SOURCE:

Faculty: Education
Department: Educational Foundation

CONTRIBUTORS:

Oguoma, C. C.
Okoye, R.

ABSTRACT:

The study assessed the equivalence of West African Examination Council and the National Examination Council mathematics multiple-choice tests, from 2011 to 2014 using item response theory (IRT). The study was necessitated by the recurring variation in performance levels of candidates in the examinations conducted by the two examining bodies. Six (6) research questions and two (2) hypotheses guided the study with descriptive survey as the research design. The study was carried out in Imo-State. A sample of 1051 students in SS 3 was chosen through a combination of non-proportionate random sampling and cluster sampling techniques for the study. The research instruments were the mathematics multiple-choice tests administered by WAEC and NECO in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. The pair of NECO 2011 and WAEC 2011 tests were separately administered within one week simultaneously in the 30 selected schools. The NECO 2012 and WAEC 2012, NECO 2013 and WAEC 2013 and NECO 2014 and WAEC 2014 tests were similarly administered at two weeks interval between each pair. The method of data analysis for the study involved the use of factor analysis model of SPSS version 21 for research question 1, tetrachoric correlation module of LISREL version 8.8 and frequency count for research questions 2 and 3, calibration module of BILOG MG version 3.0 for research question 4, empirical reliability of the calibration model, of BILOG MG version 3.0 for research question 5 and linear equating transformation equations and scatter plots for research question 6. The Z-test of correlation analysis was used to test the null hypotheses. The major findings of the study were that (v) NECO and WAEC mathematics tests of 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 did not fulfill all the conditions that are required for test scores obtained from two tests designed to measure the same ability of examinees to be used interchangeably, therefore they are not equivalent. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that (i). Education authorities should review their stands on the equivalence by government fiat placed on the two examinations conducted by WAEC and NECO mathematics test-items.