Knowledge and Practices of Authentic Assessment in Junior High Schools

Assessment is a vital aspect of curriculum practice. A prime concern of educational stakeholders is how the outcomes of instruction affect students’ need to transfer knowledge, ideals, and skills to the workplace. However, social studies teachers in junior high schools in Ghana dwell much on traditional assessment methods than authentic assessment methods. The study aimed to examine social studies teachers’ knowledge and practice of authentic assessment in junior high schools. The specific objectives were to examine the knowledge, practices, and strategies of authentic assessment for social studies teachers. Explanatory sequential design (mixed-method) and the census were used to collect data from 127 social studies teachers in 85 junior high schools. A 50-item questionnaire and semi-structured interview guide aided the successful data collection. From the study, social studies teachers have positive knowledge of authentic assessment. About 75 per cent of teachers showed that they practice authentic assessment by asking students to collaborate, organise ideas with a purpose, and apply their knowledge to real-life problems. Also, the teachers showed that they give students assessment tasks based on social processes or real-life situations such as oral presentations and interviews, case study discussions, and story or text retelling. The study revealed that there was no statistically significant difference in Social Studies teachers’ knowledge of authentic assessment concerning gender.