Abstract
The paper is about a study that investigated how the integration of assessment for learning enhances learning achievement among secondary school biology students in Tanzania. A quasi-experimental design involving pre-test and post-test of non-equivalent control and experimental groups was used to ascertain how the integration of assessment for learning into teaching and learning processes enhances students’ learning achievement. Two boarding secondary schools located in the suburbs of Dar Es Salaam were selected. Students in the two schools had maintained equivalent performances in national examinations in previous years. The results showed that the students taught using teaching and learning processes integrating assessment for learning outperformed those taught using conventional approaches. The integration of assessment for learning is likely to have contributed to the higher learning achievement in the experimental group. The study contributes to our understanding of how teachers in resource-constrained classrooms can integrate assessment for learning techniques into their day-to-day lessons, thereby harnessing the power of assessment to enhance learning and raise standards.
Highlights
Assessment is widely considered a powerful tool for enhancing students’ learning achievement when embedded in the teaching and learning process (Black & Wiliam, 2018; Ellegaard et al, 2018; Wiliam et al, 2004; Wiliam, 2011)
Non-equivalent control and experimental group design is a form of quasi-experimental design in which the participants cannot be assigned randomly into experimental and control groups because the researcher has no control over the randomisation of treatment, unlike in true experimentation (Mitchell & Jolley, 2010)
A paired sample t-test was used to compare the mean pre-test and posttest scores in order to determine whether the control group had a statistically significant difference in learning achievement before and after teaching using the conventional lesson plans
Summary
Assessment is widely considered a powerful tool for enhancing students’ learning achievement when embedded in the teaching and learning process (Black & Wiliam, 2018; Ellegaard et al, 2018; Wiliam et al, 2004; Wiliam, 2011). Teachers and learners can use such evidence to make decisions about subsequent learning steps (Wiliam, 2011). When teachers ask questions to elicit students’ prior experiences at the start of a new lesson, they generate evidence that becomes readily available to inform instructional decisions. Teachers can use information about students’ prior knowledge to determine students’ learning needs for a new lesson. For both teachers and students, learning needs are the bases for planning lessons and setting learning objectives and expectations. Information about students’ prior knowledge helps both teachers and students make connections between previous lessons and new topics to enhance meaningful learning (Greenstein, 2010)
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