The State of Continuous Assessment Practices in Secondary Schools of Oromia Special Zone: Challenges and Prospects

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Date

2012-11

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Addis Ababa University

Abstract

The Purpose of this study was to investigate the State of Continuous Assessment Practices in secondary schools of Oromia Special Zone Surrounding Finjinne. For this study, mixed method and descriptive survey research was employed; both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through questionnaire, interviews and documents. Of the total sample size of the two study groups, 63 (87. 5%) of the teachers and 197(89.95%) of students jilled in and returned the questionnaire. In addition, jive school principals and jive secondary school supervisors were interviewed. The collected data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages and chi-squares. Some of tke major jindings were: Most teachers had incomplete understanding about contii1Uous assessment in that they concentrated on summative components of assessment; they didn't include a variety of continuous assessment tools in their plan and did not use in the class room activities. Thus, the practice of continuous assessment is low. Moreover, it was found that most of the teachers considered continuous assessment as a series of paper and pencil test activities to measure students' performance. Most teachers see continuous assessment as tiresome and more time consuming. Regarding continuous assessment guideline, almost the majority of teachers replied that there was no continuous assessment guideline to measure practical skills. There was a great difference among schools in practicing continuous assessment from planning up to implementation. Thus, to improve the situation, it is recommended that: Preparing manuals and guidelines for the front line practitioners and efforts should be made to create awareness continuously for studenlS, teachers, school principals and educational experts. Conducting training and different workshop with those concerned bodies is more advisable to increase the understanding 111 the area. Teachers are expected to plan and involve students by providing tasks in the continuous form.

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Keywords

Continuous Assessment Practices

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