National Examination Council Research Articles

Using IRT in Determining Test Item Prone to Guessing

The 3-parameter model of Item Response Theory gives the probability of an individual (examinee) responding correctly to an item without being sure of all the facts. That is known as guessing. Guessing could be a strategy employed by examinees to earn more marks. The way an item is constructed could expose the item to guessing by the examinee. A study on comparison of the Psychometric properties of the Biology Examinations conducted by West African Examination Council and National Examination Council, in the year 2000, identified items that were prone to guessing.

Effects of Special E-Learning Program on Hearing-Impaired Learners' Achievement and Perceptions of Basic Geometry in Lower Primary Mathematics

Achievement in mathematics is an issue of great concern not only to students and parents but also to employers and researchers in Kenya. This is because the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) has continuously reported dismal results in this area, and especially in geometry. Also, KNEC indicates that it presents difficulties to both the teachers and learners during instructional sessions. In an extension of research demonstrating causal effects of electronic learning environments on special education learners' achievement and perceptions of mathematics instruction, the present study experimentally examined the effectiveness of a special electronic learning program (SELP) to improve hearing-impaired learners' achievement of basic geometry and their perception of the Geometry learning environment. Sixty-six hearing-impaired learners from four special education schools situated in Rift Valley province were sampled purposively on the basis of the school's accessibility to participate in the study. The study employed the Solomon-Four Group Design research method. The specific dependent measures were the learners' achievement in geometry and their perception of the classroom learning environment. Measurement of achievement and perception were conducted using two instruments: (i) the Geometry Achievement Test (GAT), and (ii) the Special Learners Classroom Environment Questionnaire (SLCEQ). GAT's reliability was computed using K-R20 formula yielding a reliability of 0.78. On the other hand, SLCEQ reliability was determined using Cronbach alpha yielding a reliability coefficient of 0.82. The study established that SELP was modestly effective in improving the achievement of hearing-impaired learners on geometry and their perception of the classroom environment. The study concludes that teachers can arrest the special learners' problem of poor performance in geometry through the use of electronic learning programs.

Managing distribution of national examinations using geospatial technologies: A case study of Pumwani and Central divisions

Most of the spatially referenced data held by the Kenya national examination council (KNEC) are in analogue hard copy format. This necessitates large storage facilities for storing the paper maps, which have low retrieval speeds. Additionally, wear and tear are occasioned during retrieval and handling, and sometimes some of the data is lost. In this form data sharing is difficult and reproduction usually involves high costs per unit. The purpose of this paper is to implement a geographic information system (GIS) which will lower cost per unit, by allowing higher retrieval speeds, smaller storage facilities requirements, while facilitating data sharing. This GIS will perform all the tasks of the current manual system and in addition, provide functionality to aid in the efficient management of the Kenya national examination council data. To accomplish this, existing hardcopy data was digitized and cleaned. New data was collected, processed, analyzed and stored in the form of a geodatabase. This geodatabase stores both the spatially related data and the attribute data. This geodatabase can be used to answer many questions, but for this work, we emphasize the aspect of efficiency in exam distribution. To determine the most efficient routes to follow in the distribution of examinations during the examination period, a geometric network was prepared which was then used to determine the best routes. In this research, a prototype GIS has been developed. Visualization and comparison can be easily performed using the digital maps produced from the implemented system. The GIS database created can be used for purposes of querying and can be revised whenever new information is available. Shortest distances analysis and efficient distribution route determination were performed using spatial analysis and network analysis tools. From the distribution analysis, the service area analysis is demonstrated as giving a more realistic spatial extent of coverage compared to the buffering approach. From these analyses, the services area analysis and buffering approach showed areas of 980.96 and 223.15 Ha being beyond zone 5. Key words:

Ordinary Level as Results Predictors of Students’ Academic Performance in Chemistry in Nigerian Universities

This paper examined ordinary level result as predictors of students’ academic performance in chemistry in South-west Nigeria universities. It also examined the relationship between the academic performance of students in each level of the university examinations and their corresponding secondary school certificates examination. The sample of the study is made up of 312 chemistry students randomly selected from three universities within South-west Nigeria based on the (proprietorship status) federal, state and private universities. Ex-post facto research design was adopted. The grades of all the chemistry students sampled were selected from the directorate of admission and statistics while the cumulative grade points were selected from chemistry department of the sampled universities. The results revealed that the ordinary level chemistry results related poorly with their respective universities results. The results of the study also showed that there is little or no influence of the mode of entry on the academic performance at all levels and the two examining bodies were equivalent. Based on this finding, it was recommended that both West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) should be used as mode of entry into chemistry department.

An ordinary level as predictors of students' academic performance in chemistry in Nigerian universities

This paper examined an ordinary level as predictors of students’ academic performance in chemistry in South-west Nigeria universities. It also revealed the relationship between the academic performance of students in each level of the university examinations and their corresponding secondary school certificates examination. The sample of the study is made up of 312 chemistry students randomly selected from three universities within South-west Nigeria based on the (proprietorship satisfactory) federal, state and private universities. Ex-post facto design was adopted. The grades of all the chemistry students sampled were selected from the directorate of admission and statistics while the cumulative grade points were selected from chemistry department of the sampled universities. The results revealed that the ordinary level chemistry results related poorly with their respective universities results. The results also showed that there is little or no influence of the mode of entry on the academic performance at all levels and the two examining bodies were equivalent. Based on this finding, it was recommended that both West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) should be used as mode of entry into chemistry department. Key words: Nigerian universities, ordinary level, predictors, students’ achievement.

