RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEARNING OUTCOMES AND PEER ASSESSMENT PRACTICE

The study examined the effect of peer assessment on students’ mathematical retention ability and determined the effect of peer assessment practice on the students’ attitude towards mathematics learning. It also established the relationship between students’ attitude towards mathematics learning and peer assessment practice. These were with a view to improving students’ learning of mathematics. The population and the sample consisted of 45 private students in a remedial class who were preparing for Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) after an unsuccessful attempt at the end of their three years senior secondary school programme. Four instruments were employed for data collection. The instrument includes; Assessment Tasks (AT) used at the end of every mathematic teaching/learning process’, Students Attitudes towards Peer Assessment (SAPA) questionnaire, Students’ Attitude towards Mathematics (SAMS), Mathematics Post Training Test (MP2T) and a Mathematics Retention Test (MRT). The results showed that the peer assessment practice has a significant effect on the retention ability of the students (t = 1.83, df =44, p >.05) and (r = 0.97, p<.05). The results also showed that the effect of peer assessment practice on students’ attitude towards mathematics learning is significant (t = 11.46, df = 44, p <.05). Furthermore, the results showed that there is no significant relationship between students’ post training attitude towards mathematics and attitude towards peer assessment practice (r = - 0.064, p>.05). In conclusion peer assessment as adopted and use in this study may be said to be one of the possible alternatives assessment methods that will serve assessment formative functions and thus bring about improvement in students’ learning of mathematic

Estimation of Item Parameter Indices of NECO Mathematics Multiple Choice Test Items among Nigerian Students

The study estimated the difficulty, discrimination, and vulnerability to guessing 2016 National Examination Council (NECO) Mathematics multiple-choice test items. The study employed an ex-post facto design with 276,338 samples. The research instruments used for the study were Optical Marks Record Sheets for the NECO June/July 2016 Mathematics objectives items. The responses of the testees were scored dichotomously. Data collected were calibrated using four parameters logistic model. The results showed that most items in the 2016 NECO Mathematics test were good as their difficulty parameters were within (-2 to 2). For those items, difficulty parameter estimates are considered good. Also, the results indicated that only 21.7% of 2016 NECO Mathematics test items had a very good discriminating power, and the majority of the items had poor discrimination power. The result implies that most of the items were not effective in discriminating between examinees with the required ability and those that lack the required ability. Finally, the result revealed that the 2016 NECO test items were not vulnerable to guessing (i.e., 86.7% of items were good in terms of guessing). The study concluded that the 2016 NECO Mathematics test items were good for difficulty and guessing parameter indices

Comparative study of the psychometric properties of multiple-choice tests using confidence and number right scoring techniques

