American Journal of Education and Information Technology

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Difficulty and Discriminating Indices of Junior Secondary School Mathematics Examination; A Case Study of Oriade Local Government, Osun State

Received: May 10, 2019    Accepted: Oct. 24, 2019    Published: Oct. 30, 2019
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Abstract

This study examined Difficulty and Discriminating Indices of Junior Secondary School Mathematics Examination in Osun State; A Case Study Of Oriade Local Government. Two Schools were selected through random sampling from Oriade Local Government of Osun State. The sample of the study consisted of sixty respondents that were drawn from the population of the study. Hypotheses were formulated the study through the stated objectives for the study. Pre and post- test was developed to validate the method used for data collection and analysis. The data collected were analyzed using t-test statistics and analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that the difficulty indexes of the JSSCE were good for 59 out of the 60 items in the examination while 1 item requires modification as the question might have been unclear or misunderstood by the students. Also, discriminatory indexes were considered appropriate for 59 out of the 60 items in the examination while 1 item was found inappropriate and thus does not fit into the set of questions for the JSSCE unless it is rewritten for better clarity. The study also revealed that students’ gender, age, class and school type have no significant influence on their academic performance in the JSSCE. Based on the findings of the study, test measurement and evaluation experts should emphasize and also ensure that proper test analysis are carried out on test items before they are administered to students especially in national examinations.

DOI 10.11648/j.ajeit.20190302.12
Published in American Journal of Education and Information Technology ( Volume 3, Issue 2, December 2019 )
Page(s) 37-46
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Junior Secondary School Mathematics, Oriade Local Government, Osun State, Difficulty and Discriminating Indices, JSSCE Examination

References
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  • APA Style

    Thomas Olabode Abe, Ezekiel Olaoluwa Omole. (2019). Difficulty and Discriminating Indices of Junior Secondary School Mathematics Examination; A Case Study of Oriade Local Government, Osun State. American Journal of Education and Information Technology, 3(2), 37-46. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajeit.20190302.12

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    ACS Style

    Thomas Olabode Abe; Ezekiel Olaoluwa Omole. Difficulty and Discriminating Indices of Junior Secondary School Mathematics Examination; A Case Study of Oriade Local Government, Osun State. Am. J. Educ. Inf. Technol. 2019, 3(2), 37-46. doi: 10.11648/j.ajeit.20190302.12

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    AMA Style

    Thomas Olabode Abe, Ezekiel Olaoluwa Omole. Difficulty and Discriminating Indices of Junior Secondary School Mathematics Examination; A Case Study of Oriade Local Government, Osun State. Am J Educ Inf Technol. 2019;3(2):37-46. doi: 10.11648/j.ajeit.20190302.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajeit.20190302.12,
      author = {Thomas Olabode Abe and Ezekiel Olaoluwa Omole},
      title = {Difficulty and Discriminating Indices of Junior Secondary School Mathematics Examination; A Case Study of Oriade Local Government, Osun State},
      journal = {American Journal of Education and Information Technology},
      volume = {3},
      number = {2},
      pages = {37-46},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajeit.20190302.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajeit.20190302.12},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajeit.20190302.12},
      abstract = {This study examined Difficulty and Discriminating Indices of Junior Secondary School Mathematics Examination in Osun State; A Case Study Of Oriade Local Government. Two Schools were selected through random sampling from Oriade Local Government of Osun State. The sample of the study consisted of sixty respondents that were drawn from the population of the study. Hypotheses were formulated the study through the stated objectives for the study. Pre and post- test was developed to validate the method used for data collection and analysis. The data collected were analyzed using t-test statistics and analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that the difficulty indexes of the JSSCE were good for 59 out of the 60 items in the examination while 1 item requires modification as the question might have been unclear or misunderstood by the students. Also, discriminatory indexes were considered appropriate for 59 out of the 60 items in the examination while 1 item was found inappropriate and thus does not fit into the set of questions for the JSSCE unless it is rewritten for better clarity. The study also revealed that students’ gender, age, class and school type have no significant influence on their academic performance in the JSSCE. Based on the findings of the study, test measurement and evaluation experts should emphasize and also ensure that proper test analysis are carried out on test items before they are administered to students especially in national examinations.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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    AU  - Thomas Olabode Abe
    AU  - Ezekiel Olaoluwa Omole
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    T2  - American Journal of Education and Information Technology
    JF  - American Journal of Education and Information Technology
    JO  - American Journal of Education and Information Technology
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    AB  - This study examined Difficulty and Discriminating Indices of Junior Secondary School Mathematics Examination in Osun State; A Case Study Of Oriade Local Government. Two Schools were selected through random sampling from Oriade Local Government of Osun State. The sample of the study consisted of sixty respondents that were drawn from the population of the study. Hypotheses were formulated the study through the stated objectives for the study. Pre and post- test was developed to validate the method used for data collection and analysis. The data collected were analyzed using t-test statistics and analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that the difficulty indexes of the JSSCE were good for 59 out of the 60 items in the examination while 1 item requires modification as the question might have been unclear or misunderstood by the students. Also, discriminatory indexes were considered appropriate for 59 out of the 60 items in the examination while 1 item was found inappropriate and thus does not fit into the set of questions for the JSSCE unless it is rewritten for better clarity. The study also revealed that students’ gender, age, class and school type have no significant influence on their academic performance in the JSSCE. Based on the findings of the study, test measurement and evaluation experts should emphasize and also ensure that proper test analysis are carried out on test items before they are administered to students especially in national examinations.
    VL  - 3
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Author Information
  • Department of Mathematics, School of Science, College of Education, Ikere Ekiti, South West, Nigeria

  • Department of Mathematics & Statistics, College of Natural Sciences, Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Osun State, South West, Nigeria

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