This ppt present literature on the meaning, purpose, and characteristics of continuous assessment, rational for adopting and implementing continuous assessment. It goes further to highlight problems of continuous assessment implementation, and present some guidelines of Planning and Organizing Continuous Assessment for more improved learning system.

1. Continuous Assessment

2. By: Markos Mulat
Alebel Girma
Sara Teklemariam
Wendimageny Tufa
Continuous Assessment

3. First part presented
by Markos Mulat

4. Presentation objectives
This power point present
1. The meaning,
2. Purpose, and
3. Characteristics of
continuous assessment,
4. Rational for adopting and
implementing continuous
assessment
5. Highlight of problems of
continuous assessment
implementation,
6. Guidelines of Planning
and Organizing Continuous
Assessment for more
improved teaching and
learning system.
7. Practical experience on
continuous assessment

6. The Federal Democratic Republic Government
of Ethiopia Policy on Education and Training
under Article 3. 3. Sub article 3.3.1 stated
continuous assessment in academic and
practical subjects, including aptitude tests will
be conducted to ascertain the formation of all
round profile of students at all level (p.18).
Introduction…
..cont’d

8. 1. Summative assessment
 Summative assessment is assessment that is used
to signify competence or that contributes to a
student’s grade in a course, module, or level.
 It is typically used to evaluate the effectiveness of
instructional programs and services at the end of
an academic year or at a pre-determined time.
 The goal of summative assessments is to make a
judgment of student competency, after an
instructional phase is complete. This form of
assessment does not normally involve feedback to
the student.
Types of Assessment

10.  Students receive feedback from teachers
based on their performance that allows
them to focus on topics they have not yet
mastered.
 Information collected from continuous
behavior of students will help teachers to
better understand their strengths and
weaknesses in addition to providing a
comprehensive picture of each student
over a period of time.
Continuous Assessment…cont’d

11.  Such information will help in educational
of students and will afford student to
readily see his or her developmental
pattern through the data.
Continuous Assessment…cont’d

12.  Continuous Assessment is essential not only to guide the development
of individual students but also to monitor and continuously improve the
quality of programs, inform prospective students and their parents, and
provide evidence of accountability.
 It is important in increasing student motivation towards a course,
encouraging good study habits, and in providing feedback that
identifies strengths and weaknesses of learners.
 The better the analytic and achievement data from assessment the
teacher has about the students, the more appropriate the guidance
he/she will be able to provide learners about their learning, and about
their occupational choices. .
Purpose of Continuous Assessment

13.  To obtain accurate and reliable assessment data on a
student, the assessments could be spread over a
longer time, allowing the student to take tests and
other assignments at different times throughout the
course.
 The average of the scores for the various
assessments is a more reliable indicator of the
student’s performance in the subject than the score
the student obtains in a one-shot examination.
1. Longer time for collecting assessment information
The purposes of continuous assessment
are achieved in the following ways

14.  Practical skills such as the skills and competencies
involved in conducting interviews, writing and
presenting reports, and analyzing data to provide a
more comprehensive and more valid assessment of
learner’s ability.
2. Applications of different test forms
and different test situations

15. 3. Inclusion of more complex thinking
skills in the testing program
 By extending the period for collecting
assessment data, forms of knowledge
and competencies that cannot be easily
assessed under strictly timed
conditions can also be assessed.
 High level thinking skills involving
analytical thinking and problem solving
skills and other competencies that
require extended time for learning and
for test response included in the
continuous assessment program.

16. 4. Teacher assistance and remediation
 The Continuous assessment process requires the teacher to
provide assistance in the form of advice on various aspects of
student s’ projects.
 The student learns to consult the teacher, classmates and other
sources on aspects of the project work.
 Besides offering assistance as needed, the teacher is able to
offer remedial help by using learners’ common mistakes and
misunderstandings for further improvement in class learning.

19. Next part presented
by Alebel Girma

20. I. Systematic
 Continuous assessment is said to be systematic in the sense that it
requires an operational plan which indicates what measurement
are to be made of the students’ performance, at what time intervals
or times during the school year, the measurements are to be made
and the results recorded, and the nature of the tools or
instruments to be used in the measurements.
II. Comprehensive
 Continuous assessment is comprehensive which means that many
types of instruments are used in determining the performance and
may come in form of tests, projects, assignments, observations,
questions, group work and so on .

21. III. Cumulative
 The accumulated records of the students should guide in
determining what a student should do after the program. In actual
fact, the records for decision-making about a student both current
and previous are pooled together for such decisions to be reliable
and dependable.
IV. Guidance-Oriented
 Continuous assessment is guidance-oriented because the
information collected about a student has to be used to guide the
learner’s placement, career prospects and further development.
The students have to be assisted to make educational and career
decisions, based on their performance and interest.

