A NASH result becomes a development plan when each domain below 65 is turned into a specific PPSSH strand to work on, a task to practice it in your school, a coach or mentor to give feedback, and evidence to check progress. The Philippine Professional Standards for School Heads (PPSSH), adopted through DepEd Order No. 024, s. 2020, starts this work at Career Stage 1, the stage for aspiring school heads: indicator 4.1.1 reads “Conduct self-assessment of personal and professional development needs using the Philippine Professional Standards for School Heads”. Setting development goals from that self-assessment is indicator 4.1.2, at Career Stage 2.
The National Assessment for School Heads (NASH) “serves as a developmental assessment tool designed to identify areas for improvement and support leadership growth” (DepEd Memorandum No. 044, s. 2026, para. 2). DM 044, s. 2026 requires the Targeted Development Program (TDP) for three-domain takers, within three months of appointment, and the Professional Development Intervention (PDI) for takers With Developmental Areas (para. 5); the National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP) runs both. NEAP’s guidelines for the Batch 2 round cover takers who “have met the minimum overall rating threshold”, which they do not define, and takers with a Principal I appointment notice come first (DM-OULS-2026-397, para. 4); the official participant list shows who is in the round. The personal plan below turns your result into goals before the program’s outputs are due. It is a study tool, not a DepEd form, and it does not replace any TDP or PDI requirement.
Key findings
- Your result has two parts. The Individual Certificate of Rating gives your official rating and competency level; the Individual Development Report (IDR) summarizes “the taker’s strengths, areas for improvement, and recommended developmental interventions” (DepEd Memorandum No. 097, s. 2025, paras. 8–9).
- The overall score and the domain scores decide the level. With 65 or higher overall, four or more domains at 65 or higher meets the standards in four domains, three meets them in three, and fewer than three is With Developmental Areas. An overall score below 65 is With Developmental Areas whatever the domains show (DM 044, s. 2026, para. 5).
- A domain is too broad to plan from. The PPSSH has five domains and 34 strands; plan at the strand and indicator level (DO 024, s. 2020).
- Career Stage 1 starts with self-assessment. Indicator 4.1.1 calls for a self-assessment using the PPSSH, and 4.2.1 for an understanding of “how professional reflection and learning can be used in improving practice” (DO 024, s. 2020).
- The program starts from the same result. TDP Phase 1 learning is “based on their NASH competency profile”, and Phase 2 in both programs leads to a Workplace Application Plan (WAP) (DM-OULS-2026-397, Enclosure No. 2, Sec. III and Figure 3). A personal plan made now gives you material for that WAP.
- Coaching is part of both programs. In Phase 2, “Qualified and endorsed coaches shall provide structured support, feedback, and guidance” (DM-OULS-2026-397, Enclosure No. 2, Sec. III.A).
What your NASH result contains
| Record | What it gives you | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Individual Certificate of Rating (ICR, or ICOR for Batch 2) in the DepEd Learning Management System | Your official rating and competency level | DM 097, s. 2025, para. 8; DM 044, s. 2026, para. 7 |
| Individual Development Report, sent to your official DepEd email | Your strengths, areas for improvement and recommended interventions | DM 069, s. 2025, para. 12; DM 097, s. 2025, para. 9 |
| Your competency level | Meeting PPSSH standards in four domains, in three domains, or With Developmental Areas, and what each requires next | DM 044, s. 2026, para. 5 |
Batch 1’s memorandum sent IDRs to each taker’s DepEd email and told three-domain and With Developmental Areas takers “to refer to their IDR for guidance on the required developmental interventions” (DM 097, s. 2025, para. 9). DM 044, s. 2026 does not mention the IDR for Batch 2, though DM 069, s. 2025 provides one for every FY 2025 taker (para. 12). Start from the IDR if you have one. If you have none, check your official DepEd email, then write to the Bureau of Human Resource and Organizational Development’s Human Resource Development Division at bhrod.hrdd@deped.gov.ph (DM 044, s. 2026, para. 9).
Two cautions about reading the scores. A score of 65 is not 65% of items answered correctly: DepEd standardized the scores and converted them to a scale of 1 to 100 (DM 044, s. 2026, para. 4) without publishing the conversion; NASH Results 2025 Explained sets out what a 65 can and cannot mean. And a domain score tells you which domain, not which strand: a low Domain 2 score does not show whether the gap is in records, finances or staff. DepEd scores each indicator before it computes the domain scores (para. 4); if your IDR names indicators or strands among your areas for improvement, start from those. Otherwise, finding the strand takes evidence from your work.