Education and Language: Errors in English Language and their Remedies

Problem Statement: The current study tries to investigate the nature and typology of errors that primary school pupils in Nembure Division, Embu County, Kenya make in the acquisition of English as a second language. Primary school learners of English as a second language are prone to making numerous errors. This is worrying because good performance in English in Kenya and the world enhances a learner’s choice of prestigious careers especially those that strictly consider English as a special requirement. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the nature and typology of errors made by second language learners of English in Nembure Division and to suggest remedies to these errors. Methods: A written task in the form of a composition was administered to collect data from 182 class seven pupils. Findings and Results: The results revealed that learners make many errors in the area of spelling and phonetics. Conclusion and Recommendations: Learners make many errors in the process of acquiring English as a second language. The study recommends that English language teachers isolate errors from the learners’ work and give individualized attention to those learners’ with unique problems; that English language teachers categorize the errors that learners make and address them from that perspective; that teachers give spelling exercises to the learners frequently, and that the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) should consider starting an oral examination for pupils in primary schools. This will encourage the pupils to improve their spoken and consequently their written language.

The Influence of School Sex, Location and Type on Students’ Academic Performance

The paper examined the influence of school type, sex and location on students’ academic performance in Ekiti state secondary schools. The sample of the study consisted of forty (40) secondary schools. Four (4) Government colleges (State Unity colleges) were purposively selected for the study while thirty-six (36) public secondary schools were randomly selected for the study. The school sampled had presented candidates for both West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) respectively. An instrument, school type, sex, location and students’ academic performance inventory was used to collect data for the study. Data collected were analyzed using percentage scores and t-test statistics. Three null hypotheses were generated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Findings from the study showed that the level of students’ academic performance was low. It was also revealed that school type, sex and location had no significant influence on students’ academic performance. Based on the finding it was recommended that educational planners, administrators and evaluators should appreciate the fact that the Parent Teacher Association; Guidance and Counselors, philanthropists, students and society at large have crucial role to play in improving students’ academic performance and solicit their supports in this regard.

A Comparison of SSCE Questions Set by the West African Examinations Council and the National Examinations Council, Nigeria

The purpose of this study was to compare the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) essay questions set by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) in terms of how much they were distributed across the various levels of the cognitive domain. To this effect, the essay question papers set by WAEC and NECO in Biology, Chemistry and Economics in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 were obtained. These questions were analyzed by three experts in Measurement and Evaluation in terms of how many of them fell under the various levels of the cognitive domain. The result showed that for both examining bodies, most of the questions were knowledge and comprehension questions. When the distributions of the questions across the various levels of the cognitive domain, set by WAEC and NECO were compared, no significant difference was obtained. The conclusion therefore is that, as far as the distribution of questions across the levels of the cognitive domain is concerned, WAEC and NECO are similar.

Do They End at the Same Point?

The Senior School Certificate (SSC) obtained at the end of the third year of Senior Secondary Schooling (or its equivalents) in addition to performance result in the Universities Matriculation Examination (UME) qualifies one for admission into 100 level in any Nigerian University. Both the National Examinations Council (NECO) and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) are conducting the Senior School Certificate Examination. This study sought to find out whether there existed any significant difference in the performance of students admitted through NECO SSC and those admitted through WAEC SSC. Results indicated that there was no significant difference in the performance of the two groups (t (df = 38) = 0.1;p>0.05 for the first semester; t (df = 38) = 0.1; p>0.05 for the second semester). It could not also be established that holders of one version are superior to the others in terms of first year undergraduate performance (Mean GPA(WAEC) = 2.66, Mean GPA(NECO) = 2.64, t = 1.03 for first semester and Mean GPA(WAEC) = 2.68, Mean GPA(NECO) = 2.70, t = 0.97 for second semester).

An inquiry into the integration of indigenous knowledges and skills in the Kenyan secondary science curriculum: A case of human health knowledge1

Abstract In this paper I compare and contrast portions of the Kenyan biology syllabus (Kenya National Examinations Council [KNEC], 1990) with knowledge and skills in the area of health and healing in a rural part of Kenya—Kirumi. The purpose of the interpretive study on which the paper is based was to ascertain the status of indigenous knowledges and skills in the Kenyan high school science curriculum. This purpose results from a long‐standing plan by the Kenyan government to indigente2 the entire curriculum. In particular, I focused on the topic called Human Health in a Form 4 (Grade 12 equivalence) biology text (Kenya Institute of Education, 1989). The textbook was at the time one of the set books endorsed by the Ministry of Education as a syllabus guide. Then, through grounded theory method, I identified the principles and processes that underlay knowledges and skills in the area of health and healing in Kirumi. Following that, I used these principles and processes as the basis for a critique of the Hu...

Concurrent Validity of the Twelfth Grade Internal Examinations

This study examined the concurrent validity of the teacher-made tests taken by 1794 Grade 12 students using raw scores on an external examination conducted by the Kenya National Examinations Council. Although internal examination scores were significantly correlated with scores on the standardized achievement test, the Kenya Certificate of Education, there were significant mean differences among schools. The data provide evidence for the validity of the internal examination as a measure of the same abilities as the Kenya Certificate of Education examination. Implications of this concurrent validity with respect to the quality of the school and the objectivity of the teachers' evaluation were discussed.