In a bid to begin spreading its reach to more Quezon City public elementary schools, One Small Step Forward Foun-dation, through its partnership with Ac-centure Philippines, brought the won-ders of reading to two more schools - 15th Avenue Elementary School in the Murphy-Cubao area and San Vicente Elementary School in the UP Village district.

The connection to both schools were made through Ma’am Pacita Manga, who used to be the principal of Libis Elementary School and now the district superintendent. With a population of less than 500, 15th Avenue has consis-tently topped the Quezon City schools achievement tests, often landing in the top 5, if not placing first. On the other hand, San Vicente, with a massive population of over 3,000 students, has been consistently rated very low in the same achievement tests, often landing in the last 5 percentile. Both schools had recently acquired new principals, both promotees from senior teacher ranks, hence Ms. Manga’s desire to start new programs in those two schools.

In his first meetings with the two princi-pals, Mr. Jay Ureta for 15th Avenue Elementary School and Ms. Emely Pelobello of San Vicente Elementary School, Bing del Rosario discussed the OSSF Foundation and Accenture’s thrust in reading literacy at both Ba-gumbayan Elementary School and Sto. Cristo Elementary School. Both princi-pals agreed that English literacy was also their schools’ priority initiative.

San Vicente Elementary School. Bing visited San Vicente Elementary School with his first crate of storybooks last June 14, 2007. Unbeknown to him, the principal, Ms. Emely Pelobello, had arranged for a formal book donation ceremony, with all the department heads and English teachers invited. The high-light of the ceremony was the demon-stration of reading comprehension by a select group of Grade 2 children. They listened to a story read aloud by an Eng-lish teacher from a “big book” entitled “The Underground Dance” and then answered questions by the teacher.

Two weeks later, on June 27, Bing dropped in at the school with little ad-vance notice. He brought another crate of storybooks, plus used storybooks for middle school readers (grades 4-6), a new set of Disney Children’s encyclo-pedia set of 24 volumes, and some used reference books.

The school officials were proud to show off their reading corners, with the first batch of Accenture-OSSFF donated storybooks in full display.

15th Avenue Elementary School. On June 29, two days after the visit to San Vicente, Bing arranged for a personal visit to 15th Avenue Elementary School, with a promise to bring two crates worth of storybooks and refer-ence books, including a new Disney Children’s Encyclopedia set.

As with San Vicente, Bing was sur-prised to know that the whole school had been asked to turn out at the cov-ered court for a formal turnover cere-mony. This included an impressive demonstration of a dozen Grade 2 pu-pils who demonstrated their synchro-nized group reading skills. Principal Jay Ureta also showed off his “hanging li-braries” - baskets containing storybooks tied to trees - located at strategic points throughout the school. The books dona-tions would be apportioned out to the school’s various hanging libraries.

September 2007 Issue

Accenture & OSSF Foundation adopts two more QC elementary schools CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE San Vicente Elementary School. . . . . . . . page 1 15th Avenue Elementary School . . . . . . . page 1 Libis Elementary School . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 2 Bagumbayan Elementary School . . . . . . . page 5 Sto. Cristo Elementary School . . . . . . . . . page 5

Background. In October 2006, Accen-ture decided to reinvest in One Small Step Forward Foundation’s Kumon program for Libis Elementary School, this time sponsoring 10 additional scholars in addition to the previous year’s 40 scholars for a total of 50 awardees for 12 months October 2006 to September 2007. In simple ceremo-nies last November 6, 2006, Senior Ex-ecutive and CSR-in-charge Nescel Asuncion kicked off the second year of Accenture’s involvement. The ten new Accenture scholars were presented to Nescel and she was given the opportu-nity to talk to the 40 current scholars. She also chatted with principal Seri Vargas, who opened the event. A math teacher, a Kumon parent and a Kumon kid gave glowing testimonials. Accenture’s Scholars Count. Accen-ture currently has 44 scholars, with six additional slots still to be filled. 10 are in Grade 2, 19 in Grade 3, 4 in Grade 4, 8 in Grade 5, and 3 in Grade 6. 34 of the 44 have been Accenture scholars since the beginning, entering the pro-gram from October 2005 to February 2006. The other 10 came in last Septem-ber 2006. From November 2006 to April 2007, nine (9) Accenture scholars discontin-ued and were replaced. Discontinuance were due primarily to home relocations, and in a few cases, financial problems or loss of interest. From May to Sep-tember 2007, another six (6) Accenture scholars dropped out. We are still in the process of screening candidates for ap-propriate replacements. First Midyear Advanced Students Honor Roll at Libis Elementary School. It is worthy to note that the Libis Elementary School Kumon Center had its very first Advanced Students Honor Roll (ASHR) ceremony last June 16, 2007. Ten of the 44 current Acccen-ture scholars were Bronze awardees, that is, they were doing math that was a year in advance of their school curricu-lum. In the same ceremony, Principal Seri Vargas encouraged the parents of the Kumon students to take advantage of the unique opportunity that One Small Step Forward Foundation and

