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ASSESSMENT OF TEACHERS’ APPROACH TOWARDS ENDORSEMENT OF NON-STANDARDIZED ACHIEVEMENT EXAMINATION IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BORNO STATE, NIGERIA
ABSTRACT
This study assessed teachers’ attitude towards validation of non-standardized achievement test in secondary schools in Borno State, Nigeria. Three objectives, three research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated. This was tested at 0.05 level of significance alpha. The U-test (Mann Whitney) was use to test hypothesis one while H-test was used to test hypothesis two. Survey research design was used for the study with the population of 8100 teachers within the four educational zones in Borno State. Proportionalsampling techniques was used to select 447 teachers. The analysis of the obtained data revealed that most teachers in Borno State have negative attitude towards validation of non-standardized achievement test. 267 teachers out of 432 had negative attitude only 165 teachers have positive attitude towards validation of non-standardized achievement test.There was significant difference in validation of non-standardized achievement testbetween teachers with difference qualification in secondary schools in Borno State (H=34.837, P =0.001). The study also revealed that significant difference do not exist in validation of non-standardized achievement test between experience and inexperience teachers in secondary schools in Borno State (U=1.065, P= 0.287). Base on these findings it was concluded that teachers in Borno State have negative attitude towards validation of nonstandardized achievementtest, teacher qualification influence validation of non-standardized achievement test in secondary schools in Borno State while years of experience did not influence validation of non-standardized achievement test. It was recommended that Seminar and workshops should be organized on regular bases for teachers to upgrade and update their proficiency skill in test construction and validation and to motivate them.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page
Cover Page i
Title Page ii
Declaration iii
Acknowledgements iv
Dedication v
Abstract vi
Table of Contents vii
List of Abbreviations viii
List of Appendices x
List of Tables xiv
Operational Definition of Terms xv
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem 6
1.3 Objectives of the Study 7
1.4 Research Questions 8
1.5 Hypotheses 8
1.6 Basic Assumptions of the Study 9
1.7 Significance of the Study 9
1.8 Scope/ Delimitation of the Study 12
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Introduction 13
2.2 Conceptual Framework 14
2.2.1 Concept of Validation 14
2.2.2 Concept of Non-standardized Achievement Test 25
2.2.3 The Concept of Attitude 29
2.2.4 Concept of Teacher Qualification 35
2.2.5 Concept of Teacher Experience 36
2.2.6 Teachers’ Attitude and Validation of Non-standardized
Achievement Test 38
2.2.7 Teachers’ Qualification and Validation of Non-standardized
Achievement Test 41
2.2.8 Teachers’ Experience and Validation of Non-standardized
Achievement Test 45
2.3 Theoretical Framework 46
2.3.1 Classical Test Theory 46
2.3.2 Latent Trait Test Theory 48
2.3.3 Item Response theory 49
2.4 Review of Empirical Studies 49
2.5 Summary of Reviewed Literature 54
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction 56
3.2 Research Design 56
3.3 Population of the Study 56
3.4 Sample and Sampling Techniques 57
3.5 Instrumentation 59
3.5.1 Validation of the Instrument 60
3.5.2 Reliability of the Instrument 60
3.6 Procedure for Data Collection 61
3.7 Procedure for Data Analysis 62
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Introduction 63
4.2 Data Presentation and Analysis 63
4.3 Answer to research question 66
4.4 Test of Null Hypotheses for the Study 66
4.5 Summary of the Findings 72 4.6 Discussion of findings 72
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Introduction 76
5.2 Summary 76
5.3 Conclusion 78
5.4 Contribution to Knowledge78
5.5 Recommendations 79
5.6 Recommendation for Further Study 79
References 81
Appendices 92 LIST ABBREVIATIONS
Pages
- TAV: Teachers Attitude towards Validation 59
- H-test: Kruskal Wallis 62 iii. U-test: Mann Whitney 62 LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix Page
A: Teachers Attitude towards Validation 93
B: Reliability of Validation Scale 95
C: Result Output 96 D: Respondents Opinions 99
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
- Educational Zone and population of teachers 57
- Sample size 59
- Administration and retrieval of questionnaires 63
- Classification of respondents according to their qualification 64
- Classification of respondents by their years of experience 65 Teachers attitude towards validation of non-standardized
achievement test 66
- H- test (Kruskal Wallis) on validation of non-standardized
Achievement test by teachers based on qualification in secondary
schools in BornoState 67
- U-test (Mann Whitney) on validation of non-standardized Achievement test between experience teachersand those inexperience in secondary schools in Borno State 69
OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS
Attitude: predisposition of teachers to respond positively or negatively towards validation of test.
