:: About CEM

The rising demand among private schools in the early 70s for reliable tests for student selection and institutional planning paved the way for the establishment of the Center for Educational Measurement in 1978.

CEM is a nonprofit, nonstock, nongovernment institution. It grew out of the centralized testing program initiated by the Guidance and Testing Division of the Fund for Assistance to Private Education (FAPE). Through its present network of branches and test centers nationwide, CEM serves the assessment needs of both private and public sectors of education.

It is now almost 35 years since FAPE introduced the first locally developed College Entrance Test. And 26 years after CEM was established, 60 more tests were added to its offerings: tests of achievement in various subject areas of basic education; tests for entrance to high school, college, and professional schools; and tests for career guidance and scholarship. A series of instructional and advisory programs for teachers, guidance counselors and school administrators complement these offerings.

To hone its expertise and to update its capability in measurement and research, CEM continues to explore working with academic institutions and assessment organizations locally and in other parts of the world. CEM staff have joined training programs of the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Global Institute, USA and the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) International Institute. CEM is also a member of the International Association for Educational Assessment, the International Reading Association, and the American Psychological Association. CEM has also established a partnership with the Office of Measurement Services of the University of Minnesota.

CEM's distinct advantage is its pioneering efforts to bring to the classroom locally developed tests attuned to the Philippine setting. Its concerns are central to the quest for understanding how students learn. Its ultimate goal is to help schools create and propagate knowledge about the growth of the learner by linking research and practice in classroom-based assessment.