ASSESSMENT OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS ON STANDARDIZED ECONOMICS ACHIEVEMENT TEST IN BAUCHI, BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA

ASSESSMENT OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS ON STANDARDIZED ECONOMICS ACHIEVEMENT TEST IN BAUCHI, BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA

 

ABSTRACT

 

The study examined the Assessment of Academic Achievement of Senior Secondary School Students on Standardized Economics Achievement Test in Bauchi, Bauchi State Nigeria. The study adopted Expost facto research design. The population of the study consisted of 18,389 Senior Secondary students. Clusters sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 377 from Eight Senior Secondary School Students across three Educational zones by the application of Kcrejcie and morgan table of determining sample size. Standardised Economic achievement Test (SEAT) was used for data collection. Kendall coefficient of concordance and KR20 were applied for the establishment of validity and reliability index. Index of 0.40-0.63 and 0.3-0.5 were found for difficulty and discrimination respectively for the selection of proficient items. Z-score and T-score were also used to transform raw scores into standard scores. Seven objectives, seven research questions were asked and four hypotheses were formulated. Mean and standard deviation were also used to answer research questions 4-7. t-test was used to test all the formulated hypotheses and all the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 levels of significance. This was used to confirm that there was a significant difference between the mean achievement of students in rural single sex schools and their coeducational schools in Standardized Economics achievement test was in favor of single sex school students. (t = 5.598, p = 0.00 two tailed); there was a significant difference between the mean achievement of students in urban single gender schools and their coeducational schools in Standardized Economics achievement test was in favor of single gender school students. (t = 7.998, p = 0.00 two tailed); there was no significant difference between the mean achievement of students of coeducational schools in rural areas and urban schools in Standardized Economics achievement test.(t = 2.53, p = 0.800 two tailed);there was significant difference between the mean achievement of students of single sex schools in rural areas and urban single sex schools in Standardized Economics achievement test in favor of urban single gender school students.(t = 2.708, p = 0.007 two tailed). Base on the findings of the study this research recommended among others; Government should give an adequate consideration by creating more single sex schools and single gender classes among the existing coeducational schools in the rural areas. The outcome of the study revealed that, rural single sex schools‟ students achieved higher than the rural coeducation schools‟ students. Government should give an adequate consideration by creating more single sex schools and single gender classes among the existing coeducational schools in the urban areas. The outcome of the study revealed that, urban single sex schools‟ students achieved higher than the urban coeducational schools‟ students.

 

CHAPTER ONE

 

INTRODUCTION

 

1.1 Background to the Study

 

 

The success of Education of a nation is wholly depends on the efficiency of its Educational Assessments. Educational Assessment could estimate the adequacy of the test instruments, provision of average performance of the individual students, comparison of average performance obtained within the same test or different test in the same domain and thus, assessment could allowed for comparison among the established norms in the interest of the teacher or the School, which include, gender, interclass, interschool and many more. Anikweze (2014) reported that Educational Assessment is the process of investigating the status or standard of the individuals‟ achievement or the achievement of the group of individuals where group instructions prevail, with reference to expected outcomes which must have been specified as objectives. Assessment in this extent simply means to engage in determination of the worth or value of a test or individual or group Achievements. Obioma (2016) lamented that assessment is the process of using the result obtained from measurement to take relevant decision about the phenomenon being measured. In Educational assessment, a test instrument is a bedrock and indispensable aspect which require to be adequately assessed in order to guaranty the achievements status of the individuals‟ learners or the instrument being used.

 

The overall quality of a test is depending on the proficiency of the instrument used and the manner in which the instrument administered and scored. Usually proficient or valid instruments, better test scoring procedure with an established norm provide a desire outcome that a test was made to achieve. Odikwu, Obinne andAmali (2014) viewed that a valid test serves as a machinery whose functions to include, motivation of students to learn, determination of how much students have learned, identification of students‟ special difficulties, determination of the strength and weakness of teaching methods and identification of adequacy or otherwise of instructional materials and finally the extent of achievement of objectives. This has revealed that one of the key roles of a test is determination of how much students have learned a specific skill, instruction or unit of lesson. This is regarded as one of the role of achievement test.