Non-standardized Achievement test: test designed by a teacher to assess students on what he/she taught in class with respect to the content area covered. Validation: activity undertaken by teacher to find out the suitability of test to measure students’ performance in secondary schools.
Teacher Qualification: certificate obtained by the respondents in Education. Teacher Experience:years of teaching service of respondents with the requisite knowledge obtained thereof.
Experience Teacher: teachers who have been teachingin secondary school for six years and above.
Inexperience Teacher:teachers who have been teaching in secondary school for less than six years.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
There is an increased desire for school effectiveness and improvement at all levels of education in Nigeria. Assessment is one of the key variables in the school system that improve teaching and learning, therefore it demands that nonstandardized achievement test, that is teacher made test should be valid and reliable to measure students’ real knowledge and skills and not test wiseness or test taking abilities (Ugwu, 2012). Non-standardized achievement testis used by teachers for formative and summative purposes. They serve formative purpose when the results are used to monitor the progress of teaching and learning and summative purpose when the results are used for grading, promotion and certification. In Nigeria, teachers are required to adopt continuous assessment mode of evaluation and the most commonly used techniques are written tests. The instrument for this assessment is expected to be valid and reliable. The extent to which secondary school teachers use valid assessment instruments depends on their attitude towards validation to ensure quality in classroom assessment (Alufohai & Akinlosotu, 2016).
At the secondary school level, non-standardized achievement testis adopted in operation of continuous assessment mode of evaluation by the teachers. It is an instrument used by teachers to evaluate students’ progress and the achievements of learners in educational institutions with the aim of getting the true possible picture of each learner’s ability and helping each student to develop his/her abilities to the fullest. Tukur, Hamafyelto and Hamafyelto (2015) defined non-standardized achievement test as test prepared by teacher to measure the outcomes and content of local curriculum. It is a tool designed to solve the problem or requirement of the class for which it is prepared. Ugwu (2012) submitted that non-standardized achievement testaccomplishes two major objectives. The first is to discriminate among individuals according to their degree of achievements. This form of testing is known as the normreferenced testing, and it is designed to rank students in order of achievement from high to low, so that decisions can be made with greater confidence. The second objective of non-standardized achievement test is to determine the extent to which an individual reaches the set standards. This form of testing is called criterion reference testing. In this study, the form of test being considered is the norm-referenced test which is an instrument for evaluating the learning outcome in schools. In norm-referenced test, a number of properties are required to make such examinations appropriate and acceptable.
The Federal Republic of Nigeria FRN (2014) stipulated that nonstandardized achievement test shall be liberalized to be used as whole for assessment of the progress of each individual learner. In section 5 of national policy on education, FRN (2014) further recognized the importance of nonstandardized achievement test in assessing learners of junior and senior secondary schools it states succinctly that the assessment should be based on non-standardized achievement test constructed by teachers. However, education in Nigeria is in the concurrent list; therefore, the Federal Ministry of Education ensures the maintenance of national standard while State Ministries of Education implement the policy relying on their disaggregated variable manpower and technical expertise. This is an internal mechanism for assuring quality in secondary schools. In the entire process of quality assurance in assessment, the issue of validity is paramount and critical.
Mohammed, Shafeeq, Al-hudawi, Lokman and Nail (2015) submitted
that validity is a concept that should be fully understood by teachers in any effort to improve quality of Non-standardized achievementtest. It is the most important technical quality of an assessment instrument. Validity is a general term that refers to the extent to which an instrument measures what it claims to measure. This definition implies that for an instrument to be valid, it must measure what it purports to measure and nothing else. Validity also refers to the appropriateness of inferences drawn from test scores or other assessment instruments. According to Robert and Alison (2017), test validity refers to the extent to which the inferences and conclusions made on the basis of scores earned on measuring are appropriate and meaningful. This definition implies that validity is expressed in degrees from low, moderate to high. It is not measured but inferred from available evidence and depends on many types of evidence. Validity requires that an instrument is reliable, but an instrument can be reliable without being valid. Most literature such as (Robert & Alison, 2017) identified different types of validity based on scope, relevance, predictive quality and association. These types of validity are content validity, construct validity, criterion-related validity and face validity. However, content validity is considered to be of most importance for non-standardized achievementtest. Also important is criterion-related validity since teachers not only conduct assessment for learning and of learning, but also prepare students for the next level.
