The Role Of Mock Examination In Predicting Performance In Kenya National Examination Results (2008-2012). A Case Of Public Secondary Schools In Migori County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

The role of examination to any nation is to determine whether students have achieved the learning objectives. The examinations were administered at the end of the education (learning) system or periodically before the end of a system. This gave rise to the use of mock just before the KCSE examination is administered. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate the role played by mock examination result in predicting students’ performance in the national examination in secondary schools (K.C.S.E) in Migori County. The study was triggered by the call of the then minister of education Hon. Prof. Sam Ongeri in 2012 that mock examination results in all schools be forwarded to the ministry of education and the KNEC to be used to bench mark the students’ performance and check if there were cheating in the examination. The objectives of the study were to establish the perception of the teachers towards mock examination in Migori County, to compare students mock and KCSE results in Migori County between 2008-2012 and whether mock and KCSE examination results were related and to identify issues and challenges facing mock examinations in Migori County. The study employed a descriptive survey research design. The sample size consisted of 30 schools randomly selected from a population of 153 schools in the County. The respondents consisted of 30 principals, 30 Head of departments and 150 classroom teachers who gave their views and opinions as far as the mentioned objectives were concerned. The study was carried out to check the relationship between the two examination results between the years 2008-2012. Data were collected using the questionnaire for the principals, HODs and teachers and interview schedule for the DEOs and the County Commissioner. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics after cleaning and cording. The findings were presented using frequency distribution tables, bar graph and pie chart. The study established that there was a trend of performance by the students within the five years under study in that there was a slight improvement of student’s performance in the national examination result compared to that of the same student in the mock. The study also established that there were challenges faced by the mock examination thus affecting its reliability and validity thus it could not be effectively used as a bench mark to the national examination result. Teachers also noted that if adopted then unscrupulous teachers would always influence the mock results so as to gain advantage in the decision making. The study recommended that doing of mock in secondary school in the County should continue as its purpose is to prepare the students in readiness to the national examination but faulted the idea of using mock as a bench mark to the KCSE. Based on the challenges faced by the mock, it was recommended that mock should not be used to predict the students KCSE performance as this would lead to biasness. The study finally recommended that the ministry of education should have a well elaborate means and system to establish the reliability of the national results rather than the use of mock.