Abstract

The study was undertaken to investigate The Effects Of Continuous Assessment On Students Academic Performance In Buea Sub Division. The population of the study comprised of students of some three selected schools within Buea.

The sample consisted of 60 students selected from each of the three selected schools. The instrument that was used for data collection was the questionnaire. Questionnaires were administered to students of the selected schools. Data was analyzed using simple statistics.

The findings of the study revealed that;

• Continuous Assessment has a great effect on students academic performance
• There is a relationship between Continuous Assessment and students performance
• It also revealed that, scoring high in Continuous Assessment does not mean a better performance in the examination.

In the light of the findings from the study, it was recommended that  Continuous assessment should be implemented at all levels of education, teachers should be taught the basic techniques of setting Continuous Assessment.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

Examination and assessment are integral components of our educational structure. They are conducted both formally and informally at practically all levels of education and serve a variety of functions. In a narrow sense, examination and assessment may be thought of as having predominantly educational purpose. They may be used in order to:-

• Assess students’ attainment at the end of a course or study program.
• Evaluate diagnostically students’ academic achievements, progress and /or learning difficulties.
• Evaluate students’ aptitude possibly for the purpose of assigning them to different courses or teaching set.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of education program or curriculum.

(Richard, 1999) say most of the examinations and assessment regularly conducted by teachers and schools on an” internal” basis tend to fulfill one or more of these educational functions mention above. Other examination for example, those conducted “externally” by the recognize examining board (standardize test) and certain professional association, likewise have primary educational purpose to assess the attainment of a students at the end of course of study. The primary assignment of any school is to ensure effective teaching and training of which assessment and examination are a form of evaluation plays a

Significant rule especially in decision making about school program. (Ijaya, 2002) said that assessment in education generally is essential and is an on going process. It is the basis for all educational activities. Assessment information is a very vital tool in the hands of professional teachers. It direct, guides and protect both the teachers, learners and curriculum designers at every stage of academic. (Okwudire, 2005)

1.1 Background of the Study

Continuous assessment process is an important component of the 1995 national educational forum in Cameroon. This system of evaluation and assessment is an innovation in the Cameroon educational system which had it origin from the national education forum that held in Yaoundé in 1995. The outcome of this forum were published by high power committee consisting of educationist, university academics, civil servant, and intellectuals from works of life were set up to study the reports in depth and present recommendations base on the Cameroon educational policy(1995)

The Cameroon national policy on education has directed that continuous assessment be used at all educational levels for the evaluation of student achievements. This means that every teacher from primary school to the university should understand and practice it. (Ango, 1997). (Carew, 1985), states that irrespective of how well a student  performs during his or her years of schooling, if his or her performance in the summative type of examination is not good, he or she is considered incapable of advancing further education.

Dodo (1995) maintains that “they are even a few cases of suicide in failure of final examinations”. In view of the above reasons, schools and colleges adopt the continuous assessment system. The government of Cameroon stressed the need and importance of continuous assessment in relations to exams.

Continuous assessment therefore represents a continuing awareness of the development of the pupil over a period of time and general building of cumulative judgment. Continuous assessment also refer to a “process evaluation” does it measures not only advancement but also indicate the progress made

 1.2 Statement of the Problem

Educators have advocated the need for continuous assessment as an integral part of evaluating educational program (Hambury, 1995). However, there is no empirical data to support the effectiveness of continuous assessment in promoting learning and to show whether or not the performance will increase on exposure to more CAs as CAs has the potency to motivate learners to learn. Vroom (1984) defines achievement as a product of motivation and ability. According to him behavior is not only just influenced by ability but also by how much the individuals want to do certain events and by how much they expect they will do it.

So when students are being examined they are motivated to work hard. Therefore the problem of this study is to find out if exposure of students to many continuous assessments has significant effects on the final examination and the performance of students. More assessment means more motivation and thus better achievements, but sometimes human behavior may change. Many assessments may mean more stressed on the part of the student.

What is known conclusively is the consistency of continuous assessment score to examination scores Odili (1995), in his study assert that some continuous assessment scores are not consistent with examination scores since they show little or no significant correlation. Ihiegbulem (1994), however found that a substantially and significant degree of positive relationship exist between continuous assessment and examination scores.

One of the purposes of this study therefore, is to determine whether there exists a relationship between students’ performance in examinations. There is a problem of correlating continuous assessment with actual examinations scores; for instance it is not uncommon having a student having a very high score in continuous assessment and extremely low score in the final examination (Hassan, 1997). It is hope that the results from this study will clarify the entire stated problem

1.3 Research Questions

In view of the above, the following research questions were formulated to guide the conduct of this study;

1. What are the effects of continuous assessment on students’ academic performance?
2. Is there a relationship between continuous assessment and students’ academic performance?
3. Is there any relationship between continuous assessment and final examination scores?

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