CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT IN A JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL: A CASE STUDY

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Date
1988-02
Authors
PAUL, TURTON
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Abstract
The experiment was a case study of the operation of continuous assessment in a Junior Secondary School, and determined experimentally the correlation between continuous assessment scores in Integrated Science and an externally applied achievement test. For Year Three pupils, the achievement test applied was the Kaduna State Junior Secondary Examination. In the cases of Years one and two, specially prepared achievement tests were used. The three achievement tests all showed high reliabilities; Year One 0.90, Year Two 0.81 and Year Three 0.85. The correlations discovered between these tests and the accumulated continuous assessment scores were; Year One 0.66, Year Two 0.77 and Year Three 0.77. These results were of a high level of significance ( > 0.001 ). As a validating measure, all the pupils were tested with Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices, a non-verbal test of general intelligence. The correlations between the scores on this test and those on continuous assessment and the achievement tests were; Year One 0.37, 0.44, Year Two 0.49, 0.50 and Year Three 0.44, 0.48. These results were well within the range of previously reported results and all were of high significance ( > 0.001 ). The results were also analysed to establish if there were differences in the performances of boys and girls on the tests. No major differences were discovered although a slight tendency in favour of boys was noted. The conclusion drawn was that continuous assessment in Integrated Science, using the record keeping system devised for Kaduna State (the NNPC system) would give reliable results which correlated well with external measures. These results would also form a reliable basis for the prediction of pupil performance. No statistical treatment of continuous assessment test scores at the school level was involved, and the study showed that consistent results could be obtained without such practices.
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A thesis submitted to the Postgraduate School, Ahmadu Bello University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction (Science) Faculty of Education Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria February 1988
Keywords
CONTINUOUS, ASSESSMENT, JUNIO, SECONDARY SCHOOL:
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