SURVEY OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT IN SELECTED SECOND CYCLE PRIMARY SCHOOLS OF WOGERA WOREDA

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the practice of continuous assessment in some selected second cycle primary schools of Wogera woreda. In other to address these basic research questions, the both quantitative and qualitative designs were employed. Both closed-ended & open-ended questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, FDG, and document analysis were used to collect data. In analyzing the collected data, both quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques were employed. To analyze the collected quantitative data, statistical analysis techniques such as One-Sample t-test and One- Way ANOVA were analyzed. However, to analyzed qualitative data narrative descriptions and interpretation of data were also employed. Thus, the findings of the study were summarized as follows: The analysis of One-Sample t-test indicated the t-value of the average practice of continuous assessment techniques (-7.44236) was significantly greater than the t critical value (2.29). Thus, the observed mean of the average practice of continuous assessment techniques (2.239) was significantly smaller than the test- value (3.00). Thus, from these statistical values, it is indicated that primary school teachers of Wogera woreda have been not practicing the difference continuous assessment techniques effectively. The above descriptive table displays the t value, mean, Sig. (2-tailed), and Mean Difference of each of the 11 items. As it can be seen in the table, the t-value of the average teachers’ Attitude towards continuous assessment (-3.43373) was significantly greater than the t critical value (2.29). Thus, the observed mean of the average teachers’ Attitude towards continuous assessment (2.621818) was significantly smaller than the test- value (3.00). Thus, from these statistical values, it is indicated that primary school teachers of Wogera woreda did not have a positive attitude towards continuous assessment techniques. In other words, from the statistical value, it can be implied that primary school teachers of Wogera woreda did not believe that continuous assessment helps teachers improve their teaching and they did not feel that continuous assessment provide opportunity to learners to evaluate their weaknesses and strengths in the learning process. As the statistical analysis indicated the t value, mean Sig. (2-tailed); Mean Difference and Rank of each of the 10 assumed challenges of implementing continuous assessment. Accordingly, in adequate expertise support; lack of proper control and supervision mechanisms; impact of class size; lack of adequate teacher training; lack of commitment on the part of teachers and learners; impact of class room climate; shortage of time to cover subject content and lack of commitment on the part of school leaders were ranked the 1st up to the 8th challenge encountered primary school teachers in Wogera woreda respectively. However, shortage of text books and lack of understanding of policy guide line by some practitioners were not the challenging factors that affect the implementations of continuous assessment in the primary schools of Wogera woreda. Thus, it seems important that the school administrators and other concerned stakeholders should play their part in improving school collaborative climate and classroom culture by facilitating the work. Generally, fulfilling the necessary school facilities, continuous follow ups, supervisory supports, experience sharing, immediate feedback giving and best practice scaling up opportunities for the teachers and students have to be given due consideration. Primary school principals should conduct discussion with teachers, students and parents separately for improving the use of varied continuous assessment techniques including student self and peer evaluation and others. The ANRSEB, the zone education department and the woreda education office should support the professional development of teachers through on the job and in-service trainings, and experience sharing workshops in collaboration with the nearby teacher training colleges in order to promote continuous assessment implementation effectiveness. The woreda education office and the school administration should work collaboratively to minimize teacher overload and large class size. Finally, this researcher would like to recommend to other interested individuals and/or groups to conduct further research in relation to the issue under discussion.