The State of Continuous Assessment Practices in Secondary Schools of Oromia Special Zone: Challenges and Prospects
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2012-11
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa Univerisity
Abstract
The Purpose of this study was to investigate the State of Continuous Assessment Practice
in secondary schools of Oromia Special Zone Surrounding Finfinne. 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 filled in and returned the questionnaire. In addition, five school principals and
five secondary school supervisors were interviewed. The collected data were analyzed
using frequencies, percentages and chi-squares. Some of the major findings were: Most
teachers had incomplete understanding about continuous 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 students,
teachers, school principals and educational experts. Conducting training and different
workshop with those concerned bodies is more advisable to increase the understanding in
the area. Teachers are expected to plan and involve students by providing tasks in the
continuous form.