Learners’ Perception in the Implementation of Catch Up Friday Program and Its Effect to the Reading Performance

Abstract

The Department of Education (DepEd) in the Philippines has initiated the “Catch-Up Friday Program” to address the Philippines underperformance in the 2022 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).  Catch-Up Friday provides structured weekly sessions to enhance students’ reading skills through focused activities and support. This study conducted on S.Y. 2024-2025 aimed to understand the learners’ perception on the implementation of Catch-Up Friday Program and its effect on the reading performance of junior high school learners’ of Cupis National High School. The participants of the study were 108 learners of grade 7, 8, 9 and 10 junior high school students of Cupis National High School. There were selected by random sampling through used of Slovin’s formula. Descriptive survey method is primarily used in the study. Quantitative results are relevant in research because it focuses on describing characteristics of a population and using numerical data. Supported by a t-value of -5.53 and a p-value of less than 0.001, which is far below the significance level of 0.05, leading to the rejection of the null hypothesis. A thematic analysis was conducted that obtained from the survey in order to pinpoint the problems encountered of the learners and documentary analysis to reveal the reading performance before the implementation of the program. The findings suggest that learners hold a generally positive perception of the Catch-Up Friday Program. The findings of the study recommend that teacher may consider seek out summaries or more straightforward versions of the same content. Encourage students to use a dictionary, underline words they are unfamiliar with, write synonyms, definitions. But in overall they recognize its effectiveness in enhancing their reading skills and express appreciation for the program’s content, structure, and the support it provides. In conclusion, the initiated educational intervention Catch-Up Friday Program effectively improves reading performance of the junior high school learners of Cupis National High School.