 

Achievement Test is prepared to assess students‟ knowledge in the subject matter and it, sometimes, signifies accomplishment or proficiency of performance in a given skill or body of knowledge. According to Kumar and Patel (2012) Achievement Tests are examinations that are designed to determine the degree of knowledge and proficiency exhibited by an individual in specific area or set of areas. An achievement test is sometimes administered as part of the acceptance process into an educational programme or to qualify an individual for employment or a promotion with a current employer. Nwagu (1992) conceptualized achievement testing, as a systematic and purposeful quantification of learning outcomes. This is to say that achievement testing involves the determination of the extent of attainment of individuals in a task, course or programme to which the individuals were

 

sufficiently exposed. Jayanthi (2014) opined that an Achievement test scores obtained either from Teacher Made Test or Standardized Test. And this was supported by Lehmann (2013) who classified an Achievement Test in two categories. A Teacher Made Test and Standardized Test. Although the teacher Made Test is purposely not the researcher‟s focus in this study but it needs to be highlighted because it is part of the concept of achievement test, as perceived by many researchers. Teacher Made Tests are frequently the basis of evaluating student‟s progress in school. These are more specifically focused and they usually reflect the content of a particular unit or course, they are tailored to measure the achievement of students after completing a series of learning tasks for the subject (Ekta, 2015).

By test development, a Teacher Made Test is uncoupled with standardized Test. A Teacher Made Test has a specific and focused toward the objectives of a particular teacher in a particular subject, class and school. A Teacher Made Test of one School will never be in any way being the same for another school even if the teachers use the same contents. This is so because each teacher develops a test based on his own biased mind. Teacher made tests do not have specified procedures of test construction administration and test scoring procedure. Kubir (2016) opined that, a Teacher Made Test is questions set by a paper setter according to his subjective judgment. This has related to the opinion of Nwagu (2003) who stated that, a Teacher Made Test is characterized by low quality because there is no, pre-test, norms, set standard, and specific instructions on its administration and scoring.

 

Standardized achievement tests are carefully developed to include measurement of objectives common to many school systems. They measure knowledge of facts, concepts and principles. Standardized Achievement Test plays a significant role in Nigerian system of Education .When there is a need for assessment of more than a school at a time, this will enable relevant agencies to ascertain actual students‟ Achievement status thus their Achievements are comparable to other groups who have participated in the test. Unlike teacher made test that comparison will not be possible due to inconsistency in their development by different teachers. A standardized test is essential in determining the overall amount of knowledge common to many students that will be achieved within a specified time, level or programme. Okoye (2013) reported that, a Standardized Achievement test that is accused of being unfair, biased and discriminatory from test construction, test administration and test scoring is considered to be a non-standardized test. Standardized Test unlike Teacher Made Test is always directed toward achieving the objectives of many teachers at the same time and also to cover some setting, geographical area, whether between schools, district, states or country and to compare their relevant experiences on the contents being measured. A standardized test has an underlined guide in its development.

 

Development of test items for a standardized test refers to a development of test items to ensure that, an instrument (test) used, measures what it was designed to measure (Nworgu,2006). The general trend in the of achievement test has been, the review of the content and developing test blue-print, writing of test items, face validation, trial testing, Items analysis such as retaining and rejection of items and item modification, Items selection, Items assembly final testing, norming, printing and production (Ritter, Boone and Rubba, 2012). A valid and reliable test should have test characteristics that fall within the accepted range of values, for each characteristic such as validity, reliability, discrimination index, difficulty index, readability and it should not be biased against any designated sub-group of test takers.

 

Ivonva (2012) viewed that; there are four stages in development for a standardized test. The planning, who is the test to be administered to, what is to be measured, and when is the measurement to take place. In support of Nwagu (2006), Ivanova (2012) affirmed that, items in the draft should be arranged from simple to complex and the mode of response should also match with the items written. The number of test items written should be more than actually required for the test because items which may not prove to be satisfactory need to be discarded or modified. This will certainly reduce the potential of favouritism, bias, and subjective evaluation, which is usually associated with teacher made achievement tests. Standardized test tries to ensure that items are put into pre-test, norms for a given raw scores and many set standards for the items which include Table of specification or blueprint, items analysis, norms and so on. Specific instructions are given on administration and scoring to the level that is fair to all students because every student will take the same test and be evaluated in the same way irrespective of gender, school type and location of students.

 

Economics is part of Achievement tests which students undertake whether in a promotional or end of term examination in a Senior Secondary School in Bauchi State. Osadebe (2015) viewed that knowledge of Economics allows students to learn how to manage resources and the effective use of scarce resources such as time and money. The researcher elaborated that those students with Economics knowledge offer courses such as Banking and finance, Accounting, Business Administration and so forth at higher levels of Education. Economics is defined as a Science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce resources which means have an alternative uses. Standardised tests provide a means of preventing subjectivity and bias in assessment from test construction to administration and scoring. Standardised Achievement procedures are more significant in evaluating student‟s performance in Secondary schools due to their accuracy and dependability. The instruments constructed by many teachers at most of these schools may not be standardized in one way or the other. This is because some of the test is poorly constructed without face and content validity, lack of use of psychometric properties for selection of proficient items, poor test administration, as well as scoring procedures which may lead to a weak and false reporting of a student‟s performance.