Accenture continued to provide. Center manager Victor Claravall hosted the event. Accenture’s Bronze awardees included: from Grade 2, Marlon Aclon (B160), Mariel Baliza (B200), Gracelyn Mar-bella (C70), and Jude Sanchez (B170); from Grade 3, John Catacutan (D200), Elmer Gasper (D170), Reign Labuguen (D110), and Jason Mendoza (D200); and from Grade 5, Dehn Arandela (E170) and April Garcia (E190). Grade 2 Bronze awardees need to be at level B150 or higher. Grade 3 bronze awardees must have attained at least level C150. And Grade 5 bronze awardees should have reached E150 or higher. The highlight of the ASHR was the awarding of the sole Gold Award to Mark Barilla. Mark was the first Libis Elementary School graduate - actually the first in all of District 3, Quezon City - to get accepted into Philippine Science

2

Spotlight on Accenture’s Kumon Scholars for 2007-2008 High School. I n h i s “valedictory” talk, he cred-ited the Ku-mon program for sharpening his math skills, thus enabling him to pass the second screen-ing, one of only 240, from a total appli-cant field of 17,500.

In Level 4A, students learn to write numbers up to 120 independently. Students also work with patterns of

up to 20 dots. By learning to recognize the number of dots in a group without counting, students become better pre-pared for the addition exercises in later levels. By the end of the Level, students learn to count up to 220. All new Grade 1 entrants at Libis Elementary School are slotted at this level.

Building on a strong sense of number sequencing from Level 4A, students are introduced to addition

in Level 3A. At first, the students mas-ter +1, +2, through to +5 individually. The last 20 sheets of this Level are dedi-cated to random addition questions from +1 to 5.

In Level 2A, students learn to add through to +1– automatically. This is also the Level where they learn

subtraction, subtracting up to –9 by the end. It is very important that students master the contents of this Level for smooth progress in subsequent levels. Level 2A greatly develops a student’s speed and concentration.

Level A continues horizontal addition and subtracton but with larger num-bers than in Level

2A. This important level de-velops the mental calculation ability of students. By the end of it, students will be able to add advanced ques-tions like +200 and subtract from numbers as big as 20.

Level B teaches vertical addition and subtraction. Throughout it, students will encounter their first word problems in Kumon.

This Level draws on the advanced men-tal calculation skills learned in previous levels when students “carry” in addition questions and “borrow” in questions involving subtraction. Mastery of Level B greatly reduces errors in multiplica-tion and division in Levels C and D.

In Level C, students master the multiplication tables by prac-ticing until they can answer immediately. Next, students learn up to 4-digit by 1-digit

multiplication with mental carryovers. Once multiplication is mastered, simple division by one digit is introduce. Stu-dents who have developed good mental

calculation ability will not have to write division steps.

In D, students learn double digit multiplication before advancing to long division. In this challenging section, stu-dents develop estimation skills

that will be necessary for future fraction work. Once students’ ability to work

with all 4 arithmetic operations is con-firmed, they begin to study fractions, learning to reduce using the Greatest Common Factor (GCF).

Level E drills students on add-ing, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions. Proper intermediate steps are empha-sized. At the end of the level,

students learn basic fraction/decimal conversions.

