EDU 424: CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT AND GUIDANCE TOOLS

INTRODUCTION

Continuous assessment is a method of assessment carried out at different periods within the school
year. It's aimed at finding out how much a child had acquired in terms of learning skills and the social
development of the child.

DEFINITION

Continuous Assessment is mechanism whereby the final grading of the students in the three domains of
behaviour and learning takes account in a systematic way of all his performances during a given period
of schooling.

CHARACTERISTICS OF CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT

1. ITS SYSTEMATIC: this means it's well planned and graded to suit the age and experience of those
being assessed

2. ITS COMPREHENSIVE: here it uses a variety of data collecting instruments to determine a students
performance test so as to bring out an individuals total picture.

3. ITS CUMULATIVE: it's repetitive and additive due to the fact that the final grading comes from series
of assessment over the years in order to bring about a more typical picture of that person.

4. ITS GUIDANCE ORIENTED : here individuals are guided based on strengths and weaknesses so as to
make wise decisions.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE MAJOR STAKEHOLDERS IN CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT

A. THE PRINCIPAL

1. The principal is responsible for appointing the right type of school personnel for the tasks involved in
continuous assessment

2. The school personnel should be encouraged by the school admin to carry out continuous assessment

3. Funds are negotiated for in order to purchase the essential items for continuous assessment

4. The objectives of continuous assessment needs to be explained to everyone within a school system

B. THE TEACHER

1. They help students to locate resources for promoting their educational and vocational planning.

2. They collect information on students to assist them in self understanding for realistic decisions.

3. They give assignments and mark them

4. Help students study effectively to achieve high academic standards

5. Students information are recorded and used for promotion and awards.

C. THE COUNSELLOR

1. Test result are used to enable students make educational and vocational decisions.

2. They assist teaching staff to perform various roles on continuous assessment programme

3. They coordinate the continuous assessment programme

4. They conduct educational and vocational placement activities

5. They carry out research into problems and prospects of students

TECHNIQUES OF CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT

A measuring instrument must be valid, reliable and usable

VALIDITY: this is the extent to which an instrument measures what it's purposed to measure and nothing
else.

RELIABILITY: An instrument must give consistent results when administered under similar conditions.

USABLE: a test that's extremely long and will cause problems to the testers who want it as soon as
possible isn't usable.

A. TEST: A test is an objective and standardized measure of a sample of behaviour.

Teacher-made tests can be essay or objective test.

ESSAY: it measures ones expression ability and organization of knowledge

OBJECTIVES: it can be multiple choice, true/false or fill in the blanks.

THE USES OF TESTS

1. PREDICTION: They are given in order to forecast what an individual will do in the future. E.g aptitude
test.

2. SELECTION: They are used for admission and employment purposes and to screen out misfits.

3. CLASSIFICATION: they are used to categories people according to certain personality traits or ability
groups.

4. EVALUATION: they are used for purposes of assessing and evaluating programmes, strategies and
methods to ascertain whether they have been established.
5. GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING: Appraisal instruments are used by counselors to estimate people's
potentials like abilities, motivation, self concepts, interests, personality traits etc.

TYPES OF TESTS

1. ACHIEVEMENT TESTS: they are designed to measure the outcome of teaching, the quantity and
quality of progress students have made in a particular subject. It measures what an individual had learnt
at the present level of performance.

2. INTELLIGENCE TEST: it has to do with an individuals general mental ability to reason and capacity to
learn. It's useful for assessing IQ, screening of students into different academic and vocational groups.

3. APTITUDE TEST: it's designed to estimate the future performance and success of a person in school
work, occupation and future education.

4. INTEREST INVENTORIES: they are used to measure individual feelings and area of preference in school
subjects, vocational and occupational choice.

5. ATTITUDE TESTS: it's a tendency to react favourably or unfavorably towards a designated class of
stimuli.

6. PERSONALITY TEST: They are instruments for personal counselling and are used to measure emotional
stability, friendliness, motivation, attitudes, interests, leadership etc.

B. NON-TEST TECHNIQUES: It's a comprehensive assessment of the individuals personality

characteristics and a dynamic process which shows how an individuals personal attributes interact with
his environment. It's provides qualitative assesment of an individuals personality in a comprehensive
and reliable way.

1. OBSERVATION: it means looking outside oneself thoroughly. It's the oldest and most common
technique of assessing the behaviour of individuals. It's a reliable technique to evaluate the
effectiveness of steps taken to facilitate the individuals.

2. ANECDOTAL RECORDS: It can also be called recorded observation. It consists of an objective

description of students behaviour in a particular environment and academic setting

3. RATING SCALE: It also evaluates the personality characteristics of individuals. The greatest use is to
obtain personality ratings if students as regards their personality characteristics like honesty, self
reliance, leadership etc

4. CUMULATIVE RECORD: It's a permanent record of progressive information about students which gives
a significant and representative characteristics of an individual over a period of years. It shows the
trends and growth pattern of an individual.

5. INTERVIEWS: they provide teachers and counselors with the opportunity to gather face-to-face
information from students.
6. SOCIOMETRIC: It measures a pattern of social relationship among members of a group. It gathers data
on social interaction and serves a useful purpose of helping those who isolate to become socialized and
adjusted members.

7. AUTOBIOGRAPHY: It's a person own written report of his/her life. It not only reveals behaviour, but
even more importantly the personal attributes and emotions behind the behaviour of that individual.

8. CASE STUDY: it's a detailed document of data related to a given individual and usually covering a span
of years. It presents a comprehensive and cumulative picture of the total personality of an individual. It
provides understanding of the child's total personality.

C. ASSIGNMENT: if used properly can be used to measure and monitor students progress. It should be
related to the course units which students are studying and not as a means to punish them. Teachers
should mark assignments regularly and award marks accordingly.

D. PROJECT: this helps to being out form the pupils the best in the three domains. It provides a wholistic
picture of the child's behaviour for the purpose of continuous assessment.

PROBLEMS MILITATING AGAINST THE EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT IN

NIGERIA

1. Ineffective school administration like late resumption from holidays.

2. Abuse of continuous assessment scores by some teachers

3. Shortage of trained counsellors

4. Lack of adequate materials and fund for continuous assessment test instruments

5. Lack of adequate supervision of continuous assessment

6. Lack of enough teaching staff and trained teachers for continuous assessment jobs.