CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT ??

This is a question that has been bothering educational practitioners since time 
immemorial. Would a one short examination adequately assess  what a learner has 
learnt over a long period of schooling? How would you grade a learner who happens 
to fall ill and could not write the final examination?


What is continuous assessment?


It is an assessment approach which should depict  the full range of sources and methods 
teachers use to gather, interpret and synthesise information about learners; 
information that is used to help teachers understand their learners, plan and monitor 
instruction and establish a  viable classroom culture.

From this one could infer that continuous assessment is an assessment 
approach which involves the use of a variety of assessment instruments, assessing 
various components of learning, not only the thinking  processes but including 
behaviours, personality traits and manual dexterity. Continuous assessment will also 
take place over a period of time. Such  an approach would be more holistic, 
representing the learner in his/her entirety. It will begin  with the decisions that the 
teachers perform on the first day of school and end with the decisions that the teachers 
and administrators make on the learners regarding end-of-year grading and 
promotion