Predictive Validity of Students’ Continuous Assessment Scores in Senior Secondary School Science Subjects in Katsina State

Abstract

The study investigated predictive validity of students’ continuous assessment scores in senior secondary school science subjects in Katsina State. Four null hypotheses were formulated and tested in the study. The study adopted descriptive research design of correlational type. The population of the study consists of two thousand eight hundred and sixty-three public senior secondary school students in Dutsin-Ma Education Quality Assurance Zone of Katsina State, who sat for NECO SSCE from 2017-2019 academic sessions. Simple random sampling techniques was used to select one thousand four hundred and ninety-five students for the study. Researcher-design pro-forma was used for data collection and data collected were analysed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation. Findings revealed that, there was significant relationship between students’ performance in continuous assessment and their performance in NECO science subjects in senior secondary schools in Katsina State (Mathematics, r = 0.657; r = 0.352; r = 0.338 for 2017, 2018 and 2019; p < 0.05; Physics, r = 0.158; r = 0.538; r = 0.365 for 2017, 2018 and 2019; p < 0.05; Chemistry, r = 0.296; r = 0.393; r = 0.355 for 2017, 2018 and 2019; p < 0.05; Biology, r = 0.231; r = 0.396; r = 0.411 for 2017, 2018 and 2019; p < 0.05). It was concluded that, CA scores in science subjects are good predictors of students’ NECO grades in science subjects. It was recommended that seminars and workshops should be organized for science teachers on the importance of CA scores in preparing students for both internal and external examinations.