THE CONCEPT OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS OF CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

THE CONCEPT, OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS OF CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page

Declaration

Certification

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Abstract

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION  

1.1    Background to the Study

1.2    Statement of the Problem

1.3    Purpose of the Study

1.4    Significance of the Study

1.5    Research Questions

1.6    Delimitation of the Study

1.7    Limitation of the Study

1.8    Definition of Terms

CHAPTER TWO:          REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

CHAPTER THREE:       RESEARCH METHODS

3.1    Area of the Study

3.2    Research Design

3.3    Population of the Study

3.4    Sample and Sampling Technique

3.5    Instrumentation

3.6    Instrument Validity

3.7    Administration of the Instrument

3.8    Administration of the Instrument

3.9    Method of Data Analysis

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

4.1    Data Analysis

4.2    Discussion of Findings

CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION

5.1    Summary

5.2    Recommendations

5.3    Conclusion

References

Appendix

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

The general notion underlying continuous assessment is that it is a mechanism whereby the final grading of a student in the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains of behaviour takes account of in a systematic way, all his or her performance during a given period of schooling (Essien, 2021).

According to Ebel (2019) continuous assessment may generally be used for summative or formative purposes. The summative type of assessment involves an overall assessment or decision concerning the worth of an educational programme.

Accordingly, formative assessment, on the other hand, is designed to help the teacher make effective teaching and learning decision throughout the period of teaching. It provides continuous information or feedback to the teacher as well as to the students about their relative performance in teaching-learning. The information is then used for improving the quality of instruction.

THE CONCEPT OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS OF CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

According to Essien (2021) the inception of Western Education in Nigeria brought Western method of assessment of students. It was introduced in the form of one summative external examination taken at the end of school year or course. This was practiced in all levels of education. This end of course examination was preceded by end-of-term and end-of-year examinations taken mainly for making decisions regarding the progress of students within their school.

According to the author, although local variations may exist where one or more tests were administered prior to the terminal examination but which did not form part of the final assessment of the students. The result of this one summative examination taken occasionally did not give a true assessment of the students.

The introduction of continuous assessment also came with its operational challenges. As noted by Frisbie (2021) large class posed as a problem. In school where the number of students in class is very large, the teacher will have to record more scores. The situation will be more tedious if a teacher is teaching more than one subject with very large class size. This will tend to give the teacher a lot of work to do in class.

However, according to Essien (2021) continuous assessment demands that teachers should be properly trained as to acquire technical skills. There is also the problem of lack of equipment and instructional materials. Accordingly, the author also identified characteristics of continuous assessment to include:

• Continuous assessment is systematic: it is systematic in the sense that it requires an operation plan.
• Continuous assessment is comprehensive because it practices all the expected changes in the behaviour of the students who are assessed and reported upon.

• Continuous assessment is cumulative since any decision to be made at any point in time on the students takes cognizance of all the assessment information up to that time. The concept operational challenges and prospects of continuous assessment in secondary schools.

• Continuous assessment is diagnostic because it monitors the strength and weakness of students progress.
• Continuous assessment is prognostic because it is an attempt to predict a student future performance in similar task based on the area of weaknesses.
• Continuous assessment is guidance oriented in the sense that information obtained from it is used to guide the students’ future development.

The author equally note that continuous assessment was introduced in secondary schools as a possible device for the nation to obtain objective data about the level of achievement of students at different levels of the educational system as well as a systematic accumulation of evidence on the standard attained with the system. Also, there is need for achieving the national objective in education as stated by Federal Government of Nigeria in National Policy on Education (2014).

Ebel (2019) observed that classroom assessment aims at determining the extent of student’s mastery or competence over a body of knowledge and skills in a subject. In addition, continuous assessment makes the teacher to be continually aware of the development and knowledge of his or her students for a period of time. This study therefore examines the concept, operational challenges and prospect of continuous assessment in secondary schools in Etinan Local Government Area.

1.2    Statement of the Problem

The behaviour demonstrated by students in secondary schools during the teaching-learning situation in the classroom will certify whether some learning had taken place or not. The students are thus assessed to make sure that instructional objectives have achieved some level of competence or new skills taught had been mastered.

Continuous assessment, be it on primary, secondary or tertiary institution is to separate the sheep from goats, It also assure students improve their academic performance in the various subjects in school. Be that as it may, it has been noted that continuous assessment has variation in approach from school to school during operation. This is done partly to operational challenges.

Assessments of students are not properly carried out and this results in poor performance of students in secondary schools. One of the problems is schools where the number of students in class is very large, the teacher will have to  record more scores. The concept operational challenges and prospects of continuous assessment in secondary schools.

It is imperative to note that the large number of students pose special challenges to teachers, especially in relation to motivation, managing learning activities and discipline.

Other challenges include stress put on the teacher when it comes to recording of continuous assessment marks in the record books, the number of students, teacher’s contact hours which should reduce by the fact that continuous assessment takes a lot of time.

Be that as it may, the study therefore seeks to determine the relationship between the concept, operational challenges and prospects of continuous assessment and how it affects student’s performance in their subjects in secondary schools in Etinan Local Government Area.

1.3    Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to examine the concept, operational challenges and prospects of continuous assessment in secondary schools. Specifically, the study seeks:

1. To determine how the concept of continuous assessment influence academic progress of students in secondary schools.
2. To find out the problems/challenges of continuous assessment in secondary schools.
3. To investigate solutions to the problems of continuous assessment in secondary schools.

Significance of the Study

The finding of this study will highlight the concept, challenges and prospects of continuous assessment in secondary schools. the finding from the study will enable school teachers to have the basic knowledge of the concept, operational challenges and the general outlook of continuous assessment. This will enable them to have effective basic for assessing students. To educational authorities, especially school administrators and ministry of education and the state secondary students.

To the authorities especially school administrators and ministry of education and the state secondary Education Board (SSEB) personnel, it will serve as a guide to and design appropriate in service training programmes to update teachers’ skills in assessment to the stakeholders’ it will give insight on the activities in schools in term of assessment in schools and the problems assessment with it.

Finally, scholars students interested in studying more about the concept, operational challenges and prospect of continuous assessment will find the result of this study a useful material for further research.

1.5    Research Questions   

The following research questions were formulated to guide the researcher in the study:

1. How does the concept of continuous assessment influence academic progress of students in secondary schools?
2. What are problems/challenges of conducting continuous assessment in secondary schools?

3. What are the solutions to the problems of continuous assessment in secondary schools?

Limitation of the Study

One problem is that time constraints did not allow for coverage of such an extensive scope. In addition, there were transport problems in accessing the sampled schools. Insufficient fund did not also allow for a wider coverage of all the school in the study area.

Definition of Terms

Continuous Assessment: This refers to the systematic determination of the extent of student’s progress or lack of it in the school subjects including attitudes and values from the first day the steps into school up to and including the last day.

Concept: This is an idea underlying continuous assessment. It is also the general notion or meaning of continuous assessment. The concept operational challenges and prospects of continuous assessment in secondary schools.

Operational Challenges: This refers to the problems associated with implementation and use of continuous assessment in schools. It is that problem that hinders operation of continuous assessment in schools.

Prospects: It means the chances of success of continuous assessment in schools. It also refers to the general outlook of continuous assessment as used in secondary schools.

Teaching: This is the work of a teacher which is that of passing instruction to learners to know or able to do something well.

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