The Foundation’s flagship after-school program: ISIPNAYAN

Isipnayan was conceived by the One Small Step Forward Foundation as a supplemental math remediation program that would use the typical strengths of the Kumon, e.nopi, Aloha etc. math programs:

  • daily homework on off days, based on the “practice makes perfect” principle

  • 2-3 days of the week doing classwork at the center and correcting errors found on previous homework submitted

  • bringing back students to lower levels when found to be making errors or taking too much time on work sheets

  • letting students move ahead when they make little or no errors and do the sheets within expected time

  • allowing good students to do more worksheets per day if they obviously have the capacity and capability to do so

In effect, children proceed at their own pace.

Over the course of four, five or six years (depending on whether the child enrolls in the program while in in Grade 1, Grade 2 or Grade 3), the Isipnayan math program of One Small Step Forward Foundation has consistently provided the following benefits to its scholars: 

  • Significantly increased math abilities and skill for the entire spectrum of starting capability – slow, average and fast-learner. Slow students catch up with their classmates in math class, average students start to achieve high grades in math, and fast students excel in inter-school competitions, attain high elementary school academic honors, get accepted into science high schools, and excel in high school academics

  • Greater discipline, focus and concentration for school and homework, as reinforced by daily homework drills 

  • Increased self-confidence in their academic skills, including participation in math competitions 

Related to the Isipnayan math program, the foundation has also regularly subsidized the schools’ expenses related to their participation in MTAP competitions. And why shouldn’t it, since most of the competitors from the schools where the Foundation operated were Isipnayan scholars?

Teachers assisting students in a classroom setting
Classroom with students sitting at desks, writing and engaged in activities, with colorful green chairs and walls decorated with educational posters.
Group photo with children holding certificates at school event
Child wearing glasses studying, writing in an open book with a pen, focusing intently, with a blue bag in the background.

Our Success

Since 2003 up to just before Covid, the Foundation’s Kumon-Isipnayan math remediation program had seen more than 3,500 students go through its rooms and work on its worksheets, with nearly 200 having completed the entire elementary school math course work. For Bagumbayan Elementary School alone, for example, there were two Program Completers in March 2025 – Sean Alexander de Vera and Benjamin Villareal III. Sean passed the entrance exams for Philippine Science High School and Ateneo, and decided to take his high school in Ateneo on full scholarship. Benjamin, on the other hand, passed and accepted the offer from Philippine Science High School.  

The first school to adopt the math remediation program was Libis Elementary School in 2003, followed by Bagumbayan Elementary School (BES) in 2004. BES has had the smallest student population among all the Isipnayan schools, averaging only 400 student enrolment. Still, OSSFFI had sponsored an average of 50 math program scholars from BES each year. The bigger public elementary schools like Pura V. Kalaw, Cubao, and Pasong Tamo averaged 120-140 iSipnayan students per year. 

In just the three schools of Bagumbayan Elementary School, Libis Elementary School and New Era Elementary School (the three schools that immediately signed up to resurrect the Isipnayan program after the pandemic), we have nearly 200 students enrolled as of March 2025, and this number is prior to the new intake for schoolyear 2025-2026.

Most of them will have entered while in Grade 1 or Grade 2, with a few entering while in Grade 3 or Grade 4. Rarely will the staff accept students in Grade 5, let alone Grade 6, since the impact will not be quickly felt and it is usually demotivating to senior students to see much younger schoolmates doing much better than them. Turnover has historically averaged 20% annually. Roughly, 35% of enrollees will finish the program (doing Grade 6, Grade 7 or Grade 8 material just before graduation).

Isipnayan students have always tended to do well in their grade school math subjects, even after only a year or two in the program. The teachers tend to note that it’s the Isipnayan students who tend to pay attention more, who submit their assignments on time, and who score the highest in the periodic exams. As you would expect, they’re also the students who are tapped to represent the school in the inter-school math competitions, especially MTAP where, they compete and tend to win at the cluster level, then compete and still hold their own at the district level, and occasionally, even compete at the regional levels against the private school competitors.

And there is the anecdotal evidence. Very often, we hear the parents beam with pride as they recount how their child enrolled in the Isipnayan program would pull out his or her worksheet as soon as they reach home and would not go out to play until the worksheet was done. Or how their children are able to solve math problems in their heads, without needing a calculator or pen and paper. Or how the child is already solving math problems that the parents can barely understand. Or how their Grade 5 child taking the program is helping their older brother already in high school solve difficult high school math problems 

And how well have the Isipnayan scholars done in high school, specifically, those who completed the program? In a phrase, exceptionally well. In the three years before the pandemic struck, we have had four - one from Libis Elementary School, one from Pura V. Kalaw Elementary School,  and two from Cubao Elementary School - who were accepted into the Philippine Science High School. Seven had qualified for Quezon City Science High School (e.g., PTES’ Paul Givero, Denise Perez and Chrishelle Malquisto). Four were offered full scholarship at the Ateneo High School (e.g., PTES’ Shania Sumalpong, Christian Domingo, Joshua Visitacion and Romualdo Ocillos III) while five were offered full scholarships at Fountain International School (e.g., PTES’ Jimboy Cobilla, Ace Alemania, Abelicah Zafe, Ian Garcia, Blooming Moneda, and Catherine Macalincag). Once in high school, former Isipnayan scholars tend to shine in math as well as other subjects. So many of the Isipnayan alumni visit to tell us that they’re best in math in their section or in their junior high year level.

