FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT PRACTICES AS CORRELATE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS' ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN CHEMISTRY

Abstract

The study determined the relationship between formative assessment practices and students' academic achievement in chemistry. The design of the study was correlational research design. Multistage sampling procedure was used to draw 308 students from a population of 2,567 SS2 students in Awka Education zone of Anambra State. The 308 students were obtained from the 61 registered secondary schools in Awka education zone. Teachers Formative Assessment Practices Questionnaire (TFAPQ) and Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) were used as instruments for data collection. The instruments were validated by three experts in Measurement and Evaluation from the Department of Science Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. A reliability coefficient of 0.89 was obtained using Cronbach Alpha reliability estimate. The data were collected using on the spot technique. The first research question was answered using linear regression analysis while research questions 2 and 3 were answered using multiple regression. All the hypotheses were tested using the t value for interaction obtained from Hayes Process Macro, all at 0.05 level of significance. The result shows that there was a high and positive relationship between formative assessment practices and chemistry students' academic achievement and the relationship between formative assessment practices and chemistry students' academic achievement is significant. Workshops and seminars were recommended for secondary school teachers on the effectiveness of teachers' assessment practices and how it relates to the students' overall academic achievement. The study also recommended that various formative assessment practices should be incorporated in teaching and learning processes to enable teachers harness the power of formative assessment to improve students' academic achievement.