In Level F, students continue calculations with fractions, now employing the order of operations. Level F contains a challenging section of word

problems, as well as more work with decimals. Grade 6 students who reach this level qualify for Bronze status.

Level G introduces students to positive and negative num-bers, as well as to basic alge-bra. Students use their previ-ously learned four operations

skills to master linear equations. A word problem set rounds off the level, allow-ing students to apply everything they have learned in Level G. Grade 6 stu-dents who reach this level qualify for Silver status.

In Level H, students will learn to solve simultaneous linear equations in two to four variables. Concepts of numerical and algebraic val-

ues are strengthened. Students are intro-duced to transforming equations, ine-qualities, functions and graphs.

3

KUMON MATH DESCRIPTION OF STUDY LEVELS

4A

3A

2A

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level 3A200

Feb 07 level A40

May 07 level A200

Aug 07 level B160

Aclon, Marlon Gr 2 started 9/1/06

Alfonso, Jane Gr 2 started 9/1/06

Baliza, Mariel Gr 2 started 9/1/06

Catedrilla, Jonalyn Gr 2 started 9/1/06

Lubrin, Joan Gr 2 started 9/1/06

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level 3A200

Feb 07 level A20

May 07 level A100

Aug 07 level A130

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level 3A200

Feb 07 level A80

May 07 level B100

Aug 07 level B200

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level 3A200

Feb 07 level 2A200

May 07 level A200

Aug 07 level B70

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level 3A180

Feb 07 level 2A140

May 07 level A60

Aug 07 level A180

Marbella, Gracelyn Gr 2 started 9/1/06

Mission, Mark Gr 2 started 9/1/06

Sanchez, Jude Gr 2 started 9/1/06

Patiag, Mecaella Gr 2 started 9/1/06

Sarabia, Christian Gr 2 started 9/1/06

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level 2A60

Feb 07 level A170

May 07 level B160

Aug 07 level C70

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level 3A200

Feb 07 level 2A180

May 07 level A170

Aug 07 level B100

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level 3A120

Feb 07 level 2A120

May 07 level A30

Aug 07 level A200

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level 3A200

Feb 07 level A50

May 07 level B70

Aug 07 level B170

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level 3A100

Feb 07 level 2A40

May 07 level A30

Aug 07 level A130

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level 2A150

Feb 07 level 2A200

May 07 level A70

Aug 07 level A60

Agana, Bernadette Gr 3 started 2/2/06

Banila, Portia Gr 3 started 12/1/05

Bernas, Anne Gr 3 started 10/1/05

Bugarin, Carlo Gr 3 started 10/1/05

Bunao, Andrea Gr 3 started 2/2/06

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level A200

Feb 07 level B130

May 07 level C20

Aug 07 level C70

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level A180

Feb 07 level A200

May 07 level A130

Aug 07 level B40

Start level 3A111

Nov 06 level B70

Feb 07 level B170

May 07 level B180

Aug 07 level B195

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level A140

Feb 07 level B60

May 07 level B200

Aug 07 level C110

Catacutan, John Gr 3 started 10/1/05

Cucio, Pauline Gr 3 started 11/1/05

De Leon, John Gr 3 started 10/1/05

Fernandez, Adrian Gr 3 started 11/1/05

Gasper, Elmer Gr 3 started 10/1/05

Start level 3A1

Nov 06 level C170

Feb 07 level D90

May 07 level D150

Aug 07 level D200

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level B100

Feb 07 level B100

May 07 level B190

Aug 07 level B100

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level 2A200

Feb 07 level 2A200

May 07 level A50

Aug 07 level A160

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level A130

Feb 07 level B60

