TL;DR: Retention is now governed by DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026, signed 4 June 2026 and effective from SY 2026-2027, which expressly repeals DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2015. Year-end has four possible outcomes: pass everything and be promoted; fail at most two learning areas and go to Summer Remedial Class; still fail one or two after that and be conditionally promoted with the deficiency carried as a back subject, one per term, through School-Initiated Intervention; or fail more than two learning areas and be retained. The passing mark stays at 75. The order also states that a learner is not to be retained on the basis of age alone, a single assessment result, or academic performance by itself.
Most of what you will find online about DepEd retention describes DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2015. That order was repealed. It governed for eleven years, so the volume of accurate-at-the-time material about it is enormous, and much of it is still circulating in school seminars and reshared decks. This guide sets out the ladder as it stands under the order that actually applies now. For the wider grading changes it sits inside, see our guide to DepEd's new grading system; for the parent-facing walkthrough of what repeating a year involves, see our guide to repeating a grade.
Which Order Actually Applies
DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026 carries the title "Revised Guidelines on Classroom Assessment, Grading System, and Awards and Recognition for the K to 12 Basic Education Program." It was signed on 4 June 2026 and takes effect beginning school year 2026-2027. Its repeal clause is explicit: the order repeals DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2015, and it supersedes existing issuances inconsistent with it, including DepEd Order No. 36, s. 2016 on awards and recognition.
Coverage is worth noting too. The order is mandatory for DepEd schools from Kindergarten to Grade 12. Private and other non-DepEd schools are encouraged to adopt it, with room to modify subject to approval by the appropriate DepEd Regional Office, so a private school's promotion rules may legitimately differ.
The Four Outcomes at Year-End
| Result | What happens | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Passes all learning areas | Promoted | Moves to the next grade level normally |
| Fails at most two learning areas | Summer Remedial Class (SRC) | Remediation first; retention is not the immediate consequence |
| Still fails one or two after SRC | Conditionally promoted | Enrols in higher-level subjects already passed, clears the deficiency as a back subject through School-Initiated Intervention, limited to one back subject per term |
| Fails more than two learning areas | Retained | Repeats the same grade level |
Two features of this ladder matter more than the numbers.
Remediation comes before retention. Failing one or two subjects does not by itself end the year in a repeat. The learner goes through Summer Remedial Class first, and only a learner who is still short afterwards is dealt with under the conditional-promotion route.
Conditional promotion is a real, named outcome. This is the substantive difference from the old framework's simpler promoted-or-retained pairing. A learner who is a little behind moves up carrying one back subject at a time rather than repeating everything they already passed. The one-per-term cap exists so the arrangement does not quietly become an unmanageable backlog.
Sourcing note: the operative text is DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026 itself. The provisions above are as set out in DepEd division orientation materials and teacher-facing summaries of the order. If a decision affecting a specific learner turns on the exact wording, read the order from DepEd's own site rather than any summary, including this one.
What the Order Says About Not Retaining
The order does not leave retention to a single arithmetic test. It states that learners shall not be retained solely on the basis of age, a single assessment result, or academic performance alone, and that promotion decisions are to consider overall progress, readiness, the available assessment evidence, and the learner's participation in the interventions and support the school provided.
That last clause cuts both ways, and it is the sentence parents should know. A retention proposal implies the school can point to the interventions it offered and the learner's participation in them. Remediation within the term is also expected rather than optional: the order calls for timely, targeted and documented remediation integrated into instruction for learners consistently performing below expectations.
If a school raises retention, the reasonable questions are: which learning areas, what remediation was provided and when, what the documentation shows, and whether Summer Remedial Class has been offered.
Summer Remediation: How the Class Actually Runs
Summer remediation has its own issuance. DepEd Order No. 010, s. 2026 set the guidelines for the 2026 Summer Remediation Programs, which ran between school years from 6 May to 2 June 2026, Monday to Friday, with Fridays given over to home-based learning and to teachers preparing materials and documenting learner progress. It may be delivered face to face, online or blended depending on the school's context and resources.
The 2026 programme targeted incoming Grades 5 to 11 learners who did not obtain a passing grade in one or two learning areas, along with senior high learners who failed any learning area. Its academic component sits within the wider ARAL Program, covered in our ARAL Program guide.
Dates and coverage are set annually by a fresh issuance, so do not assume a future year's window from this one. Watch for the current year's order rather than working from last year's dates.
What Did Not Change
- The passing mark is still 75. A final grade of 75 or higher passes a learning area.
- The broad retention threshold is similar. The repealed order retained a learner failing three or more learning areas; the current one retains a learner failing more than two. The headline number is not where the change is.
- Remediation still precedes retention. Both frameworks put remedial work first.
What did change is the machinery around the grade: component names and weights were revised, transmutation is being phased out for Grades 4 to 12, and Kindergarten to Grade 3 are moving to descriptive rather than numeric grading in stages. Our DepEd grading system guide and the new grading system explainer cover those separately.
Senior High Works Differently
Senior high school is organised by semester and by subject rather than by whole-year promotion. A learner who fails a subject retakes that subject; a failed prerequisite has to be cleared before the subject that builds on it. That is why senior high learners who failed a subject were included in summer remediation regardless of how many they failed, while junior high learners were included only at one or two. The practical arrangement, when the retake is scheduled and whether it happens in summer or alongside the next semester, varies between schools, so confirm it with yours.
For Parents and Teachers: What to Do Now
- Check the vintage of anything you are relying on. If a handout, template or seminar deck cites DO 8, s. 2015 as current, it is out of date.
- Ask for the documentation, not the verdict. The order requires remediation to be documented, so there should be a record.
- Do not wait for year-end. Remediation within the term is the intended first response, not summer.
- Confirm what a private school follows. Non-DepEd schools may adopt the order with approved modifications.
- Read the order itself for anything consequential. Summaries, including ours, are a starting point.
Disclaimer: DepEd issuances on assessment and promotion are being revised through the current transition. Verify any rule affecting a specific learner with the school or the Schools Division Office before acting on it.
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Sources
- 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
- DepEd — DO 010, s. 2026: Guidelines for the Implementation of 2026 Summer Remediation Programs
- Comprehensive Orientation on DepEd Order No. 15, s. 2026 — division orientation deck reproducing the promotion and retention provisions
- SchoolFinderPH — DepEd's New Grading System
- SchoolFinderPH — Repeating a Grade: DepEd Rules on Retention
- SchoolFinderPH — ARAL Program Guide