22.  Continuous assessment can be organized and
implemented in a large number of different ways, and
the actual assessment techniques can take many
different forms. This include:
a) Question and Answer in the Lesson
This is perhaps the most commonly used method
and is almost instinctive for teachers. It gives
instant feedback and can be used to develop
motivation
Techniques of Continuous
Assessment

23. b) Short Tests and Quizzes
 These are either from textbooks or devised by the
teacher. These are informal, can be fun and marks
can be simply recorded.
c) Homework Exercises
 These vary in purpose, design and complexity.
Purpose is the key word here. Students will make
good use of homework if they feel it is useful, for
example, preparation of material for a class
discussion, developing a skill, are all appealing
tasks.
Techniques of Continuous
Assessment….cont’d

24. d) Assignments
 A very useful and increasingly used method,
especially in conjunction with homework. May
involve library and internet investigations, visits and
interviews.
e) Class Tests
 Class tests for the term designed to cover the
important objectives studied within a specified
period. It involve the use of high-order abilities
including understanding and interpretation, analysis
of problems, creative application of principles,
evaluation and estimation of situations.
Techniques of Continuous
Assessment….cont’d

25. f) Group Exercise
 The purpose of the group work is to introduce students to
the principles and ethics of working together in groups to
arrive at solutions together using the ideas and abilities of
each group member.
g) Projects
 Projects consist of investigations, experiments and
material production in the subject of study. Projects will
involve the use of high-order abilities such as analysis,
evaluation, self-correction and synthesis of ideas and
skills toward creation of a new product.
h) Written Questions / Exercises with Short,
Extended or Multiple-choice Answers
 Very widely used. Easy to design, mark and assess.
Techniques of Continuous
Assessment….cont’d

26.  Continuous assessment allows teachers to
monitor the impact of their lessons on student
understanding.
 Teachers can modify their pedagogical strategies
to include the construction of remediation
activities for students who are not working at the
expected grade level and the creation of
enrichment activities for students who are working
at or above the expected grade level.

27.  Continuous assessment result with frequent
interactions between students and teachers that
enable the teachers to know the strengths and
weaknesses of their learners. These exchanges
foster a student-teacher relationship based on
individual interactions.
 One-to-one communication between the teacher
and the student can motivate students to continue
attending school and to work hard to achieve
higher levels of mastery.

28. Next part presented by
Wendimageny Tuffa

29. Large class size:
One of the major challenges was the large class sizes. Teachers’ workload
became higher as they were required to mark and keep records of the
progress of all learners..
Labor Intensive:
It may be logistically impossible to provide detailed descriptive feedback for
each student in a large class. Even with a smaller number of students to deal
with, Continuous assessment is time-consuming as it requires significant,
ongoing dedication and effort from the teacher to sustain.
Challenges of Implementing Continuous Assessment

30. Finance:
The other problems to the successful implementation of a continuous
assessment is lack of funds. Money will be needed to buy textbooks that are
relevant to the syllabus, stationeries, equipment and book shelves for record
keeping. The absence of all these materials will pose a great danger to the
successful implementation.
Training of Teachers:
Due to the fact that teachers are the sole operators of continuous assessment
in schools, it is imperative that they should be adequately trained.
Challenges of Implementing Continuous Assessment

32.  Ensure assessment technique is progressive and
properly integrated
 Don’t set major assignment early
 Students not overstressed
 Sufficient time to prepare
 Written guidelines and instructions- unambiguous
and clear
 Create opportunities to discuss with students and
stuffs before and after the implementation
 Avoid over assessed, can lead to stress.

33. Guidelines…cont’d
CA engages students in
reaching their full potential
Improve the quality of
instruction
If well planned &
implemented, the technique
will go long way
Unless there is commitment,
diligence and sacrifice on
the part of the teacher, CA
will not be successful.

34. Case Study on Applying Continuous
Assessment
by:
Sara Teklemariam

35.  This case study is a description of a practical
experience on continuous assessment of one of
the members of the group.
 It was a 7 credit hours course which runs for a
continuous one month at graduate school of AAU.
The number of students who took the course was
15 including the writer of this experience.
Background

36. Objective
To share the learning from personal experience
on the benefits and challenges of applying
continuous assessment to course mates

37. Forms of Assessment
• Reading assignments and writing
individual as well as group reflection
• Group Presentation in class on
topics assigned together with Q & A
sessions
• Guest speakers followed by Q & A
sessions
• Assessing relevant movie selected
by the instructor
• Field visit, writing group
observations from the visits
• Project on education

38. • A written training outline,
methodology and content is
submitted. A written
evaluation by a group.
• A group project on developing
a strategy is written,
presented in class and
submitted
• Finally, an individual research
proposal was written and
submitted
• There was no final written
exam

39. The tools used to assess
• -Before the class begins, the instructor has sent a
written syllabus and its methodology for
assessment
• -Then, at the first class the instructor explained
how he intends to assess the students
• - The activities mentioned above were corrected ,
commented upon and graded and given back to
students as appropriate
• -After the students have read their comments and
grades, the instructor was careful in documenting
results of his assessment
• -He had assigned dates and hours where any
student could visit his office and discuss
anything (including personal problems)
• - The instructor assists those who visit him but
more importantly he calls students and discusses
with them about their strength and improvement
areas and provides professional assistance
continuously
• -When groups have problems, he assists and tries
to find solutions together with all group members

40. Benefits of Continuous Assessment
 A/ it made us work hard
 B/ identify our potential and personal skills
 C/ identify our weak points and work more on that
 D/ it gave us an opportunity to be tested from many angles that nobody can
loose
 E/ it forced us to participate as the role of the instructor was minimal except
in facilitation
 F/ helped us to think critically
 G/ it enabled us to share our different experiences as we had different
background
 H/ it was rewarding for any student who worked hard and difficult for those
who did not attend classes or did the reading and writing assignments
 I/ it made us see diversity and how to help each other, tolerate differences
and work together as a team for a common cause

41. Challenges Encountered
• Resistance to change
• Misunderstanding the type and
purpose of continuous
assessment by students
• Group Dynamics Versus
Individual Success
• Misconception/ intentional
misrepresentation of the
“Student Centered Approach” by
students
• Split among students
• Time constraint