Abstract:
The study sought to investigate primary school pupils’ performance on the national minimum
standard assessment test. A survey design was used to solicit pupils’ responses on the
national minimum standard assessment test. The population of the study comprised all
primary six pupils in the Efutu municipality in the central region of Ghana. A stratified
sampling technique was used to select 300 pupils (159 boys, 141girls) who responded to test
items on the national minimum objectives enshrined in the primary school mathematics
syllabus. The findings revealed that pupils’ general performance on the national minimum
standards assessment test was good. However, the study revealed that seven (43%) out of the
sixteen standards were found to be difficult by pupils. The findings also revealed that boys
performed better than girls, private schools performed better than public schools and urban
schools performed better than rural schools. The results were further analyzed using
independent samples t-test and chi-square relational test with the level of significance fixed
at 0.05. The findings of the independent samples t-test revealed that the gender of pupils have
no influence on their achievement of the National Minimum Standards assessment test.
However, there were significant differences in the performance of pupils with respect to the
type of school and school location. The findings on the chi-square relational test on the
proportion of pupils reaching the national education assessment benchmarks with respect to
the type of school revealed that there was a significant difference between the mean scores
attained by private and public schools (2 = 13.332, df = 2, p > 0.01). It was also revealed
that more than half (52%) of pupils from the urban schools have reached proficiency as
compared to rural schools (29%), with a significant difference (2 = 21.609, df = 2, p > 0.00).
Description:
A MASTERS’ THESIS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF BASIC EDUCATION OF THE
FACULTY OF EDUCATIONAL STUDIES, SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF
GRADUATE STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, WINNEBA IN PARTIAL
FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR AWARD OF THE MASTER OF
PHILOSOPHY DEGREE IN BASIC EDUCATION
JUNE, 2014