May 07 level B180

Aug 07 level B200

Start level 4A101

Nov 06 level C110

Feb 07 level D30

May 07 level D120

Aug 07 level D170

Guevara, Justine Gr 3 started 10/1/05

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level B80

Feb 07 level B150

May 07 level B195

Aug 07 level C50

Mendoza, Jason Gr 3 started 11/3/05

Marasigan, Jamiroquai Gr 3 started 10/1/05

Labuguen, Reign Gr 3 started 10/1/05

Jungco, Joana Gr 3 started 10/1/05

Start level 3A111

Nov 06 level C180

Feb 07 level D50

May 07 level D130

Aug 07 level D200

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level B200

Feb 07 level C30

May 07 level C130

Aug 07 level C90

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level B140

Feb 07 level C90

May 07 level C200

Aug 07 level D110

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level A30

Feb 07 level A160

May 07 level B80

Aug 07 level B70

4

TRACKING THE PROGRESS OF ACCENTURE’S KUMON SCHOLARS p1

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level A200

Feb 07 level B80

May 07 level B100

Aug 07 level B130

Non, Stephanie Gr 3 started 11/1/05

San Luis, Samantha Gr 3 started 12/5/05

Sarvida, Andrea Gr 3 started 2/2/06

Versoza, Vanessa Gr 3 started 1/1/06

Delos Santos, Christian Gr 4 started 1/30/06

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level A60

Feb 07 level A120

May 07 level B30

Aug 07 level B100

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level A130

Feb 07 level A200

May 07 level B90

Aug 07 level B100

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level A80

Feb 07 level B40

May 07 level B120

Aug 07 level B100

Start level 3A111

Nov 06 level A200

Feb 07 level B110

May 07 level B150

Aug 07 level B160

Maclang, Nikka Gr 4 started 10/1/05

Pugay, John Carlo Gr 4 started 1/1/06

Arandela, Dehn Gr 5 started 11/21/05

Sabejon, Jessabel Gr 4 started 10/1/05

Estrada, Christine Gr 5 started 11/21/05

Start level 3A1

Nov 06 level B190

Feb 07 level C40

May 07 level C110

Aug 07 level C140

Start level 4A1

Nov 06 level A200

Feb 07 level B180

May 07 level C25

Aug 07 level C80

Start level 2A1

Nov 06 level B200

Feb 07 level C90

May 07 level C180

Aug 07 level D90

Start level A1

Nov 06 level D160

Feb 07 level E100

May 07 level E130

Aug 07 level E170

Start level 3A1

Nov 06 level C200

Feb 07 level D110

May 07 level D190

Aug 07 level E60

Start level 2A1

Nov 06 level D40

Feb 07 level D90

May 07 level D80

Aug 07 level D100

Gamaro, Jenz Gr 5 started 10/1/05

Garcia, April Gr 5 started 11/1/05

Herrera, Leah Gr 5 started 11/1/05

Julao, Jeybee Gr 5 started 10/1/05

Roma, Rey Ann Gr 5 started 10/1/05

Start level B1

Nov 06 level D110

Feb 07 level D200

May 07 level E150

Aug 07 level E190

Start level 3A1

Nov 06 level C140

Feb 07 level D60

May 07 level D140

Aug 07 level D180

Start level 3A111

Nov 06 level D120

Feb 07 level D170

May 07 level E10

Aug 07 level E30

Start level 3A1

Nov 06 level C200

Feb 07 level D80

May 07 level D150

Aug 07 level D200

Viaje, Thea Marie Gr 5 started 10/1/05

Balbuena, Honey Gr 6 started 10/1/05

Peña, Mark Jason Gr 6 started 10/1/05

Quezada, Mark Gr 6 started 11/10/05

Start level 2A1

Nov 06 level D90

Feb 07 level D150

May 07 level E20

Aug 07 level E60

Start level 3A1

Nov 06 level C100

Feb 07 level D10

May 07 level D60

Aug 07 level D90

Start level A1

Nov 06 level E30

Feb 07 level E130

May 07 level E200

Aug 07 level F50

Start level 3A111

Nov 06 level C200

Feb 07 level D100

May 07 level D180

Aug 07 level E60

Bolinao, John Gr 3

Calangan,Christin Gr 6 Tinampay,Rogelio Gr 4

Bolinao, Gabriel Gr 4 Tabay, Johanah Gr 4

De Jesus, Walter Gr 6

Dro

pped

out

& r

epla

ced

in s

choo

l yea

r 200

6-20

07

Dro

pped

ou

t in

sc

hool

ye

ar 2

006-

2007

Teleron, Elgin Gr 2 Agustin, Julia Gr 3 Mendoza, Emman Gr 5 Jimenez, Jaymarr Gr 2 Figueres, Lord Gr 3