Step 1: Write down what the result says
Record, in your own notes:
- your competency level and batch;
- each domain at 65 or above and each below 65, as your certificate or IDR shows them;
- the strengths, areas for improvement and interventions your IDR names;
- your program, TDP or PDI, and whether you are on the participant list for your division; and
- questions to ask your coach or the Schools Division Office (SDO).
Copy the figures exactly. Use only the scores your certificate and report show; do not estimate strand scores from a domain score or from questions you remember.
Step 2: Add evidence from your own work
A test score and a work sample show different things. Gather two or three recent pieces of your own work in each development domain: a plan you drafted, a record you kept, an analysis of learner data, a letter to parents, a meeting you ran. For each, ask:
- What was the problem, and what was my authorized role?
- What did I decide or do myself?
- What rule, standard or evidence did I use?
- What feedback or result showed a weakness in my approach?
- What would I do differently now?
Separate what you need to learn from what you need others to provide. A meeting that never happens because of conflicting schedules may need the school head’s authorization, not more study. A plan that counts every obstacle as a personal gap sets goals you cannot meet.
Step 3: Map each development domain to strands
The PPSSH has five domains and 34 strands across four career stages; Career Stage 1 describes aspiring school heads, who “demonstrate basic knowledge and understanding of the authority, responsibility, and accountability expected of school heads”. The strands below are the places to look first in each domain.
| Domain | Strands | A question to ask of your work |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Leading Strategically | 1.1 vision, mission and core values; 1.2 school planning and implementation; 1.3 policy implementation and review; 1.4 research and innovation; 1.5 program design and implementation; 1.6 learner voice; 1.7 monitoring and evaluation processes and tools | Can I explain how a problem, its evidence, the objectives, the actions and the review fit together? |
| 2. Managing School Operations and Resources | 2.1 records management; 2.2 financial management; 2.3 school facilities and equipment; 2.4 management of staff; 2.5 school safety for disaster preparedness, mitigation and resiliency; 2.6 emerging opportunities and challenges | Can I describe a school process accurately and follow the rules that govern it? |
| 3. Focusing on Teaching and Learning | 3.1 school-based review, contextualization and implementation of learning standards; 3.2 teaching standards and pedagogies; 3.3 teacher performance feedback; 3.4 learner achievement and other performance indicators; 3.5 learning assessment; 3.6 learning environment; 3.7 career awareness and opportunities; 3.8 learner discipline | Can I read learner evidence and connect it to a teaching response? |
| 4. Developing Self and Others | 4.1 personal and professional development; 4.2 professional reflection and learning; 4.3 professional networks; 4.4 performance management; 4.5 professional development of school personnel; 4.6 leadership development in individuals and teams; 4.7 general welfare of human resources; 4.8 rewards and recognition mechanism | Can I find a development need, use feedback and help others apply what they learn? |
| 5. Building Connections | 5.1 management of diverse relationships; 5.2 management of school organizations; 5.3 inclusive practice; 5.4 communication; 5.5 community engagement | Can I communicate clearly and bring the right people into a decision? |
Then read the Career Stage 1 indicator for the strand you chose. Some ask for knowledge and understanding; others ask for a skill. For example:
- 2.1.1: “Demonstrate skills in managing school data and information using technology, including ICT.”
- 3.5.1: “Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of learning assessment tools, strategies and utilization of results consistent with curriculum requirements.”
- 4.5.1: “Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of professional development in enhancing strengths and in addressing performance gaps among school personnel.”
The domain guides, Domain 1, Domain 2, Domain 3, Domain 4 and Domain 5, give each strand’s Career Stage 1 indicator and the DepEd issuances and data behind it.
Step 4: Set two or three goals
Pick two or three strands to start, from the domains your result names. A good goal names a decision or piece of work that should improve, can be practiced in your current role, and can be checked by someone else.
| Too broad | A usable goal |
|---|---|
| Improve in Domain 2 | Map one school records process, find one verified gap and propose a fix the school head can approve, within four weeks |
| Become an instructional leader | Interpret one class’s assessment results, propose a support response and revise it after the coach’s feedback |
| Get better at developing others | Help plan one learning action cell session on a need the teachers identified, then check whether its strategy appears in their lessons |
| Communicate better | Draft a parent notice for one school program, test it with three parents, and revise it |
Finishing a course or raising a practice score can be a milestone, not the goal.