 

1.2   Statement of the Problem.

 

Testing in education is a very crucial systematic device which tells or measures what has been learnt and the extent of the learning behaviour. Tests are aimed at measuring students‟ knowledge and intelligence or other characteristics in a systematic way. Testing, therefore, involves the use of test items that will enable measurement to be effective and accurate. The researcher observed that, there was no Standardised Economics Achievement (instrument) that was commonly used among Senior Secondary II students in Bauchi State. Each and every school developed its own different instrument which on many occasions lacks the basis of test development procedures. These Include review and coverage of test contents, used of Blue print, experts validation, trial testing, items validity or analysis, test assembly and norming and many other important procedures that could add more value to the instrument. This lack of uniformity and sameness on the procedures of test development among schools in Bauchi State may result in poor reporting of students‟ academic achievement status. The researcher observed that, most of

 

teacher made tests assessed only the ability of students to recall some specific facts and they suffered from poor sampling of the topics taught, and they were carelessly and ambiguously worded. However, Teacher made tests differ considerably from teacher to teacher. A test developed by a teacher for a particular senior secondary school II students will not provide any useful information if the same test is given to a different senior secondary school II students.

 

Also, the researcher observed that, teachers in some of these Secondary Schools in Bauchi State are characterized with lack of competencies required in test administration and are not conversant with test administration procedures. In many cases teachers administer tests in noisy environments, dilapidated classrooms and overcrowded class with insufficient space to make effective invigilation. Students sometimes borrow test materials, and move about during testing and do many other things. These may result in examination malpractice. The only countermeasure to such ineffectiveness is standardized test because it involves expert validation it usually covers the objectives of many schools, which has effective procedure of administration and scoring which will ensure the objective assessment of students‟ achievements.

 

It should be noted that the problems of teacher made tests was negatively influence the reporting of student‟s achievement and these achievement are used to take decisions on students, in promotion, demotion, prizes giving, award of scholarships and many other opportunities by government, parents, and guardians and so on. Attempts to correct these flaws prompted the researcher to assess the standardised Economics Achievement test for senior secondary school students in Bauchi State.

 

1.3 Objectives of the Study:

 

 

The specific objectives were to

 

 

1. find out the Validity and Reliability of the Standardised Economics Achievement Test for Senior Secondary School Students in Bauchi State.

 

2. estimate items parameters (psychometric properties) on Standardised Economics Achievement Test (SEAT) for Senior Secondary School Students in Bauchi State.

 

3. determine the norms on Standardised Economics Achievement Test (SEAT) for Senior Secondary Schools Students in Bauchi State.

 

4. determine the influence of Coeducational and Single Sex Schools (Male or Female) in rural areas on Standardised Economics Achievement Test (SEAT) for Senior Secondary School Students in Bauchi State.

 

5. determine the influence of Coeducational and Single Sex Schools ( Male or Female) in Urban area on Standardised Economics Achievement Test (SEAT) for Senior Secondary School Students in Bauchi State.

 

6. examine the influence of location (Urban or Rural) of Co-educational Schools on Standardised Economics Achievement Test (SEAT) for Senior Secondary School Students in Bauchi State.

 

7. examine the influence of location (Urban or Rural) of Single Sex schools (Male or Female) on Standardised Economics Achievement Test (SEAT) among Senior Secondary School Students in Bauchi State.

 

1.4 Research Questions

 

 

The following research questions were answered

 

 

1. What is the Validity and Reliability of the Standardised Economics Achievement Test for Senior Secondary School Students in Bauchi State?

 

2. What are the psychometric properties of each item on the Standardized Economics Achievement Test for Senior Secondary School Students in Bauchi State?

 

3. What are the norms of Standardized Economics Achievement Test for Senior Secondary School Students in Bauchi State?

 

4. What is the difference of Co-educational and Single Sex (Male or Female) Schools in Rural area on Standardised Economics Achievement Test (SEAT) for Senior Secondary School Students in Bauchi State?

 

5. What is the difference of Co-education and Single Sex Schools (Male or Female) in Urban area on Standardise Economics Achievement Test (SEAT) for Senior Secondary School Students in Bauchi State?

 

6. What is the difference in location of Co-educational Schools on Standardised Economics Achievement Test (SEAT) for Senior Secondary School Students in Bauchi State?

