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