because, they find it hard to process the skills and competencies gained in four years of study in the college. Results suggests that teachers must exert more effort to help the graduates to fully develop all the competencies required of the course. Enhancing students' knowledge and ensuring familiarity with the area of specialization will give a great contribution for them to carry all the necessary knowledge and skills in the teaching career. This conforms to the idea of Knight [2] that pre-service teachers need to be provided with adequate and suitable experiences to acquire requisite competencies.
Table also revealed that 1403 or 37.64 % attained fairly satisfactory performance. This indicates that most of the graduates did not perform well in the Licensure Examination. This could be because most of them couldn't recall the things they have studied and most of them are poor in analyzing and comprehending the questions in the examination well. This finding contradicts the study of Rodriguez [6] that most of the graduates performed well in the Licensure Examination particularly in professional education area.
It was also shown that 742 or 19.91 % of the students attained the satisfactory LET performance. From the data it can be noted that small number of students became equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge required for their profession. This suggests that LET review classes must be attended in order for the students to be prepared before taking the exam. Review classes will help them recall important theories and concepts in education. This conforms to the findings of Tan [9] that LET review has a great impact on the passing performance of the students.
It can also be gleaned from the table that only 99 or 2.66 % of the graduates have very satisfactory performance. This is an indication that only few of the graduates acquired the necessary competencies to excel in the licensure exam particularly. This maybe because student skills in logical reasoning are not fully develop. Logical reasoning is one important factor that help students to answer the questions correctly. This supports the findings of Bitang,et.al. [5] that most of the test items in the LET require logical reasoning.
The mean value of 74.20 revealed that CTE graduates did not meet the expectations. This only implies that a rigid enhancement of the necessary skills needed in passing the Licensure exam must be given consideration. Enhancement program should be designed to help student in gaining a valid and comprehensive knowledge needed for them to pass the exam. The program may include review classes for LET takers. This is in line with the concepts of Karacapilidis [7] that students who are about to take exam must go through the preparatory stage wherein student attends review classes to help him recall the past and important lesson and stimulate own thinking by participating in activities or answering set of questions to determine students' ability and knowledge.  The computed p-value of 0.000 which is less than 0.05 indicates that the null hypothesis is rejected. This means that there is a significant relationship between the performance in ST and LET performance. The computed r-value of 0.261 indicates a weak positive correlation. This indicates that students who performed well in ST may somehow perform better in LET. The weak correlation may be attributed to the student teaching grading system which is mostly subjective or qualitative. It should be noted that grading system for student teaching is rubrics based.

Relationship of the Performance in Student Teaching and Comprehensive Examination to the LET Performance
Table also revealed that the computed p-value of 0.000 which is less than 0.05 indicates that the null hypothesis is rejected. This means that there is a significant relationship between the performance in Comprehensive examination and LET performance. The computed r-value of 0.375 indicates a moderate positive correlation. This indicates that students who performed well in Comprehensive Exam may somehow perform better in LET. On the other hand, students who fairly satisfactory performed in Comprehensive Exam are more likely those who will not met expectation in the LET.
In Table 4, it shows that there is significant relationship on the performance both in student teaching and comprehensive examination to the LET performance. Based on the data gathered, the p-value of student teaching to LET performance and comprehensive examination obtain a similar p-value of 0.000 which is below 0.05. The r computed value for student teaching garnered 0.261 which has a weak positive correlation whereas the comprehensive examination obtained an r computed value of 0.375 which means it has moderate positive correlation.
It implies that student teaching and comprehensive examination are both important and should be considered for purposes of passing the LET examination of the teacher education graduates. Likewise, the above-data show that while student teaching and comprehensive examination are both important and significant for LET purposes; nevertheless, the student teaching has a weak or ineffectual correlation with LET performances since student teaching grading system is mostly subjective or qualitative. It should be noted that grading system for student teaching is rubrics based. Unlike comprehensive examination, where its r value has a moderate positive correlation with the LET performance. The comprehensive examination is objective in essence and can be quantified by the number of total scores of the examinees. It implies that comprehensive examinations should be given preferences instead of student teaching especially for purposes of increasing the performance level of LET passers.

Conclusions and Recommendations
Teacher Education graduates have outstanding performance when it comes to student teaching, fairly satisfactory performance in the comprehensive examination, and did not met expectations in the Licensure Examination.
The performance of Teacher Education Graduates in the student teaching and comprehensive examination significantly relates to their performance in the LET. It is recommended that the College may employ measures and strategies to enhance Comprehensive and Licensure Examination results. In addition, intensive review for the LET should be done to assist and prepare the graduates for the examination. Further, study about predictors of LET performance may be conducted.