Bayan, Larraine Gr 3 Enriquez, Leonard Gr 4 Noma, John Gr 3 Baldera, Hans Gr 4

5

TRACKING THE PROGRESS OF ACCENTURE’S KUMON SCHOLARS p2

Background. Accenture volunteered to shoulder the quarterly infusion of new titles for one full year, starting Novem-ber 2006. In practice, Bing would still be the one to purchase the titles but the donations would be in Accenture’s name. Accenture’s Nescel Asuncion turned over Accenture’s first donation of new titles—worth over P20,000—last November 6, with the school princi-pal Thelma Co and librarian Grace Pela-gio in attendance. 150 new books, eight audio CDs, 10 VCDs, and 13 DVDs were turned over in total. Major Book Donation. Last August 2, 2007, Bing del Rosario made another significant book donation on behalf of Accenture. The donation was valued at P12,095, and P2,000 of this was for educational games - Scribbage, Rubix cubes, checkers, Chinese checkers, and puzzles. Receiving the donation was Principal Thelma Co. In the simple donation ceremony, Prin-cipal Thelma noted that Begumbayan Elementary School had jumped from 93rd to 15th in the Quezon City achievement tests conducted last March 2007. She gave credit to the library and the increase in reading literacy levels for the huge jump in the ranking.

One Small Step Forward Foundation has mounted a project to develop and roll-out an MTAP-like after school pro-gram. The Mathematics Teachers Asso-ciation of the Philippines (MTAP), led by Stella Maris College, sponsors a six half-Saturdays program that teaches math word problem solving. The most promising students participate in the MetroBank-sponsored Math Challenge. The project became urgent after re-quests for Kumon Philippines to allow OSSFF to expand the Kumon program to other schools remained unacted upon.

6

More Info on One Small Step Forward Foundation The One Small Step Forward Founda-tion, Inc. was formally established by Jaime “Bing” del Rosario, former sen-ior partner in Accenture Phils., in Sep-tember 2006 to provide a legal vehicle for Bing del Rosario’s social work, which had been ongoing since June 2002. The Foundation was set up pri-marily to uplift the standards of public school education in the country. This has included, among other things, donating schoolrooms and research laboratories; building private school-standard libraries in public schools; donating schoolbooks, library books, audio-video aids, educational games and school supplies; providing after-school academic programs such as Kumon Math, Kumon Reading and MTAP tutorials for both gifted and remedial classes; conducting regular story-telling sessions; assisting public schools with infrastructure and equip-ment needs; providing sports coach-ing, athletic equipment and playing facilities; providing high school and college review classes and scholar-ships to academic achievers; coaching teams for inter-school math competi-tions, etc. To date, the Foundation has gotten involved in several projects with five different schools in Quezon City, and discussions are in progress with sev-eral more. The Foundation views its public school mission to include the Philippine Science High School, where a major donation has been made to the PSHS Foundation to ad-dress urgent infrastructure needs, and the University of the Philippines, where the Foundation recently do-nated the Human Factors & Ergonom-ics Laboratory to the Industrial Engi-neering Department. Outside public school education, the other areas of future focus for the Foundation are - job generation for the unskilled and low-skilled; improv-ing public health; and micro-finance.

Accenture Stays with Bagumbayan Elementary School’s Library

A Strategy For Rolling Out the Math After-School Program to Other Schools

Accenture and OSSFF Ends Involvement with Sto. Cristo Elementary School 32 of the 35 “hopeless” Grade 2 stu-dents reassigned to Sto. Cristo’s special “Section 5” were officially judged to merit being promoted to Grade 3. This came after the 32 students passed the literacy tests last March 2007. Accen-ture and One Small Step Forward Foun-dation intervened back in October by hiring a teacher for the special class, providing textbooks and school supplies for each child, and undertaking a feed-ing program. Princpal Nitz Pangilinan considered the program an unqualified success.