Influence of Continuous Assessment in the Teaching of Mathematics in Secondary Schools in Edo State

This study examined the influence of continuous assessment in the teaching of mathematics in secondary schools in Edo State. Four research questions and hypotheses guided the study. The research employed a survey design. Seventy (70) mathematics teachers were randomly selected from a population of over (240) mathematics teachers in secondary schools in Edo State, Nigeria. A well structured likert type of questionnaire containing (20) items was employed while chi square goodness of fit was the major statistical tool used for data analysis. A co-efficient of 0.75 was obtained for the instrument using Cronbach high co-efficient reliability test. The results showed that the practice of continuous assessment has a significant relationship with students’ academic performance in mathematics and also help to motivate students’ in the teaching and learning of mathematics. Based on these results, conclusions and recommendations were made. Some of these are: The government should frequently organize workshops, seminars and conferences for serving mathematics teachers on the practice of continuous assessment in secondary schools. Institutions of higher learning should make continuous assessment a major course in their pre-service teachers training programme. The undergraduate education mathematics course should be widened to cover all aspects of continuous assessment.