EFFECTS OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT ON JUNIOR SECONDARY TWO STUDENTS' MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT IN PLATEAU STATE

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of formative assessment on junior secondary two students'
Mathematics achievement in plateau state. This was motivated by poor performance of students in
mathematics in internal and external examinations in Plateau State. The assessment of students'
learning has been characterized by the use of summative assessment only by teachers and new ideas
of improving performance through formative assessment is lacking in our schools. Four research
questions and two hypotheses were answered and tested respectively.This study adopted a quasiexperimental
design, specifically the non-randomised pretest posttest control group design. The
population of the study was 2212 students and the sample consisted of 240 JS II students in four
Government Junior Secondary Schools in Jos South and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas. The
sampling techniques employed were the stratified sampling and random sampling techniques. The
instruments used for data collection were two equivalent form 1 and 11essay tests adopted by the
researcher from external examination questions from BECE mathematics. The instruments were
validated to ensure that they had content validity using table of specification. The Kuder-Richardson
method for reliability coefficient was used to estimate the internal consistency of the tests. The
reliability result was .89 which was good. The method of data collection was testing. The data were
analysed using frequency, percentages, mean, standard deviation ANCOVA and ANOVA. The results
of this study reveals that the use of formative assessment improves students' understanding of the
concepts taught and the strategies employed improved their Mathematics achievement. The
implication is that teachers of mathematics should adopt the use of Formative Assessment for
making the teaching and learning of mathematics more interesting and rewarding.