Testing practices of junior high school teachers in the Cape Coast Metropolis

Abstract

The study aimed at finding out whether teachers in Junior High Schools in the Cape Coast Metropolis follow the basic laid down principles in their testing practices, with respect to test construction, administration and scoring of classroom or teacher made tests. The study adopted the quantitative method and descriptive survey design was used for the analysis. A total of 50 public Junior High Schools comprising 300 teachers were used for the study. Simple random and purposive sampling procedures were used to select the subject teachers at the Junior High Schools. The main instrument used for the study was questionnaire comprising 55 items with overall reliability coefficient of .873. The data was analysed using means and standard deviations, frequency, and percentages, and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The level of significance for all tests were at 0.05. The result from the study showed that, most teachers at the Junior High Schools did not follow the basic principles of test construction, and scoring of essay type test to an appropriate level, 7 out of 20 construction principles were often practice and 5 out of 13 scoring principles were followed. In test administration, most of the principles were followed, 7 out of 12 principles were often practiced. A statistically significant differences were found among teachers and their subject areas of specification (Mathematics, English, Social Studies, Science and Religious and Moral Education). It was recommended that regular in-service training in testing practices be organized for teachers in Junior High Schools by the Educational Directorate in Cape Coast Metro.