 

7. What is the difference in location of Single Sex Schools on Standardised Economics Achievement Test (SEAT) for Senior Secondary School Students in Bauchi States?

 

1.5 Hypotheses

 

 

The following Null hypotheses were formulated and tested for the study:

 

 

1. There is no significant difference in the mean of Standardized Economics Achievement Test (SEAT) for Senior Secondary School Students from Co-educational and Single Sex Schools in Rural area in Bauchi State.

 

2. There is no significant difference in the mean of Standardized Economics Achievement Test (SEAT) for Senior Secondary School Students from Co-educational and Single Sex Schools in Urban area in Bauchi State.

 

3. There is no significant difference in the mean of Co-educational Schools on standardized Economics Achievement Test for Senior Secondary School Students from Urban and Rural areas in Bauchi State.

 

4. There is no significant difference in the mean of Single Sex Schools on Standardized Economics Achievement Test (SEAT) for Senior Secondary School Students from Urban and Rural areas in Bauchi State.

 

1.6    Significance of the study

 

 

The result of this study would be of benefit to the followings. Test developers; practicing teachers; Counsellors; School Administrators; Students; and Potential researchers.

 

• Test developers: This category will find this study useful in the area of determining the presence or absence of item bias. A test is said to be unbiased if all individuals have equal probability of getting the item; correct or not. It will also permit identification of each examinee‟s strength and weakness in testing situation and to be used for diagnosis to find what the examinee needs next. This is possible through the analysis of examinee‟s answer pattern on the Achievement Test developed.

 

• Practicing teachers: This category will be provided with the knowledge of testing in the selection of test items, so that items of appropriate difficulty are chosen for each examinee. It will enable Practicing teachers in validating class room achievement test. It would also provide practicing teachers with the knowledge of estimations of items parameters from any group of examinees. Teachers need an already validated instrument of high quality to complement the poor ones they make use of. This is possible through adopting the already validated instrument.

 

• Counsellors: This Category will benefit from this study by identifying strength and weakness of students, diagnoses of learning difficulties, students learning patterns and many other psychological implications through the administration of the Standardised Economics Achievement Test (SEAT) in their various Schools.

 

• Schools administrators, who are moderators of all kind of tests in their schools, would ensure Standardised Economics Achievement Test (SEAT) would be administered into their various Schools to ensure effective school planning and good decision making process. This is possible through revision and remedial lessons, new instructional programmes for students who failed in Standardized Economics Achievement Test (SEAT).

 

• Students of Economics would benefit from the findings of this study which would enable students to be familiar with standardized tests. This would enable them to pass some other standardised examinations since they were familiar with standardized tests, especially in Economics.

 

• It will serve as a reference material to future researches which can be used as literature, text reference and empirical studies in the Department of Educational Psychology and Counselling, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and beyond.

 

1.7    Basic Assumptions:

 

 

This study had the following basic assumptions that

 

 

• there may be an effect of validity and reliability of instrument on the academic Achievement of students on Economics Achievement Test in Bauchi State.

 

• there may be influence of psychometric properties of an instrument on the Achievement of Students on Economics Achievement Test in Bauchi State

 

• School norm have a significant impact on the Performance of Students on Economics Achievement Test in Bauchi state.

 

• there may be influence of School Type on the Achievement of Rural Students on Economics Achievement Test in Bauuchi State.

 

• there may be influence of School Type on the achievement of Urban Students on Economics Achievement Test in Bauuchi State.

 

• there may be influence of School Location on the Achievement of Coeducational Schools Students in Economics Achievement Test in Bauuchi State.

 

• there may be influence of School location on the Achievement of Single Sex Schools Students in Economics Achievement Test in Bauchi State.

 

1.8   Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The study was to cover whole year contents of Economics in order to avoid some other intervening variable mostly attached to some topics. Thus some topics are prerequisite to others especially in first term, second term and third term. The study was restricted to two models items validity base on classical theorist; objectives type multiple choices of five alternatives. Many researches showed that, objective type is the best test format because it illuminates the subjectivity in marking and scoring. The study also covered schools running morning session.

 

The study is purposely delimited to all Public Senior Secondary School students offering Economic in Bauchi State, Nigeria. This was because most of these problems were identified in Government Senior Secondary Schools. The research has also delimited this study to SS II Student, because they are stable in SSS system. SSI students are not fully adjusted to academic activities while SSS III are busy preparing for their final Examination.

This is because some secondary schools in Bauchi State operate in the morning while some in the afternoon session.

 

ASSESSMENT OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS ON STANDARDIZED ECONOMICS ACHIEVEMENT TEST IN BAUCHI, BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA

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