ISSUES OF

IMPLEMENTING
CONTINUOUS
ASSESSMENT

BY:

STEPHEN BANNAH

2020.

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 REASONS CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT SHOULD BE TERMINATED IN THE
GHANAIAN BASIC SCHOOLS

Continuous Assessment is the periodic and systematic method of assessing and evaluating a
person’s attributes. Continuous Assessment of learners’ progress could also be defined as a
mechanism whereby the final grading of learners in the cognitive; affective and psychomotor
domains of learning systematically takes account of all their performances during a given period
of schooling (Faleyalo, 1986).

Continuous Assessment is such a difficult assessment policy to understand and implement in the
classroom situation because of the learning outcomes and assessment standards. In the past,
learners were simply given tests, awarded marks and eventually got promoted on the basis of
their performance in Ghana until it adapted the continuous assessment system.
Below are some comprehensive reasons why continuous assessment should be terminated in
Ghanaian basic schools.

Large Number of Students in Class

There are cases where by pupils are overpopulated. In such a case, it will be practically difficult
for teachers to conduct accurate assessment. Although the MoE (2003) has stated that the
national ratio of teacher to pupils at the basic education level is 34:1 for the 2003/2004 academic
year, the evidence is that the ratio is higher than the national figure in many parts of the country.
For example, there are areas where the ratio is 80:1. Additionally, some writers have argued that
larger classes adversely affect teachers’ continuous assessment practice (Amedahe, 2000;
Asamoah-Gyimah, 2002). According to Asamoah-Gyimah (2002), larger classes affect the
number as well as the variety of items a teacher includes in her assessment because the time for
marking, processing and filling of records has to be considered. On his part, Amedahe (2000)
points out that the pressure to finish within a specific time will make teachers inconsistent in
their marking. In their studies both Asamoah-Gyimah (2002) and Angbing (2001) reported that
teachers identified larger classes as an impediment to their continuous assessment practice. This
has resulted in a lot of problems like low academic performance and as result brings about
examination malpractices since students have not been adequately prepared for the exams.

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Over Concentration in Written Test
Some teachers are of the wrong view that continuous assessment is synonymous to continuous
written test. As a result written test is used as the only method of assessment leading to over
testing. Continuous assessment is meant for assessing cognitive, affective and psychomotor. But
because of the inexperience of some teachers and the difficulty in combining all the three domain
to the continuous assessment, they tend to neglect the skills and attitude aspect of learning.
Where teacher teaches very many periods in a week and has large classes, he would carry a
considerable amount of workload, particularly in respect of giving and marking assignment and
tests regularly. Such teachers may resort to giving less than standard form of assessment which
they mark quickly or give only the barest minimum of test per term. This result in a very low
performance of students in standard exams.

Mode of Operation
Due to lack of adequate training on the part of teachers, the implementation/administration of
continuous assessment is carelessly handled. The motives and objectives behind the system are
not even clear to most teachers and students alike. According to Ellington and Earl (1997)
continuous assessment may make students feel that every error that they make along the way can
count against them and this can give rise to a different type of stress from that which students
experience as a result of terminal assessment. Unless continuous assessment is carefully planned
and coordinated, there is a very real danger that students may be grossly over-assessed,
particularly at certain times of the year, when several lecturers are asking simultaneously for
assignments to be handed in. There is also the problem of ensuring a uniform format of
continuous assessment in all schools. The leadership-related challenges raised were lack of
continuous follow up by the department head, exam committee’s lack of commitment to inspect
continuous assessment records, and lack of verification by heads about the correctness of
continuous assessment records. Where proper supervision of teachers is not undertaken, some
may produce fake assessment score in order to meet deadlines for the submission of marks,
where they fail to give any test to their students.

Training of Teachers

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Teachers continuous assessment competency regarding pre-service and post-service training in
continuous assessment; in Ghana, teacher-trainees are offered modules at both initial training
colleges and the universities (Amedahe, 2000; Asamoah-Gyimah, 2002). However, these
modules emphasize measurement and statistics and focus on the technicalities of assessment,
rather than innovative use of assessment for improvement of learning. The few publications on
continuous assessment for example, Amedahe (2000) and Etsey (2001) have raised concern
about the validity and reliability of teachers’ continuous assessment. They did not consider
teachers’ skills in organizing, reporting and using assessment information to improve learning of
all pupils and in particular, lower attaining children. The haphazard way of implementing the
program in schools is as a result of lack of adequate training of teachers. Teachers saddled with
the responsibilities of handling continuous assessment are either not trained or not properly
trained. Due to the fact that teachers are the sole operators of continuous assessment in schools, it
is imperative that they should be adequately trained.

Misinterpretation of Guideline
Some principals and teachers think that assessments are limited to paper and pencil tests and
examination.
Teachers can summarize pupils score, class work and assignments to make up a grade for a given
period. Teachers seem to be confused in the amount of material content that should be covered
by each test. In other words, should a test cover only the materials taught after an assignment has
been made or should the test content be extended to the earlier and related materials taught after
the preceding tests? Harbor-Ibeaja and Nworgu (1986) reported that most teachers opined that
each test should include the earlier and related materials taught before and after each preceding
test. This is necessary because a test limited in content to the materials taught after the last test
would not give the students an opportunity to use knowledge which has been acquired before the
last test. Besides, that would not make for an effective transfer of knowledge on the part of the
students coupled with the need for adequate vertical integration of the subject content by the
teacher.

Comparability of Standard

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Comparability of standards arise from the differences in the quality of tests and other assessment
instruments used in different schools. The ways and manner assessment instruments are
developed and administered in various schools could present problems in scoring and grading of
achievement in various school subjects.
Record Keeping and Continuity of Records
Continuous assessment cannot be meaningful except there is a meticulous keeping of accurate
records for each students/pupils throughout the child’s period of schooling. Since these records
are expected to be cumulative from class-to-class and from school-to-school, there is the need for
some uniformity in the kinds of records kept and the format for keeping such records. A child
with the same level of education can move from one school to another because of parents
transfer from one place to the other. This will lead to the transferring the child’s records from the
previous school to the new one.

Storage Facilities
In continuous assessment, associated with the problem of record keeping is the storage facility
for safe keeping of records. Most primary and secondary are poorly equipped for such a function.

Unqualified Personnel
There are no qualified personnel to implement and operate continuous assessment. Many
teachers do not possess the necessary skills in developing valid assessment instruments for the
evaluation of behavioral outcomes in the three domains. Continuous assessment requires the
overall ability of every child in terms of cognitive, affective and psychomotor.

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