Investigation of the Existing Practices of Continuous Assessment in Wolaita Sodo University, College of Natural and Computational Sciences

Abstract

A greater attention is given to continuous assessment in the new education and training policy of Ethiopia. However, the knowledge and perception of teachers and students towards implementation of continuous assessment is not that much studied by previous researchers. The research aimed to assess the actual practice, knowledge and perception of instructors and students regarding continuous assessment. The subjects of the study were selected by using simple random sampling technique from Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Geology, Mathematics, Physics, Sport Sciences and Statistics. Data were collected via questionnaire and analyzed by Likert Scale.

Teachers knowledge about meaning, purpose, quality, provision of appropriate procedures and feedback to enable their students accomplish the assessments were all rated to be high while those of the students were rated to be medium on the Likert Scale. Exceptionally, the knowledge of students about the purpose of continuous assessment was rated to be high. These Likert Scale ratings imply that teachers do not have awareness problems unlike their students and that students witness the lack of quality and non-provision of feedback to continuous assessment. Lack of teachers' motivation, large class size, poor capacity of the students, lack of pedagogical training, poor awareness level of students and shortage of time especially for block courses are the most notable factors that impede the practice of continuous assessment.  Final examinations, tests and group assignments are most commonly applied while oral questions, class and home works and classroom observations are not frequently practiced.  Most of the teachers said that they used to provide six continuous assessments per course on average while students witnessed only five assessments. This implies that teachers and students are considering only marked assessments as continuous assessments. Hence, integrated efforts should be made to improve the proper practice of continuous assessment in the college.