An empirical analysis of standard fixing and grade awards at Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations in Nigeria

 

Abdul-Wahab Ibrahim

 

Research Article | Published December 2015

Journal of Educational Research and Reviews, Vol. 3(7), pp. 111-119

 

 

Department of Education, Faculty of Education, Sule Lamido University, Kafin-Hausa, Jigawa State, Nigeria.

 

*Corresponding author. Email: edutestsexpert2013@gmail.com. Tel: +2348033438023.      

 

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Standard fixing has always been an issue of debate in education. The interesting thing, of course, is the way standard has often always been viewed as falling or declining. Public concern over standards comes in waves and is often triggered off by activities outside the world of classroom. Using ex-post facto research design, the sample consisted of 30 secondary data of empirical studies purposively selected using the internet and hand searching of journals, articles and papers presented at the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) monthly and annual seminars. Data collected were analysed using percentiles and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistical methods. The results showed that a statistically significant difference existed in the standard setting procedures used for core subjects of Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE). Also, there was significant difference in the standard setting procedures used for the core Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) subjects of Mathematics, English Language and Biology with regard to student performance in public examinations (F = 9.760; p < 0.05). Further, there was a significant difference in the standards between SSCE core subjects in the proportion of the grades in relation to the effect size (F = 6.367; p < 0.05). It was therefore, concluded that the pattern of standard fixing and grade awards for the core SSCE subjects followed the norm-referenced procedures and attempts should be made by subject-experts to set questions of comparable difficulty in order to having a good spread of the syllabus from year to year as this will make for stability and consistency in the grades awarded.