ASSESSING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT AND ITS CHALLENGES IN PRIMARY SCHOOL SECOND CYCLE IN WOGERA WOREDA

Abstract

The general objective of the study was assessing the implementation of continuous assessment and challenges in selected second cycle primary schools in Wogera woreda. Teachers attitude towards the implementation of continuous assessment and its challenges were assessed. Both quantitative and qualitative designs were employed. Closed-ended & open-ended questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, FDG, and document analysis were used to collect data. The statistical analysis techniques like One-Sample t-test and One- Way ANOVA were used. 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). 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 in Wogera woreda did not have a positive attitude towards continuous assessment techniques. 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. It seems important that the school administrators and other concerned stakeholders should play their role in improving school collaborative climate and classroom culture by facilitating the work. 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. At the end, to consolidate the results of this research, it needs to be assessed further study since it is difficult to generalize assessing the implementation of continuous assessment in primary school by this limited study.