Content validity requires the judgments of experts to determine if the test is representative of knowledge and skills that are supposed to be measured. This involves consistency between curriculum content, test objectives and content of the test. The degree of content validity depends on the coverage of the tests of necessary objectives and content as well as adequate sampling of important curriculum content. This is what Amaechi and Sayita (2016) refers to as item relevance and content coverage. Item relevance and content coverage help in providing evidence from which valid inferences can be drawn. Constructing table of specifications is one of the practical ways of achieving content validity of a test. On the other hand, predictive validity is the extent to which a students’ current performance on a test estimates the students’ later performance on a criterion measure. Although face validity is not a type of validity in the technical sense, it is the degree to which an instrument appears to measure what it measures. It is usually confused with content validity by teachers. Important evidence of validity to be sought by teachers is content-related evidence and criterion-related evidence.
It has been argued that the traditional conception of validity is fragmented and incomplete because it fails to take into account evidence of the meaning of scores as a basis of action and the social consequences of the use of scores (Panahi, 2014). Messick in Panahi (2014) viewed modern concept of validity as a unified concept, which lays more emphasis on the use of a test. He identifies six aspects of validity that are implicit in the notion of validity as a unified concept. The six aspects are content, substantive, structure, generalizability, external factors and consequential. The six aspects are viewed as interdependent and complementary forms of validity evidence and not separate entities. These imply that evidence for assessing validity should include evidence of content relevance and representativeness, extent to which scores are consistent with theoretical predictions, evidence on extent to which scores and their interpretations generalize to and across groups, settings and tasks. Other evidences are the fidelity of scoring structure to the structure of the construct being assessed; evidence from criterion-related studies, and consequential aspects of test use and score interpretation especially issues relating to bias and fairness.
Teacher qualification and experience are key attributes that aid a person’s chances to be suitable for a job. A qualified person is the one who is fully certified and holds the equivalent of a major in the field being taught. In education, qualification of teachers is important indicators of their knowledge and competence in teaching. Adu and Wiki (2013) opined that a teaching qualification is one of the academic and professional degrees that enable a person to become a registered teacher. It however has limited utility in analyzing how well-prepared teachers are for what they have to teach in schools. More detailed knowledge of the courses they have taken during their training needs to be compared to the actual content and skills required to teach in the school.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
In curriculum implementation in Nigerian education system, teachers’ attitude towards validation of test is one of the most important factors in the implementation of continuous assessment in schools. This is because teachers are the major implementers of the curriculum at the classroom level. However, most teachers in secondary schools in Borno State are unwilling to undertake some validation practices such as covering the content of instructional objective taught in class, taking decision on appropriate test format to use, considering the age ability of testees when setting questions, using short sentences to set questions, consulting the test books before writing tests, setting questions to cover all the requisite domain, specifying the degree of accuracy for full marks, ascribing scores for each item, assembling of questions based on content and skill measures, setting questions with regard to time available and submitting their test to their principals for vetting. Where a number of teachers are knowledgeable about the need to undertake these practices, some consider it a laborious and uninteresting task. Consequently, some of them shy away from undertaking the various practices involved. Nowadays teachers in secondary schools just decide within a few minutes to construct the test while the students are waiting for the examination. What is worrisome about this act is that students, often times, perform better in the various classroom-based achievement tests constructed and administered by their teachers but when they sit for standardized tests such as West African Examination Council (WAEC),
National Examination Council (NECO), National Business and Technical
Examination Board (NABTEB) and others, they mostly fail. Therefore, determining teachers’ attitude towards validation of non-
standardizedachievement test in secondary schools in Borno State is the problem of this study.
1.3 Objectives of the Study`
The specific objectives of the study were to:
- find out the attitude of teachers towards validation of non-standardized achievement testin secondary schools in Borno State.
- examinethe influence of teachers’ qualification on validation of non-
standardized achievement test in secondary schools in Borno State.
- examine the influence of teachers experience on validation of nonstandardized achievement test in secondary schools in Borno State.
1.4 Research Questions
In view of the problem of the study, the following research questions were used to guide the study.
- What is the attitude of teachers towards validation of non-standardized achievement test in secondary schools in Borno State?
- What is the influence of teachers’ qualification on validation of non- standardized achievementtest in secondary schools in Borno State?