Almost every year prior to the pandemic, One Small Step Forward Foundation has offered the best and brightest Grade 6 Isipnayan students a chance to get a tuition-free seat in Newton Study Center, one  of the top-rated college and PSHS entrance exam review schools. This gives the candidates a decent chance at making it to Philippine Science High School, of if not there, at least to QC Science High School. Among those given the opportunity in recent years were Elmer Gasper Kirk Distajo of Cubao Elementary School; Rae Duka, also of Cubao Elementary School; and Jamea Siasoco, Raul Mendoza, and Princess Morillo of Libis Elementary School.

A picture features a testimonial for the iSipnayan program with a logo and text on the left and a smiling woman on the right. The text mentions Angela Alva, an HR professional, who shares her experience participating in the iSipnayan Program at Bagumbayan Elementary School in Grade 4, highlighting the program's benefits in enhancing her mathematical analysis skills.
A testimonial image featuring a person in a red shirt and hat, with a written testimonial in Tagalog praising iSipnayan for improving their math skills, attributed to Jimboy V. Cobilla, a first-year college student at Ateneo De Manila University. The iSipnayan logo and social media icons are at the bottom.
A testimonial image for Isipnayan featuring a person named Rae Julien Duka. The testimonial, written in Filipino, praises the challenging worksheets from Isipnayan for enhancing mathematical and analytical skills. It includes a five-star rating and mentions usage of lessons for academic success. The background shows blurred people and the Isipnayan logo is visible. Social media icons are at the bottom.
Testimonial image featuring a person in formal attire, with text written in Filipino. The testimonial expresses appreciation for iSipnayan, a math learning program, highlighting its impact during elementary school. The testimonial credits iSipnayan with advancing the student’s math skills and mentions participation in MTAP competitions. The person, Eduard Ace Alemania, is identified as an incoming first-year college student at Ateneo de Manila University. The image includes iSipnayan's logo and social media icons.
Children playing a math card game at a wooden desk in a classroom.
Group of students and teachers posing for a photo at an annual recognition ceremony.
Students in classroom writing, teacher observing
Group of students and teachers at an awards ceremony holding certificates and medals, standing in front of a decorated backdrop.

FAQs

Where did the name iSipnayan come from?

“Sipnayan” is the deep Tagalog term for mathematics. This was combined with “isip” which means “to think” to mean “I think Math”. 

How did the program begin?

After having used the Kumon Math program of Kumon Philippines from 2003 to 2007 as its primary after-school math supplement program in both Libis and Bagumbayan Elementary Schools, OSSFFI decided in early 2007 to develop its own math program, using a development team that consisted of Cheryll Limos, Jelline Sanchez (both Philippine Science High School alumni), Michelle Salvador, Jaah Hermano, Kath Malijan, and Ann Guarin, all taking up their masters degree in Applied Math, major in Finance at ADMU, under the direction of Victor Claravall, OSSFFI director in-charge of the math remediation program. 

By late 2007, the development team had completed Grades 1 and 2 materials. By 2010, Isipnayan grades 3 and 4 materials were complete.  By 2014, grade 7 materials were finally completed and major revisions were made to the grades 1-4 worksheet contents. Major revisions to grades 5-7 worksheets were also undertaken in the next few years.

How is iSipnayan different from other math programs?

What significantly differentiates the content and thrust of the new iSipnayan program from Kumon, e.nopi and the other systems is that it’s loosely modeled on math competition materials, including MTAP (Math Teachers Association of the Philippines), MTG (Math Teachers Guild) and international Math Olympiad (IMO).

Unlike Kumon and e.nopi, where all math problems consist of purely numbers and mathematical operators, in both local and international competitions such as MTAP and MTG, the tests are all in word problem format, i.e., in full sentences. Hence, there was the extra challenge of reading comprehension and understanding the word problems, which has always been a weakness of the Kumon program. The Isipnayan math program was designed from the beginning to address that deficiency by using the English sentence problem format.

Given the below-average reading literacy levels in the public school systems, the iSipnayan program provides the extra benefit of reinforcing the practice of reading – and understanding – problem sentences phrased in both Filipino and English.

But it does the MTAP-MTG-IMO style several steps better: 

  • The new math program still includes math drills on the side – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division drills through flash cards, decimal ten number boards, and math logic puzzles – to ensure that math operations speed and accuracy is not sacrificed.

  • The material is more socially relevant by using Filipino terms, history, geography and sociology in the word problems, e.g., Juan walks 1000 feet up to the peak of Taal Volcano, which is located in the middle of Taal Lake, then climbs down 550 feet. How many more feet does he need to walk down before he reaches his starting point? 

  • At the lower grades, it includes word problems in Filipino, recognizing that public school kids do not go through nursery, kindergarten or prep schooling, hence have very limited reading skills. And their earliest vocabulary set is in the local language. The percentage of word problems in Filipino vs. English decreases as the child goes up grade level. 

  • The coverage is broader, to include “near-math” concepts such as telling time, reading the calendar, understanding directional instructions, Roman numerals, measurement units, etc. 

  • Looking at the questions included in competitions for just one grade level often gives the impression that there is no logic or structure to the types of questions asked. iSipnayan has a structured curriculum that backstops the development of worksheets. 

  • Level of difficulty for the activity sheets is also tightly structured – from 90% easy in worksheet 01 to 90% difficult in worksheet 100 or 125 for the same grade level.