The recognition highlights local governments that turn collaborative education governance into measurable improvements in children’s learning and school participation.
Synergeia Foundation has opened the call for entries for the 2027 Seal of Good Education Governance, inviting local government units (LGUs) to demonstrate how their leadership, programs, and partnerships are helping children attend school, learn well, and complete a good elementary education.
The Seal recognizes local governments that have reinvented their Local School Boards (LSBs), engaged communities in improving children’s learning, achieved high retention and cohort survival rates, significantly reduced the number of non-readers and frustrated readers, and increased the number of independent readers.
More than feel-good stories, the Seal measures the results of communities’ collaborative work to improve education. It underscores the importance of translating local leadership and collective action into measurable gains in learning outcomes.
Measuring Results, Not Just Activities
The Seal of Good Education Governance adopts a data-driven and evidence-based approach to assessing education governance. Its evaluation focuses on measurable outcomes, including reading proficiency, retention rates, and cohort survival rates.
Local government units must support their reported accomplishments and activities with relevant official documents, such as executive orders, local issuances, and Local School Board agendas and meeting minutes. These documents help ensure that claims are verifiable and demonstrate how local education initiatives are planned, implemented, and sustained.
The evaluation gives greater weight to demonstrated improvements in learning outcomes, supported by functional and empowered LSBs, strong leadership from local chief executives, and transparent and strategic mobilization of resources for education.
Meaningful community participation is also central to the Seal. The evaluation recognizes the involvement of parents, teachers, school leaders, civil society organizations, the private sector, and other stakeholders in education planning, decision-making, implementation, and monitoring. Their participation helps ensure that programs respond to the needs of learners and their communities.
Online Application Introduced for 2027
For this year’s application, Synergeia Foundation is introducing an online form to facilitate the submission of entries.
Participating local government units may access the 2027 Seal of Good Education Governance Application Form here: https://forms.gle/wy8t3VqccQL6GFYJA
Applicants must use a Google or Gmail account and ensure they are signed in when accessing the form. They may pause and return to their application later using the same account and form link. Before continuing, they should check that their previous responses are still available.
Applicants may also edit their submitted responses until the deadline. All entries must be submitted by December 10, 2026, at 11:59 p.m.
Recognition That Supports Continuous Improvement
The Board of Evaluators comprises representatives from Synergeia Foundation and its partner organizations, selected for their relevant expertise and ability to assess entries objectively and impartially.
Following the awarding, each participating local government unit will receive its evaluation scores and assessment results. This allows local governments to understand their performance, identify areas for improvement, and strengthen their education governance systems and programs.
Through the Seal, Synergeia Foundation, whose mission is to transform how leaders govern and to empower communities to create a better life for themselves and their children, seeks to help LGUs continuously raise the standards of education governance and build on their efforts to improve learning outcomes.
Ultimately, the Seal of Good Education Governance is not only a recognition of achievements. It is an opportunity for local governments and their communities to learn from evidence, strengthen collaboration, and work toward a shared goal: ensuring that every child has the opportunity to learn well and complete a good basic education.
Advancing Good Education Governance Together
The 2027 Seal of Good Education Governance is supported by the Department of the Interior and Local Government, which strengthens local governance, promotes peace and order, and helps LGUs deliver basic services effectively to their communities.
It also brings together Philippine Business for Social Progress, the Philippines’ largest business-led NGO for social development, advancing corporate citizenship, sustainable development, and poverty reduction; and the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, the umbrella organization of local government leagues and elected officials that advocates for stronger local autonomy and good governance. For more information about the 2027 Seal of Good Education Governance, visit https://synergeia.org.ph/.