Step 5: Plan study, practice, feedback and review
Each goal needs four things:
- Study the standard, the governing issuance or the method. For school forms, that is DepEd Order No. 006, s. 2025; for classroom assessment, DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026, which repealed DO 8, s. 2015 (para. 6).
- Practice it in a task you are authorized to do.
- Get feedback from someone who can see the work: your TDP or PDI coach, the school head or a master teacher.
- Review whether the next attempt is better than the first.
A coach’s questions test the reasoning: What evidence supports this? What else did you consider? Who must approve it? What could stop it? What would make you change the plan? Before the FY 2025 assessment, DepEd encouraged aspiring school heads to join coaching and mentoring “with experienced and proficient school principals” (DepEd Memorandum No. 069, s. 2025, para. 13); after the results, the TDP and PDI assign an SDO coach.
A one-page development worksheet
| Field | What to write |
|---|---|
| Domain, strand and indicator | The one you are working on, and why |
| Starting evidence | What your certificate, IDR and work samples show |
| Goal | The decision or work that should improve |
| Study | The issuance, resource or session |
| Practice task | The authorized task where you will apply it |
| Support | Coach or mentor, approvals, people, time |
| Evidence of progress | What will show the improvement |
| Review date | When you and your coach will look at it |
| Status and next step | Done, in progress, or blocked, and what comes next |
Keep it to one page per goal. If your school or the program already gives you a form that covers the same fields, use that instead of copying the information twice.
Two examples
The examples are fictional.
A Master Teacher with a three-domain result (TDP). Domains 2 and 4 were below 65. The teacher keeps class records well but has never followed a schoolwide process from end to end, and has run training sessions without checking whether teachers used them.
| Goal A: records (strand 2.1) | Goal B: developing others (strands 4.2 and 4.5) | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | In four weeks, map the school’s learner-records process, find one verified gap and propose a fix | In six weeks, help plan one learning action cell session on a need teachers named, and check whether it shows up in their lessons |
| Study | DO 006, s. 2025 on school forms; the school’s own procedure | The learning action cell guide; indicator 4.5.1 |
| Practice | Trace a sample of records with the school records in-charge | Co-plan and co-facilitate with the designated facilitator; observe two lessons afterward |
| Evidence | First and revised process maps; the in-charge’s comments | Session plan, teacher feedback, observation notes, a reflection |
| Support | School head’s authorization; TDP coach | School head’s authorization; facilitator; TDP coach |
The first process map will probably be wrong in places. What shows growth is the revised map and the teacher’s account of what was corrected and why. For Goal B, a well-run session is half the evidence; the other half is whether teachers used the strategy afterward, and if not, why.
A teacher-in-charge With Developmental Areas (PDI). Domain 3 was the lowest. The teacher-in-charge handles daily operations but has no routine for using learner assessment results to adjust support.
| Field | Entry |
|---|---|
| Strand and indicator | 3.5 learning assessment; indicator 3.5.1 |
| Starting evidence | IDR names Domain 3; school records show assessment results with no follow-up decisions |
| Goal | By the end of Phase 2, explain the main learner needs in two grades and design an evidence-review routine with the teachers |
| Phase 2 work | Review a sample of results with the teachers; draft the routine and the WAP with the coach |
| Phase 3 work | Carry out the approved WAP; hold review meetings; write the Workplace Application Accomplishment Report (WAAR) |
| Evidence | Baseline analysis, the reviewed design, meeting decisions, coach’s notes, the WAAR |
The development goal, “use assessment evidence to adjust support”, becomes the WAP (DM 044, s. 2026 calls it the Work Application Plan): a project with objectives, milestones, resources, risks and a monitoring plan, approved by the Schools Division Superintendent. NASH Work Application Plan (WAP): A Guide With Example works through that step, and NASH TDP and PDI: Phases, Coaches and Certificates gives the program rules and dates.
Reviewing progress
Judge progress by the work, not by how confident you feel. At each review, put the first and the latest version side by side and ask: Is the explanation more accurate? Does the decision follow from the evidence? Is the plan feasible? Did the feedback change anything? A plain three-step description can help: “I need guided explanation”; “I can do it with support”; “I can do it and justify it within my role”. These are your own labels, not PPSSH career stages or NASH levels, and progress on one task is not mastery of a domain.
Write reflections about one decision, not about the activity in general. What did you first think the problem was? What evidence changed your view? What did you revise, and what happened next? What is still uncertain or outside your authority? Indicator 4.2.1 asks aspiring school heads to understand how reflection improves practice; writing reflections like these practices 4.2.2, “Apply professional reflection and learning to improve one’s practice.”