- What is the influence of teachersexperience onvalidation of nonstandardizedachievement test in secondary schools in Borno State?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
As part of the investigation of the problem of this study, the following null hypotheses were propounded.
- There is no significant difference in validation of non-standardized achievementtest between teachersof different qualifications in secondary schools in Borno State, Nigeria.
- There is no significant difference invalidation of nonstandardizedachievement test between experience and inexperience
teachers in
1.6 Basic Assumptions of the Study
In this study, the following assumptions are made:
- That most teachers’ have negative attitude towards validation of nonstandardized achievement test in secondary schools.
- That teachers’ qualification affects validation of non-standardized achievement test in secondary schools.
- That teachers’ experience affectsvalidation ofnon-standardized achievement test in secondary schools.
1.7 Significance of the Study
This research is undertaken with the intention that the findings will be added to the pool of knowledge already available in the area of non-standardized achievement test in secondary schools. Its findings are expected to be of immense help to teachers, ministry of education, educational administrators, researchers, and curriculum designers.
Secondary school teachers are expected to borrow a leaf from the steps involved in test validation to improve their tests. This study highlights the importance of validation to teachers to enable them ensure a judicious covering of the content of the subject matter to be examined. This study will therefore, provoke the minds of our teachers towards the use of recommended and set down guidelines and strategies for test construction, especially in the writing of multiple choice items. It will be useful for teachers in the evaluation of teaching, the improvement of instructional techniques, and the revision of curriculum content. It will provide them with information on the adequacy with which essential content is being covered. It will provide useful information that will help teachers to develop habits of validation of tests used to measure the achievement of learners to discriminate against them according to their demonstrated abilities, and at the same time be able to predict subsequent outcomes.The findings of this work are beneficial to teachers in Borno State, because they will use it as a reference point to help them avoid errors in tests construction that impair validity of test. It will expose them to the need for rigorous preparation of the test that will ensure the assessment of learning outcomes. Those who are already familiar with principles and criteria of test validation will be able to apply some to improve on the quality of their questions. The result will help them to assess their area of strength and weakness in validation of non-standardized achievement test. The result will help them to assess their area of strength and weakness in validation of nonstandardized achievement test.This study is significant to school administrators in Borno State who make use of tests as way of maintaining quality control over their schools. The school administrator by having a clear understanding of what it takes to construct valid tests from the findings of this work would carry out a periodic monitoring of non-standardized achievement test to ensure that they adhere strictly to tests construction principles when planning and developing questions to measure the intended learning outcomes.
This study adds value to the area of non-standardized achievementtest because those who are interested in the study of teachers’ attitude towards validation of non-standardize achievement test will find this work useful as a source of literature. Guidance and counsellors in schools will make use of this study as the state of non-standardized achievementtest and its implications for teaching and learning would be understood. With the findings, the guidance councellor will be in a better position to guide and counsel teachers on best ways to approach teaching and learning especially on how to validate questions that will be use to assess students learning outcome. They will also ensure that schools keep tests item bank for teachers to make reference to when developing non-standardized achievementtest.
Curriculum development experts in Borno State will benefit from this work because it will give them insight into the validity of test use in secondary schools in Borno State especially non-standardized achievement test in secondary schools and see if there is the need to embark on massive training and retraining exercise for teachers especially in the area of validation in order to enhance teaching and learning. Ministry of Education will benefit from this study because the study willexpose the nature of questions use in schools and its conformity to technical guidelines of test construction. The results of this study will spur the state government to organize training workshop for teachers in the state to update their knowledge on test construction and validation. The study will give the federal ministry of education information to intensify their effort to harmonize the implementation strategies for continuous assessment particularly in ensuring validity of instruments used by teachers for assessing learning.
1.8 Scope/ Delimitation of the Study
The study attempts to investigate teachers’ attitude towards validation of non-standardized achievementtest in secondary schools in Borno State, Nigeria. Public secondary schools’ teachers in Borno State constitute the scope of the study. The uniform manners in which public secondary schools operate in Borno State make them suitable for a study which is representative of public secondary schools in Nigeria. The study was limited to validity of non-standardized achievement testconstruct by teacher in secondary schools in Borno State because it provides teacher with information about the extent to which instructional objective taught in class was achieved.
ASSESSMENT OF TEACHERS’ APPROACH TOWARDS ENDORSEMENT OF NON-STANDARDIZED ACHIEVEMENT EXAMINATION IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BORNO STATE, NIGERIA