Browsing by Author "Oparaku, D. D."

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Continuous assessment practice in public and private schools in Lagos State
(IJNRL, 2012-06) Ibode, F. O.; Oparaku, D. D.
Continuous assessment practice was introduced into the Nigerian educational system about the year 1978. Since the inception of this assessment practice, it has come under various criticisms, especially in its conduct by teachers and the various schools concerned. From around 1998, continuous assessment scores from secondary schools were utilized by public examination bodies like WAEC and NECO as part of the final assessment of students for May/June senior school certificate examination on a ratio of 30:70 i.e. 30% for continuous assessment from schools and 70% from students ’ performance in SSCE. As a result of the utilization of continuous assessment scores from schools, there have been reported irregularities among public and private schools in the conduct of this assessment. This paper therefore, investigated the practice of continuous assessment in public and private secondary schools in Lagos State. The study is an expost-facto and the instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire. Simple percentage was used for data analysis. Findings from the study reveal that there is disparity in the practice of continuous assessment among schools in Lagos State. It was discovered that while some schools allocate 50% mark to continuous assessment and 50% to terminal examination, other schools allocate 10% mark to continuous assessment and 90% to terminal examination. The study also revealed that continuo us assessment practice in Lagos State is mostly centered on the cognitive domain of learning as against the practice of taking into cognizance other domains of learning, affective and psychomotor. The study, therefore, recommends that continuous assessment should be made to cover the three domains of learning. Also, there .should be uniformity in marks allocated to continuous assessment by schools. Furthermore, the study also recommends that regular training on continuous assessment should be organized for teachers at the secondary school level.
Determinants of Candidates’ Performance in the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations’ English Language and Mathematics in Imo State, Nigeria
(2015) Oparaku, D. D.
Despite the core status of English Language and Mathematics, available evidence shows that 50% success is hardly recorded by candidates in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in Nigeria. Studies have revealed that factors such as school type, school location and poor teaching methods affect candidates‟ performance in these subjects at WASSCE. However, there is limited information on other factors (illegible handwriting, writing several examinations within the same period, study habit, coverage of syllabus, test anxiety, monitoring of conduct of WASSCE, assessment of WASSCE scripts, number of teachers and teaching/learning resources) that may affect learning achievement. This study, therefore, investigated the relationship between these factors and candidates‟ achievement in WASSCE English Language and Mathematics in Imo State, Nigeria. The study adopted survey design using tracer approach. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 418 past WASSCE candidates who wrote the examination within the period (2010-2013) who were enrolled into Imo State University; Federal Polytechnic, Nekede; Alvan Ikoku College of Education and six continuing education centres; 109 teachers and 53 principals from schools where the candidates attended also participated. The Ten research instruments used were: Study Habit Questionnaire (r=0.72), Test Anxiety Scale (r=0.69), Students‟ Rating of Teacher Factors Scale (r=0.66), Coverage of Syllabus questionnaire (r=0.86), Perceived Legibility of Handwriting Questionnaire (r=0.87), Perceived Adherence to Examination Instruction Questionnaire (r=0.87), Teachers‟ Questionnaire (r=0.61), Principals‟ Questionnaire (r=0.84), Availability and use of learning resources checklist and an interview schedule for six WASSCE team leaders. Candidates‟ WASSCE results in the two subjects were used as index of achievement. Percentages and multiple regression were used for data analysis at p=0.05 while thematic analysis was used for the qualitative data. Ninety per cent of the candidates indicated that they wrote up to four examinations apart from WASSCE, 80.0% claimed that writing many examinations did not affect their performance in WASSCE. About fifty-two two per cent of the principals were of the view that WASSCE is effectively monitored, while about 55.0% of the teachers were of contrary opinion. The inter correlation matrix showed that there is no multicollinearity among the predictors. All the predictors jointly accounted for 4.8% and 9.9% of the variance observed in English Language and Mathematics respectively. Study habit (𝛽=0.01), coverage of syllabus (𝛽=0.01) and insufficient teachers (𝛽=0.02) had significant contributions to achievement in Mathematics while others did not. However, none of the factors had any significant contribution to achievement in English Language. Team Leaders revealed that WAEC examiners are objective in assessing candidates‟ scripts. Study habit and coverage of syllabus contributed to candidates‟ achievement in Mathematics. Students should be encouraged to study hard and be assisted to cover the prescribed West African Senior School Certificate Examination syllabus so that they can perform better in the examination
School type as a determinant of students' performance in WASSCE in Lagos state
(Department of Adult Education, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, 2007-06) Ibode, O. F.; Oparaku, D. D.
This study considered the impact of school type (Public - Private) on the performance of students in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination in Lagos State in English, Mathematics and Biology. The May/June result of thirty schools (15 Public and 15 Private) covering the six educational districts of Lagos State were used for tire study. The result of the students for three years (2004, 2005 and 2006) urns obtained from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and analyzed using the independent T-Test stastics. The outcomes of the analysis revealed that the private schools performed better than the public schools generally, while the Unity Schools performed better than the Missionary Schools in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination in Lagos State within the three years investigated. It was also discovered that the public schools had large candidates to manage during the examinations - and this would have accounted, partially, for their poor performances, amongst other discoveries. Valid recommendations were made based on the findings of the study.
Teachers’ gender, teaching experience and qualification as correlates of achievement of instructional objectives
(2015-03) Oparaku, D. D.; Ibode, O. F.