Practice questions and your plan
Practice questions help you study a domain, and the NASH practice questions with answers on this blog are written to the PPSSH indicators. Use them to find reasoning gaps, not to predict your rating: a practice score is not an official NASH score, and getting repeated questions right shows memory as much as judgment. After each wrong answer, find the indicator, read the issuance behind it, and try a different case on the same strand.
What this means for school heads
A school head is often the first person an aspiring teacher asks for help with a NASH result. If the teacher is willing to share it, look at the IDR’s areas for improvement together; help the teacher choose one practice task in your school, and agree on what records and time the teacher may use. Give feedback on the work itself. Doing this serves PPSSH strand 4.6, leadership development in individuals and teams; at Career Stage 2, indicator 4.6.2 reads “Provide opportunities to individuals and teams in performing leadership roles and responsibilities.” If you are a School Principal II to IV who has completed NEAP’s Training of Coaches and Mentors and meets the other standards in Enclosure No. 3 to DM-OULS-2026-397, the Schools Division Superintendent may designate and endorse you as a coach (Enclosure Nos. 2 to 4).
Frequently asked questions
Should I focus only on my lowest domain?
Start with the domains your result and IDR name, since those decide your level and your program; the PDI focuses “on the PPSSH Domain identified for Development” (DM 044, s. 2026, para. 5). Within them, start with the strand you meet most often in your current work. Keep the other domains in view; most school decisions involve more than one.
Can I make a development plan before taking the NASH?
Yes. Indicator 4.1.1 asks aspiring school heads for exactly this self-assessment (DO 024, s. 2020). Label it as a self-assessment, and revise it when your official results arrive.
Is my development plan the same as the WAP?
No. The personal plan sets your learning goals. The WAP is the program’s project document, with one general objective, at least three specific objectives, a timeline of no more than six months, and the coach’s review and the Schools Division Superintendent’s approval (DM-OULS-2026-397, Enclosure No. 8).
What if my practice scores rise but my school work does not?
A practice score is not an official rating, and you may be remembering repeated items rather than reasoning through new cases. Check whether you had a real task to apply the strand, whether you got feedback on it, and whether the task used the skill the strand describes. Change the task or the support, not just the practice set. Indicator 4.2.1 is the standard here: understanding “how professional reflection and learning can be used in improving practice” (DO 024, s. 2020).
How do I know the plan is working?
You can point to a piece of work that improved, explain what evidence or feedback changed it, and do the same thing well in a new situation. That is what indicator 4.2.2 describes at Career Stage 2: “Apply professional reflection and learning to improve one’s practice” (DO 024, s. 2020).
Sources
- DepEd Order No. 024, s. 2020, National Adoption and Implementation of the Philippine Professional Standards for School Heads, September 7, 2020 (domains, strands, Career Stage 1, and indicators 2.1.1, 3.5.1, 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.5.1 and 4.6.2).
- DepEd Order No. 006, s. 2025, Guidelines on the Streamlining of School Forms and Reports Accomplished by Teachers, March 20, 2025.
- DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026, Revised Guidelines on Classroom Assessment, Grading System, and Awards and Recognition for the K to 12 Basic Education Program, June 4, 2026 (para. 6).
- DepEd Memorandum No. 069, s. 2025, Administration of the National Assessment for School Heads for Fiscal Year 2025, August 11, 2025 (paras. 12–13).
- DepEd Memorandum No. 097, s. 2025, Results of the National Assessment for School Heads for Fiscal Year 2025 (Batch 1), October 21, 2025 (paras. 8–9).
- DepEd Memorandum No. 044, s. 2026, Results of the National Assessment for School Heads for Fiscal Year 2025 (Batch 2), July 4, 2026 (paras. 2, 5, 7, 9).
- DM-OULS-2026-397, Guidelines on the Conduct of the National Assessment for School Heads (NASH) Targeted Development Program (TDP) and Professional Development Intervention (PDI), September 7, 2026 (para. 4), with Enclosure No. 2 (Sec. III and Figure 3) and Enclosure Nos. 3, 4 and 8; disseminated in Schools Division of Zamboanga del Norte Division Memorandum No. 524, s. 2026.
Written by Mark Anthony Llego for NASH Reviewer. Sources: DepEd Order No. 024, s. 2020; DepEd Memoranda No. 069 and 097, s. 2025 and No. 044, s. 2026; DM-OULS-2026-397. NASH Reviewer is not affiliated with DepEd.