Assessment of Mathematics Teachers’ Practice of Achievemnet Testing in Secondary Education Improvement Project Schools

Abstract

The general purpose of the study was to assess Mathematics teacher’s practice of achievement testing in Secondary Education Improvement Project (SEIP) schools in Upper West Region of Ghana. The study employed a quantitative approach where data was collected using adopted questionnaire. The quantitative data were analyzed using inferential statistics - ANOVA - and descriptive statistics - means, standard deviations, frequencies, and percentages. It became clear that mathematics teachers of Secondary Education improvement project schools hold positive view about achievement testing. For instance, most of them held the view that achievement testing establishes what students have learned, most believed that achievement test measures students’ higher order thinking, again, majority held the view that achievement test results are trustworthy, also mathematics teachers in SEIP schools used various kinds of test strategies to assess students’ outcome in schools. The results gave statistical evidence that there were significant differences in mean scores of the years of teaching experiences and the challenges encounter in practicing achievement testing. The study also established that there was no statistically significant difference in the influence of gender with regard to practicing of achievement testing. To strengthen teachers’ knowledge on achievement testing, I recommend that more effective and efficient workshops and in-service training should be organized to teachers’ secondary education improvement project schools with regard to achievement test practices.