Why we need effective continuous assessment

I think that one of the reforms that the ministry of education in conjunction with Rwanda Education Board (REB) should consider is putting in place a policy which emphasises effective continuous assessment of learners in all schools. This is because continuous assessment plays a very significant role in boosting the learners’ performance in academics. I know for sure that the schools that have been excelling in the national examinations put a lot of emphasis on assessing learners regularly and by the time they do the national examinations, they are confident enough to excel. This system does not apply in many of the schools that do not excel. Effective continuous assessment requires teachers to subject learners to lots of assignments and tests in order for them to excel. Students are tested on the concepts taught to deepen their understanding of subject content and they get adequate exposure to questions. If it is effectively carried out in all schools, it will help learners to master what they are taught unlike a situation where they accumulate a lot of lesson notes which become hard for them to revise in preparation for the examinations. Many of them just cram a few things and they write shallow answers. Some top performing schools give learners beginning of term and mid-term tests and the learners’ scores in such tests contribute 30% of the overall scores for the term. This implies that the end of term examinations carry 70%. Such a system forces the learners to revise from time to time as they prepare for the various sets of continuous assessment tests. Moreover, the same schools also emphasise regular assignments and tests for learners. They have mechanisms of checking students’ books to establish whether teachers carry out effective assessment of learners. This is something that all schools are capable of doing once it is made a policy. When it is optional to teachers, it compromises learners’ performance and it continues to widen the gap between top performing schools and the other schools that do not always perform well. Ironically, many schools focus more on completion of the syllabus for each of the subjects taught and tests are given in the third term when students are about to do the final examinations. Little is done to equip learners with answering techniques. Even if the syllabus of a given subject is completed, the students may not excel in that subject as long as they do not get enough exposure to ways of answering questions. Therefore, teaching should go hand in hand with assessment of learners. Rwanda Education Board should consider scaling down the maximum teaching load such that each teacher has a maximum of 20 lessons per week. This can create room for teachers to carry out effective assessment of learners. In most cases, teachers are over loaded and they can’t easily give work to learners regularly because marking takes time. They end up doing it once in a while and this affects the learners’ performance. It is through frequent testing of students that a teacher is able to determine their progress. As he keeps marking their work, he is able to identify their areas of weakness and he can ably make the necessary interventions to address their challenges. Managing students during prep time is easier when they have several assignments to do or when they expect to do tests unlike a situation where they read only when they expect to do end of term examinations. In such a situation, they do not take revision seriously. They only concentrate when they realise that examinations are approaching and they cannot achieve much in that short time. Therefore, the policy makers in the education system should devise a system that promotes continuous assessment in all schools so as to uplift the academic standards. The writer is a teacher at Riviera High School