Purpose - This study aims to ascertain the impact of several options on distractor performance when confidence scoring was used and established the impact of the numbers of options for multiple-choice test items on the reliability of coefficients that were not significant.Method: This research used a descriptive survey design. There are two sampling methods used in this research, simple random sampling technique and purposive sampling. The instrument used for this study was an adapted version of the 2015 West Africa School Certificate Examination (WASCE) Economics test items. Data collected were analyzed using ANOVA, Kuder -Richardson Formula (KR-20) and Fisher's Z-Test with aid of FZT compotator.Result - The results of the study showed that several options had a significant impact on distractors' performance when scored using confidence scoring (F = 6.679, p 0.05). The results also showed that for each pairwise comparison of 3/4-options (zobt = 0.640), 3/5-options (zobt = 0.837) and 4/5-options (zobt = 0.196) at p 0.05 the difference in the reliability coefficients were not significant.Implication - This study suggests to improve scoring, the procedure should be encouraged and used in schools because it is effective in reducing the contribution of random guessing to testees' total score and in rewarding testees' partial knowledge on multiple-choice tests. Furthermore, the confidence scoring procedure significantly reduces the 'craze' for a do-or-die affair to pass an examination at all costs and thus should be used in all schools.Originality - This research is the study to improve scoring procedures that should be encouraged and used in schools.***Tujuan - Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah memastikan dampak jumlah opsi pada kinerja pengecoh ketika penilaian kepercayaan digunakan dan menetapkan dampak jumlah opsi untuk item tes pilihan ganda pada keandalan koefisien tidak signifikan.Metode - Penelitian ini menggunakan desain survei deskriptif. Ada dua metode pengambilan sampel yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini, yaitu teknik simple random sampling dan purposive sampling. Instrumen yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah versi adaptasi dari soal-soal tes Ekonomi West Africa School Certificate Examination (WASCE) 2015. Data yang terkumpul dianalisis menggunakan ANOVA, Rumus Kuder-Richardson (KR-20) dan Fisher's Z-Test dengan bantuan kompotator FZT.Hasil - Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa jumlah opsi memiliki pengaruh yang signifikan terhadap kinerja pengecoh ketika diberi skor menggunakan penilaian kepercayaan (F = 6.679, p 0,05). Hasil juga menunjukkan bahwa untuk setiap perbandingan berpasangan opsi 3/4 (zobt = 0,640), opsi 3/5 (zobt = 0,837) dan opsi 4/5 (zobt = 0,196) pada p 0,05 selisih koefisien reliabilitas tidak signifikan.Implikasi - Penelitian ini menyarankan untuk meningkatkan prosedur penilaian harus didorong dan digunakan di sekolah-sekolah karena telah terbukti efektif dalam mengurangi kontribusi tebakan acak terhadap skor total testi dan dalam menghargai pengetahuan parsial testi pada tes pilihan ganda. Selanjutnya, prosedur penilaian kepercayaan secara signifikan mengurangi 'kegemaran' untuk urusan do-or-die untuk lulus ujian di semua biaya, dan dengan demikian harus digunakan di semua sekolah.Orisinalitas - Penelitian ini adalah studi untuk meningkatkan prosedur penilaian harus didorong dan digunakan di sekolah

Model-Data Fit using Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), and The Sample-Size-Adjusted BIC

The study determined if the 1PL, 2PL, 3PL and 4PL item response theory models best fit the data from the 2016 NECO Mathematics objective tests. Ex-post facto design was adopted for the study. The population for the study comprised 1,022,474 candidates who enrolled and sat for June/July SSCE 2016 NECO Mathematics Examination. The sample comprised 276,338 candidates who sat for the examination in three purposively Geo political zones in Nigeria (i.e., S/West, S/East and N/West). The research instruments used for the study were Optical Marks Record Sheets for the National Examination Council (NECO) June/July 2016 SSCE Mathematics objectives items. The responses of the tests were scored dichotomously. Data collected were analyzed using 2loglikelihood chi-square. The results of the likelihood ratio test revealed that 2PL fitted the data better than 1PL was statistically significant (χ2 (59) = 820636.1, p 0.05); the 2PL model fitted the data better than the 1PL model; 3PL model fitted the data better than the 2PL model and the result showed that the 4PL model fitted the data better than the 3PL model and the Likelihood ratio test that 4PL model fitted the data better than 3PL model was statistically significant, (χ2(60)=216159.2, p0.05). The study concluded that four-parameter logistic model fitted the 2016 NECO Mathematics test items.Keywords: Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), one parameter model, two parameter model, three parameter model, four parameter model

Linear and Separate Calibration Methods of Equating Continuous Assessment Scores of Public and Private Elementary Schools

This study determined the mean ability estimates of students in public and private secondary schools when their scores are equated through linear equating, and it examined which of the equating methods is more efficient. This study adopted a descriptive research design. The population for the study comprised 24,874 candidates that registered and sat for the 2016 June/July National Examinations Council (NECO) mathematics examination in Ogun State. A sample of 1139 candidates were selected from both public and private schools using the multi-stage sampling procedure. The research instruments used for the study were secondary data sources. The data was analyzed using Multidimensional Item Response Theory (MIRT), Separate and Linear Equation. The results showed that private school candidates’ ability score (x̅ = -0.001, SD = 0.961), (x̅= -0.001, SD = 0.961) was higher than public school candidates’ ability score (x̅= -0.865, SD = 1.058), (x̅= -0.626, SD = 0.970) when equated using separate calibration and linear equating methods respectively and that the difference observed in the ability estimate of examinees from public school and private school were significant  (t 1138 = - 14.431, p 0.05) and (t 1138 = -10.876, p 0.05) when their scores were equated with each of the equating methods. However, the results showed that the linear equating method was more efficient