What Is the NASH? DepEd’s Assessment for School Heads

The National Assessment for School Heads, or NASH, is the test DepEd uses to check whether a teacher is ready to become a school principal. If you have been preparing for the National Qualifying Examination for School Heads (NQESH), the NASH is what replaced it.

This guide explains what the NASH is, what it measures, and how it differs from the exam it replaced. Every rule below comes from a DepEd memorandum or order, listed at the end of the article.

The NQESH became the NASH

DepEd Memorandum (DM) No. 069, s. 2025, issued in August 2025, announced the change. It says the NQESH “has been refocused and renamed” the National Assessment for School Heads. The stated goal is DepEd’s commitment that every school is led by “a competent and qualified principal.”

The rename is not only cosmetic. The memo describes the NASH as a developmental assessment tool: its job is to evaluate how ready aspiring school leaders are and to identify where each one needs to improve. That idea runs through everything else about the NASH, including how results are reported.

What the NASH measures

The NASH tests two things, according to both results memoranda (DM 097, s. 2025 and DM 044, s. 2026):

• conceptual understanding of school leadership, and
• situational critical thinking, meaning how you reason through realistic school situations.

The content is aligned with the Philippine Professional Standards for School Heads (PPSSH), adopted through DepEd Order (DO) No. 024, s. 2020. The PPSSH describes what a good school head knows, does and values, organized into five domains:

1. Leading Strategically
2. Managing School Operations and Resources
3. Focusing on Teaching and Learning
4. Developing Self and Others
5. Building Connections

NASH Competency Domains: The Five PPSSH Domains walks through each one and its strands.

DM 069 also says the questions use the SOLO taxonomy (Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome) as an underpinning framework. SOLO is a way of describing how deep an answer goes, from knowing a single fact to connecting several ideas and applying them to a new situation. In practice, that means the NASH rewards answers that show understanding, not memorized lines from the PPSSH.

Why DepEd calls it developmental

The results memos list four objectives for the NASH. In plain terms, DepEd wants to:

• build a larger pool of candidates to fill principal vacancies left by retirements, promotions and other staffing needs;
• give head teachers and assistant school principals, whose positions are affected by the new career progression system, a chance to be assessed;
• gather baseline data on what aspiring school leaders still need to learn, so the National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP) can design training around it; and
• identify each candidate’s own learning and development needs.

This is why the NASH results are not a simple pass or fail list. Batch 1 takers each received an Individual Development Report (IDR) summarizing their strengths, areas for improvement and recommended interventions. Takers are placed in a competency level, and some levels come with required training before or after appointment. How the NASH Is Scored: The 65-Point Rule explains the levels.

How the NASH is given

For fiscal year (FY) 2025, DepEd ran the NASH in two batches, each with a mock examination before the actual one:

FY 2025 NASH batches, scheduled and held

Batch	Scheduled in DM 069, s. 2025	Actually held
Batch 1	Mock: August 31, 2025. Actual: September 7, 2025	September 14, 2025 (DM 097, s. 2025)
Batch 2	Mock: November 30, 2025. Actual: December 7, 2025	May 17, 2026, after two reschedules (DM-OUHROD-2025-3318 and DM-OUHRODI-2026-0789)

Both batches were taken online through the DepEd Learning Management System (LMS) at assessment sites: 42 sites for Batch 1 and 65 for Batch 2. DM 044 adds that Batch 2 ran in “a secure, locked-down testing environment.” The dates moved from the original schedule, so always check the latest memorandum for your own batch.

Results are released through a DepEd memorandum. After that, each taker can download an Individual Certificate of Rating from the DepEd LMS. For Batch 1, DM 097 says the Individual Development Report was also sent to each taker’s official DepEd email; the Batch 2 memo does not mention it.

Who runs the NASH

The Bureau of Human Resource and Organizational Development, through its Human Resource Development Division (BHROD-HRDD), administers the NASH at the national level. Schools Division Offices (SDOs) handle the local work: their Human Resource Management Officers evaluate who may take the assessment, and their Human Resource Development units monitor takers who need further training afterwards.

For inquiries, the memos point to BHROD-HRDD at bhrod.hrdd@deped.gov.ph. Your application itself is evaluated by your schools division office (DM 069).

What the NASH is not

DM 069 is direct about one more point: DepEd is not affiliated with any person or group selling review classes or claiming access to test content. Anyone who tries to obtain test content or offer bribes may face administrative action. We cover those rules in NASH Review Classes: What DepEd’s Rules Say.

NASH Reviewer is also independent of DepEd. We explain the official issuances in plain language, but the memoranda themselves are the authority.

Key points

• The NASH replaced the NQESH in 2025 and is described as a developmental assessment.
• It measures conceptual understanding and situational critical thinking, based on the five PPSSH domains and the SOLO taxonomy.
• FY 2025 ran in two batches, online through the DepEd LMS at assessment sites.
• Results come with a competency level, not just a pass or fail mark; Batch 1 takers also received an Individual Development Report.